It was their only chance.

Well have had a Bush or Clinton in the executive branch since 1980. I wonder what Chelsea or the twins will be doing in 2016?

Let's impeach the president for lying-Neil Young

Heather, Heather, comeback Heather! If Obama or any President elect was able to tackle your top 5 all at once he would be a miracle worker. Why don't you stop acting like you know all the answers and let this thing play out a little bit? You do realize that some of the things Obama says are probably used to get certain people on his side. I think the guy is pretty damn smart. Let's give him a shot and stop acting like the sky is falling.

The whole idea of preemptive war (a.k.a. the Bush Doctrine) has no place in a civilized society and must be laid to rest, along with those sacrificed in Bush's military adventurism these past eight years.

Just because someone says it's so, doesn't make it so.

"Preemptive War" IS NOT the Bush Doctrine; "Preventive War" is. Bush and his neo-CON cronies were successful salesmen in selling preventive war to the Ameican public as preemptive war.

Using the term "Preemptive War" to describe the Bush Doctine (as stated in The National Security Strategy of the United States, September 2002) only serves to perpetuate the LIES. (Thus you are actually helping Bush.) Saddam Hussein didn't possess WMD, thus there was no war to "preempt." The "sale," was to scare the public into believing that there was a threat.

I actually wouldn't have a problem with real "preemptive war," if there actually was an immediate threat looming, but I do have a problem with preventive war (i.e. attacking another nation before they even have the capacity to become a threat).

It didn't work for Nazi Germany in 1941-45 against the Soviet Union (Hitler was worried about a stronger Red Army in 1944), and it hasn't worked for us in Iraq (2003-present).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With regards to your concerns, I, like most others here, am willing to let President Obama lead before I pass judgement on his administration. If we still have a large presence in Iraq at the end of 2010, I will voice my disapproval then.

Regarding Afghanistan, I also share concerns. The new administration needs to be careful that we don't just move one Charlie Foxtrot (Iraq) into another. I have no problem fighting Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the mountains, but if we bomb areas with large concentrations of civilians, causing needless death and suffering, we will not only lose the chance to win hearts and minds, it will actually prove counterproductive by aiding recruitment for our enemies. Afghanistan, with its history of tribal factions, is not an easy country to conquer; one only needs to look at the previous attempsts made by Alexander the Great (the greatest military mind in the history of the world), the British, and the Soviet Union. I know that Obama doesn't talk to dead people, but maybe Nancy could give Alex a call; at the least, Obama should call some old Soviet generals and ask them for some Monday morning quarterbacking.

I've been sceptical of his decision to appoint Clinton as Secretary of State, because she opposed Obama on foreign policy during the campaign, but if she is a team player and executes President Obama's policies, then it will be a good choice.

So far, it looks like President-elect Obama is more concerned with competence, rather than ideology (as opposed to Bush). This IS change I can believe in!

On every point, you are on the money. Oops....oh, the money. The looting and pillaging of the American people is taking place in front of our eyes. But, a couple points to add....
We are distinctly being excluded from representation necessary for our voices to be heard and changes made for the country, in a successful direction. Robert Gates, Offensive Secretary, as there is no policy of defense left anymore, knows quite a bit about Iran-Contra and Policies of using assets to fund operations kept secret from the public. And then there was his retirement from the Agency, and he wound up eventually working with Jack Abramoff - at arms length or mutually supportive on the Electronic Voting Machines HAVA debacle of 2002. His home court in his home state (San Juan County, Washington) has some great comments on how he influences Election laws (See Washblog, "King County Trims Reckless Plan": ttp://www.washblog.com/story/2007/9/18/19326/6168 & http://www.blackboxvoting.org/, See 9-19-08: Construction workers discover their secret ballot invaded "My Ballot is none of your business."). Or elections period. Then there's the little background info he's in on with Dick Cheney and the 9/11 time frame.
Oh, there's that little pesky issue of LSC's. You know the heavily registered and for licensed use only of Linear Shaped Charges, used around that time frame of 9/11. Those are well documented. You know who uses them and when and on what "demolition jobs." These explosives were invented by NASA to separate rocket stages and can cut steel beams and girders like butter. For Building demolitions. They are majorly controlled items. A simple Audit needs to be forthcoming and immediately seize all of those records on LSC's leading up to September 11th, 2001. These are government controlled explosive items. And an Independent Investigator is the only valid way to do that. Anything else is a sham. So, the backdraft and the consistent direction that Robert Gates leans towards is not in keeping with any of Obama's public statements. My Suggestion, my very best suggestion to Obama, is to remember with absolutely clarity Allen Welsh Dulles and his rabid position on communism, where he was more willing to kill/sacrifice his own people to perpetuate conflict than to resolve it, use diplomacy or reveal any of his aggenda to the American People (The Bay of Pig's). Gates fawning of cooking the books for political gain, slanting the NIE's, to favor or feed his handlers what they want to hear is the very clue and fingerprint of more of the same.
Allen Welsh Dulles.
This Cabinet is not shaping up well. Heather is on the money and all of us have been robbed, mugged, pillaged, raped and looted by this administration now exiting. There's nothing to stop the New Administration from doing more of the same, except us. Oh, and they can do it right in front of our faces just like the last crew did with all these talking heads that are spineless and unwilling to bring a modicum of Justice forward. These talking heads are the witnesses to crimes, like the Kitty Genovese crime, and just refuse to do the right thing. They bury their collective heads in the sand. Ostriches. We all suffer for these shills. Where we are now in history is the acquiesing to a stinking paycheck instead of the truth, and everything collapses. No magical answers here when only five individuals control the entire world's news. No wonder.
Maybe an Item #6???
And then there is the complete disconnect between Healthcare and the Tax System. 1.8 million folks go bankrupt each year. Half of them due to medical reasons. Don't you know that IRS/Taxes significantly contributed to them losing everything, including their lives. So, other countries have that Flat Tax, VAT, Fair Tax thing all figured out, but we've left it up to the crooks that got us to this point. This is stupid to rely on the morons that run the current system. They just suck in those that want to change it, like Hillary, and destroy their crediblity forever in managing to change anything. The country is bankrupt, get over it. Listening to all those that got us to this point is insane. 82% of Americans think the IRS is broken, too. They just crammed their crap down our throats for years. Everyone needs to know a million Tax Code items. Uhhuh. What do we do, bail them out? They've never done that for anyone I know of. Main Street has rolled up and blown away. Mission accomplished.
So, this might be Point #6.

It would be wrong to let the super-rich delude themselves into believing that they owned something that they recently stole.

Don't over-tax the super-rich----hunt them down and butcher them unmercifully in their offshore haven ratnests----but don't raise their taxes.

....nice rant to start this tread.

1) Can we wait until President Elect Obama is actually residing in the WH before we state that it's going to be "Business as usual"?

2) I don't care that some of his appointees worked for Clinton/Bush ect....the president sets the agenda...period.

3) Rome wasn't built in a day and the Bush hangover is going to take some time and a few bottles of excedrin or whatever. It's going to take time to fix this mess....

Guy hasn't even taken office yet.....give it a rest. At least until....March maybe? Or is that asking too much before the bitch session begins...