POLITICS

Yin And Yang

Americans are optimistic about Obama, but pessimistic about the state of affairs, according to the new NEWSWEEK poll.

By Jonathan Darman | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Jan 16, 2009

« Return to Article

Discuss

Member Comments

  • Posted By: Rose from Washington State @ 02/22/2009 11:45:22 AM

    President Obama has inherited our national debt.Granted there are alot of politicians responsible for this debt.But it;s still ours as a nation and as a nation we need to help pay it off.I On our income tax returns I see a place towards the top of the form where we can contribute to presidential campaign and a side bar that states saying yes will not increase
    or decrease our tax debt.lol.We are smart enough to know that we will pay for it somehow.I always say no. If they were to replace that with would you like to pay that $3.00 towards the natiomal debt and I knew that that $3.00 was actually going. I would say yes.And i woul want that money to be taken from my refund or added to my tax bill..I live in a lower income nieghborhood and I have polled my nieghbors and some of the people i work for and they all agree . They would say yes even if it actualy cost them something..We have to do something because if we don't it will cost us more in the long run.$3.00 is not enough. We know that ,so make it $5.00 or $10.00 .II's our country and it is our debt , like it or not. So lets do something. Rose from Washington state.

  • Posted By: Qidisrupt @ 01/30/2009 10:47:55 PM

    The eight years of getting Bush-wacked, and getting it up the old yang hole was enough for me.

  • Posted By: NewsWkDickG @ 01/18/2009 11:56:20 AM

    Will it be a learning experience or just a bump in the road before returning to the same path? What we have seen and lived through over the last eight plus years could actually be a revelation as to where our politics has evolved, with the current status being a crisis point. Now do we seek real change or revert back to the old? There will be pressure in both directions and both Parties have advocated a drastic need for change but the real question is simply how much change does anyone really want? It is hard to believe that the lobbyists and Special Interests people want any change and they do have substantial influence that will be used to pressure for resisting any change; ???some change for appearance sake, okay, but not any real change???. Then it is necessary to understand the role money plays in everything and to see that every policy position is not equal, not in real power and not in value to the people. To clearly see what has transpired and where we are at it is necessary to put fault aside and to just accept that politically connected people do what is allowed them [if it should actually be desired not to have them do something then it simply shouldn???t be allowed to them].

    With that fault free approach and without any need to defend let???s look at what has transpired. First, the Republican machine behind George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in 2000, 2004 and throughout the Bush term demonstrated a maturity of political savvy unequaled before. The strong, aggressive sociopathic personalities of Bush and Rove, the self-assured, well business connected Cheney and a committed, stubborn and arrogantly loyal full Republican Party pushed their weight around and even thumbed their nose at everyone. With considerable overt and covert backing from their wealthy and powerful supporters, who fully intended to benefit, they totally controlled things and manipulated public opinion by effectively appealing to and using every individual bias available. The real problem became that ???power corrupts and total power totally corrupts??? and they were absorbed in their private agenda and in satisfying their selfish interests.
    (continued below)

    • Posted By: ben nevis @ 01/20/2009 11:50:34 AM

      Hey, NewsDICK, you're a "blowhard", you should take jimbo3800's advice.






      • Posted By: russej @ 01/20/2009 9:49:39 PM

        Too many big words for ya' huh?

        • Posted By: jimbo3800 @ 01/22/2009 9:52:18 PM

          Just too many words, period. Sheesh.

    • Posted By: NewsWkDickG @ 01/18/2009 11:57:28 AM

      (continuing from above)
      It took the Democrats some time to get out from under the Republican steam roller but finally, with only Special Interests and a select few being happy and everything else in the pits, the public began to see the real short fall and to close their ears to the Bush-Cheney subterfuge ??? reality began to come home. Barack Obama???s considerable appeal as being in contrast to ???Washington as usual??? and as offering basic honesty and a sincere interest in the average American, literally emphasizing the opposite to what was experienced over the last eight years, put him on the fast track through the primaries and through the election cycle. Along with Obama the Democrats benefited from the dire status of everything resulting under the Republicans and from the people???s natural frustration with the Republican???s apparent lack of concern for the average American. Obama became the President Elect and now he is looked at to be the ???savior??? while the Republicans, with all of their resources, gear up to prevent his ever gaining that status or being allowed to make their recovery harder ??? there is simply a tongue-in-check cooperative atmosphere .

