(04-09-2009 12:10 PM)texd Wrote:  With his subject he has done the very same thing that others before him have done on this portion of the board: Accuse the Obama supporters of being disingenuous sycophants. "Does anyone genuinely believe...?"

I don't know you (or maybe I do know you but don't recognize you by your chat room name) so I have no way of knowing whether you are a disingenuous sycophant. But I do think that label fits a very large number of Obama supporters quite well. I'm going to assume that it does not fit you, and apologize if my comments were read to insinuate that it did.

I think George asks a valid question, because I would really like for someone to explain how this is going to work. George's question will be answered not by ad hominem attacks on George or complaints that the question is somehow insulting, but rather by stepping up to the plate and saying, "Yes, I believe it will work, and here is how and why it will work." So far, nada. And it is extremely frustrating to ask a legitimate question and get back so much vitriol and so little reason.

I will step up to the plate and take a stand. Obama's plans have never made sense to me, from the first time I read any of his platform over a year ago until now. The numbers simply don't add up, not even close. He's been elected on "promises" that must be lies, because they cannot possibly be true. I believe that Obama's "stimulus plan" will result in 20 to 50 million Americans being unemployed, and 20% to 50% annual inflation, starting in about the 2011-2013 time frame and continuing to 2020 or beyond. I believe that Obama's "energy plan" will result in our importing more oil in 2015 than we do today, unless his "stimulus plan" craters the economy back to the horse and buggy era. I can walk you through the reasoning behind those--but have done so in prior posts and don't want to be accused of beating a dead horse.

I really wish that Obama supporters would engage on substantive issues, but what I've gotten in response to my comments is "shoot the messenger" rather than "engage on the issues." Other than one or two guys on the Memphis political-religious board (who have unfortunately been banned by some mods who are well to the right of me) I really haven't gotten that kind of engagement, either on here or in direct conversations with those whom I know personally. There just seems to be this fascination with the aura of the man, and the belief that somehow, some way, he is magically going to resolve all this. He's not. I don't know how they will react when he doesn't (for early clues, a couple are starting to voice considerable disenchantment with what they've seen so far, but none have jumped ship yet).

I believe that the Obama supporters who post on here, yourself included, genuinely want the right thing to happen. I think you've been conned by a Chicago street hustler. If you find it insulting for me to say that, then you've just been insulted. I'm sorry. I'm sure you don't believe it. Time will tell which one of us is right. While we are waiting to find that out, I wish I could figure out how all this would work, if in fact it could--which I doubt. Obama has attractive qualities to recommend him. I would not include his positions on most issues as being among those attractive qualities.