      Both Parties have their excessive points - the Republicans??? being ultra-conservative and the Democrats??? being extreme-liberal ??? with each falsely accusing the other of being totally focused there. Both have individuals who are obnoxious, some who are grossly dishonest, and many who are excessive in support of their Party and in their criticizing of the other. Both have members who have succumbed to the lure of the power and benefit of money, selling outright or allowing the influencing of their office. History shows that we bounce back and forth with the two Parties exchanging positions of power. The reality of our current political environment clearly demonstrates that money plays way too much of a role, thereby encouraging its corrupting influence. None of these things benefit the majority or represent the performance our country???s founders intended. What change is needed?
      (continued below)

      • Posted By: NewsWkDickG @ 01/18/2009 11:58:52 AM

        (continuing from above)
        For many years we have heard that financial reform is desperately needed and even intended, always with little or no actual progress realized. Without real financial reform to take the power out of the hands of the corrupters, there is no chance for any other meaningful change. Should the people really demand it and could there actually be substantial financial reform, then several things could occur that would provide real change and improvement. Money would not control who could run and more competition would then be the rule resulting in better candidates. The candidates would not be so dependent on the Party and Independents as well as additional parties could happen, creating the positive need for coalitions and real cooperation. The two-party system would lose way to multiple parties and power would be more directly gained from the people, with the need to answer to the people instead of the party. Financial subversion would be less prevalent and more obvious when it did occur. There would still be ample room for more improvement but financial reform is the only place to start. It is the necessary first change but how do you ever get the Republicans and Democrats to agree and, more importantly, to actually do?

        • Posted By: jimbo3800 @ 01/18/2009 1:01:09 PM

          This same endless, breathless rant appears elsewhere on the Newsweak posting board - give it a rest, dude, no one and I mean NO ONE is taking the time to read your drivel.

          • Posted By: USAgirl55 @ 01/20/2009 6:05:47 PM

            We are a long way from what you suggest. It would take one powerful leader to get people to see the need for a new party. These parties are so powerful it is difficult for another to get a chance. Too many parties would not be good either. We do have a lot of parties but they are nonsense mostly, people who just advocate one thing and not broad enough to consider all the issues. If we could get rid of the money involved. Obama spent more than any person in the history of our country, where did that money come from? He has taken lavish vacations and spent more on his inaugeration than any other president. Is this what the next four years will be? He spends extravagantly while he wants the rest of the US to tighten our belts. It hasn't started off well to say that he will tighten the belt for himself. If he keeps his campaign promises, he will spend us into a third world country.

  • Posted By: mistermcfrugal @ 01/18/2009 6:01:37 PM

    Optimistic about Obama? There the MSM goes again, trying to sell that loser. I am sick of the worship for such crooked Chicago politician who did just what Rev. Wright said he'd do: say anything to get what he wants.

    I hope and except him to fail. I will attack and denounce him at every turn. I learned this from the leftists.

    • Posted By: krigden @ 01/21/2009 2:24:58 PM

      What, exactly is it that you learned from the "leftists"? Knee-jerk reactionism has always been the m-o of the hardliners, notr the libs. Bush stole the election fro ALL OF US the 1st time around (how Katerine Harris escaped unharmed still baffles me to this day!) Then he pissed away every ounce of national and international good will and support by sponsoring his own form of terrorism (torture, unplannedand unsupervised nation rebuilding), his own form of dictatorship (Patriot Act, wire tapping, executive privilege), all while turning a blind eye to our own national catastrophies (Katrina, Housing market, Banking debacle) so that he and his cronnies (Chenny/Rove,Gonzales) would have a better life at the expense of the REST OF THE WORLD. There will be change. Follow along or leave, because there will be no place for your kind in this counrty any longer.

      • Posted By: jimbo3800 @ 01/22/2009 9:49:46 PM

        You are a twit. Every sentence of your diatribe is full of half-truths, twisted-truths, and outright lies. I almost don't know where to begin...

        I'll just pick one; the election of 2000 was hardly "stolen"...in every recount and in every scenario Bush narrowly took Florida. Sadly, you are led around by your nose by the leftist media, and you swallow everything they feed you. How sad.

        I could dissect the rest of your email and refute and destroy every single thing you said, but I have neither the time or the inclination to waste my time on a self-righteous dolt like yourself.


    • Posted By: russej @ 01/20/2009 9:40:28 PM

      Wow. You are sick of Obama alreay, and yet you have stood by the most corrupt, democracy-destroying political cartel in the history of our country. Your shortsightedness and duplicity is amazing.

  • Posted By: Qidisrupt @ 01/22/2009 8:38:52 PM

    Barack Obama earned my vote...not because he is of any particular race of person...I voted for Obama/Biden because I believe their policies are superior.

  • Posted By: PeachesMcGee @ 01/22/2009 7:15:21 PM

    "light of day"? Here's your light - Senator Obama was part and parcel of the leadership that insisted that the loan requirements be lowered so that "everyone could buy a home" causing the ARMS and ballon mortgages and McMansions to be built that now no one can pay for.

    Not that McCain would have been any better. They are both two sides of the same Demopublican and republicrat mix that has twarted reason and inspired emotion. Both parties are all about what they can do for their buddies, and only see the taxpayers as bottomless pockets thru which to finance their buddies. Nothing will change except the faces in the bak rooms, the bars,a nd the restaurants in Washington DC, as everyone still scrambles for a piece of the pie. the only difference is that the media will clasp Obama to their yellow bosoms and shriek that the Emperor IS wearing clothes, can't you SEE them? It's all about who has the best emotional rhetoric, not who actually has brain function and who thinks and reasons best. But, hey, John Q votes on emotion, not reason, nad gets the supreme culmination of his follly - and exactly what he deserves.

    Both parties are simply two sides of the same warped wooden coin that will put the working stiff into bankruptcy - and blame the working stiff for not having more money to steal.

  • Posted By: PeachesMcGee @ 01/22/2009 7:07:14 PM

    Liight of day? When Senator Obama was one of the ones who demanded that the loan requirements be relaxed for Fanny mae and Freddie MAc, and opened the door to McMansions and ARMS and Balloon mortgages? There's your light of day.

    I despise both regimes, Demican and republicrat. They are as interchangalbe as two peas. Neither one cares for the working American, except as a never-ending pocket to raid and rape for their buddies. It doesn't matter who has the Presidential office - the deals in the back rooms, the bars and Restaurants of Washington DC, ill continue. The only thing that's different is that the media will fawn over this administration, and cuddle it to their yellow bosoms, and try to tell us that the Emperor is really wearing clothes honest honest honest can't you SEE them? Yawn. The whole election was a sham, but the voters got the government they deserve - once again. When you vote on emotion instead of reason, you are a fool. When you vote for someone who is part and parcel of the same 'hand over the taxpayers' money to my friends" slavering political prostitutes, you get what you deserve. Not that McCain would have been any better - two sides of the same warped wooden coin that will spend us into bankruptcy - and tell us it is our own fault.

  • Posted By: Anakin Moriarty @ 01/22/2009 3:56:28 PM

    "Sorry, i didnt want to get on a rant here, but...."

    Hey Everyone :
    Did you know that Barak Obama is the first black president of the USA? Geez, i would have never known that if our friends at ABC,NBC,CBS, MSNBC, FOX, and CNN hadnt told me daily since nov 4th....and about every 15 seconds during the conronatio...err,....Inauguration.

    Did u know that Martin Luther King, Jr was apparently black also.....i think he was a speaker of some reknown, but it was so long ago that almost no one who isnt black apparently remembers him or anything he tried to do.....

    ...and did you know black people were once slaves here in America? (Unlike the millions of slaves held by the Romans, the Assyrians, the Mongols, the Turks, the Babylonians, the Zulus, the Carthaginians, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Egyptians, the Russians, the French, the Arabs, the Hindus, and countless other cultures throughout history.....) and that more people were bigoted and racist many yearts ago than today?

    ...and when did it become mandatory for any Christian preacher to call themselves Dr?
    Isnt that reserved for people who actually earn degrees studying something? Dr of Divinity is an affront to people who actually get PhD's the old fashioned way....they earn them.

    Thats.... ONE TO GROW ON !


  • Posted By: Reese2004 @ 01/19/2009 6:31:49 PM

    I do not like that idea of an American President trying to act like Robinhood ( Spread the Wealth Idea ) as that only fixes the short term! We need to think long term. Kennedy said, Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country? I feel that meant god gave you 2 hands, 2 feet and a brain go out and use them. Plan, save and support your family do not ask others who have Planned and saved to do it for you. Get your ^$%^ off welfare and assimulate as did my parents when they came off the boat learn to speak english dont holler discrimination show how you can help not hinder or go back where you came from. School was taught only in english when I attended so why do you need special consideration. Please Please teach your young to not be teenage baby makers they can not support themselves and I do not want to support them. I raised my two sons after I divorced without child support by working two jobs. they can too!!!! Ms. Abu Alzalaf Grow up people I look at Obama and all I see are the words ( If you can not dazzle them with brilliants, baffle them with bull3453t!!!!!

    • Posted By: simbalynn4 @ 01/22/2009 1:35:41 PM

      I agree with you Reese2004. My husband and I work very hard to pay all our bills and mortgage. We do NOT ask for any handouts! We live meagerly and when we do have a little saved up, we enjoy a nice dinner out. Shame Shame on the people who blame everyone but themselves when they can't make ends meet. Stop living like the " Joneses " of the world.

    • Posted By: MrsTensley @ 01/20/2009 9:25:31 AM

      The rhetoric you chose was highly inflammatory. Please select literature that encompasses the issues related to forced immigration verses voluntary immigration. I am a staunch believer that these issues do not excuse or eliminate personal responsibility. At the same token these issues are real and have truly detrimental effects. Even within the microcosm of my family there were disturbing effects. I am the great great grand daughter of a slave. I am the great grand daughter of a share cropper. My great grand mother was conceived from an act of rape from the master of the plantation on her mother. I am the grand daughter of a woman who was allowed to die, over the process of hours, due to the ambulance system being "white only". Her children saw there mother die slowly in front of them unnecessarily. I attended a university where it was stated by classmates that I must have been accepted due to my minority status and my GPA had to be inflated due to professors measuring me with a more lenient stick. I can truly attest to the residual effects of the mental and physical components of slavery and Jim crow/segregation. My mother decided to break the cycle and put her efforts into broadening my horizons and instilling a sense of optimism. Not everyone is afforded a mother like mine or the opportunities and support I was given.

  • Posted By: Simply @ 01/22/2009 12:49:32 PM

    We will get off in approximately 300 more years. Had you paid wages for our work years ago you wouldn't be in this crisis. My people were in a recession for 400 years....welcome to my nightmare!

  • Posted By: Iggy5203 @ 01/22/2009 11:05:50 AM

    Bryan 1: After years of killing innocent people, making his friends richer and the rest poorer, you are talking b.s. It is obvious you, ex president Cheney and forever idiot Bush , pray to Devil !

  • Posted By: debcate @ 01/22/2009 11:05:18 AM

    It is wonderful to finally have a black man in the oval office, but quit telling us how optimistic we are! Where I work I have not heard one person talk of optimism! Once again you, the media, are trying to create the atmosphere of your choosing!
    Electing the our liberal Senator as President is bound to have some devastating consequences on our morality as a nation. And where does everyone think all the money is going to come from to pay for new jobs and programs? It's going to come out of the pockets of working Americans, who, by all accounts, are already stretched financially. God bless the lady who, after hearing that Obama had won the election said, "Now I don't need to worry about making my mortgage payment!" She actually said that on national TV! Where does she, and others like her, think the money will come from if she doesn't make the payment? It will come from me and any other working, tax paying American. That sounds like socialism to me!
    I realize that Obama didn't create these problems. (If we do any finger pointing, it should be at the media. Bad news becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, and the media force-fed us bad news all through the election cycle until they got the results they wanted.) And the enormity of the job he has undertaken cannot be understated. The man needs our prayers! And so do all of us. I hope that he will not penalize those of us who go to work every day, and pay our bills, so that he can reward those who do not work!

  • Posted By: debcate @ 01/22/2009 11:02:24 AM

    It is wonderful to finally have a black man in the oval office, but quit telling us how optimistic we are! Where I work I have not heard one person talk of optimism! Once again you, the media, are trying to create the atmosphere of your choosing!
    Electing the our liberal Senator as President is bound to have some devastating consequences on our morality as a nation. And where does everyone think all the money is going to come from to pay for new jobs and programs? It's going to come out of the pockets of working Americans, who, by all accounts, are already stretched financially. God bless the lady who, after hearing that Obama had won the election said, "Now I don't need to worry about making my mortgage payment!" She actually said that on national TV! Where does she, and others like her, think the money will come from if she doesn't make the payment? It will come from me and any other working, tax paying American. That sounds like socialism to me!
    I realize that Obama didn't create these problems. (If we do any finger pointing, it should be at the media. Bad news becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, and the media force-fed us bad news all through the election cycle until they got the results they wanted.) And the enormity of the job he has undertaken cannot be understated. The man needs our prayers! And so do all of us. I hope that he will not penalize those of us who go to work every day, and pay our bills, so that he can reward those who do not work!

  • Posted By: Iggy5203 @ 01/22/2009 11:01:42 AM

    Bryan:
    After 8 years killing inoccent people and making his friends richer and the rest poorer, you are talking b.s. You and president Cheney and idiot Bush pray to devil.

  • Posted By: bryan-l @ 01/22/2009 8:45:09 AM

    agree! - I have had a pit in my stomach since election day. I am very worried for America. I do respect the office of president but I doubt any positive changes will occur for this country. I fear that this country is going to be hurting not only economically but militarily and morally for a very long time. The liberal media endorsed a president that may or may not be a citizen of the USA and also one that will not be able to deliver on all the promises he made. The bailouts (began by the democratic congress) for those who are not fiscally responsible is yet another example of how to reward the irresponsible; a debt that our country will never be able to repay. I do not rejoice for the next 4 years but I cry for America and I am certain our founding fathers are as well. Hollywood and Oprah-likes are who lined his pockets to get him elected . . . this is scary. People are worshiping him like he is an idol - - refer to your bible in regard to idol worship - there is only one true God and Obama isn't him. His cabinet selections are a cast of idiots - Treasury secretary - a guy who does not pay his own taxes until forced to; a Secretary of State - who only got the deal because she sided with Obama; and the list goes on --- what a circus! A train ride - like Lincoln - really now - is he going to go to the theater too? Now with him in office - tax payer dollars are going to fund abortions (under the republicans if you wanted to kill your baby you had to pay for it -- and not rely on the government to pay for the murder). Finally - the closing of Gitmo and releasing terrorists and pulling out of Iraq, etc-- I guess we didn't learn anything from 9-11. Pray for America ... may she be able to make it the next 4 years.

  • Posted By: DUMPLIN @ 01/19/2009 3:05:17 PM

    I DON'T BELIEVE THAT 57 MILLION VOTES AGAINST OBAMA AND HIS POLICIES IS EXACTLY BIPARTISAN SUPPORT. THOSE OF US WHO DON'T WANT AMERICA TO GO IN THE DIRECTION THAT OBAMA WANTS TO TAKE IT WILL VOICE OUR OBJECTIONS LOUD AND CLEAR. BUSH IS BEING GRACIOUS AND POLITE AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN EVEN IN THE FACE OF THE LIBERAL MEDIA AND THEIR PARTISAN COVERAGE OF HIM FOR THE LAST EIGHT YEARS. OBAMA'S CHOICES FOR HIS CABINET HAVE BEEN LAUGHABLE, ESPECIALLY WHEN HE PROMISES CHANGE AND TRANSPARENCY. FOR THE NEXT FOUR YEARS OBAMA WILL BE, TO ME, MERELY OBAMA AND NEVER WILL I REFER TO HIM AS PRESIDENT.

    • Posted By: bryan-l @ 01/22/2009 8:43:46 AM

      I agree! - I have had a pit in my stomach since election day. I am very worried for America. I do respect the office of president but I doubt any positive changes will occur for this country. I fear that this country is going to be hurting not only economically but militarily and morally for a very long time. The liberal media endorsed a president that may or may not be a citizen of the USA and also one that will not be able to deliver on all the promises he made. The bailouts (began by the democratic congress) for those who are not fiscally responsible is yet another example of how to reward the irresponsible; a debt that our country will never be able to repay. I do not rejoice for the next 4 years but I cry for America and I am certain our founding fathers are as well. Hollywood and Oprah-likes are who lined his pockets to get him elected . . . this is scary. People are worshiping him like he is an idol - - refer to your bible in regard to idol worship - there is only one true God and Obama isn't him. His cabinet selections are a cast of idiots - Treasury secretary - a guy who does not pay his own taxes until forced to; a Secretary of State - who only got the deal because she sided with Obama; and the list goes on --- what a circus! A train ride - like Lincoln - really now - is he going to go to the theater too? Now with him in office - tax payer dollars are going to fund abortions (under the republicans if you wanted to kill your baby you had to pay for it -- and not rely on the government to pay for the murder). Finally - the closing of Gitmo and releasing terrorists and pulling out of Iraq, etc-- I guess we didn't learn anything from 9-11. Pray for America ... may she be able to make it the next 4 years.

    • Posted By: krigden @ 01/21/2009 2:09:51 PM

      Waahh! Bush cared less for this nation than any other president in modern history. This includes you! Bush/Chenny/Rummy/Gonzales took us all for everything they could, had a fun time kicking sand in the faces of everyone playing in the world's sandbox, and now defiantly pick up their toys and head for home. Now here you are saying "Me, too!" Grow up!

  • Posted By: Resims @ 01/21/2009 11:38:44 PM

    George Bush is a disgrace to America,I hope he rots in Hell

    • Posted By: justcallmegramps @ 01/22/2009 5:45:49 AM

      MAYBE YOU SHOULD WALK A MILE IN HIS BOOTS BEFORE YOU PUT ALL THE BLAME ON HIM

  • Posted By: justcallmegramps @ 01/22/2009 5:44:36 AM

    OH AND I FORGOT TO SAY THAT ALL OF YOU THAT ARE PROUD OF AMERICA FOR THE FIRST TIME OR FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A WHILE ARE A MENACE TO OUR SOCIETY, RED BLOODED AMERICANS ARE PROUD TO BE AMERICANS EVERYDAY, THROUGH THE HIGHS AND LOWS WE ARE STILL AMERICAN, IF YOU CAN FIND A BETTER PLACE IN THIS WORLD TO LIVE BUY YOU A 1 WAY TICKET AND SEND ME THE BILL. STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT WHATS WRONG, FOCUS ON WHATS RIGHT, DIG IN, WEATHER THE STORM AND WE WILL SHINE AGAIN. THIS COUNTRY WAS BUILT ON PRINCIPLES NOT FAULTS.........AND ALOT OF BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS.FROM EVERYONE THAT CALLS THIS COUNTRY HOME

  • Posted By: justcallmegramps @ 01/22/2009 5:29:19 AM

    Seems like all of you have all the answers but never want to get into the hotseat yourselves.......what HPPOCRITES!!!!!!

  • Posted By: micshelly @ 01/22/2009 3:30:19 AM

    What was so bad about Bush?

Reply

Report Abuse

Enter comments if any for reporting abuse