The official swellinfo 2012 presidential poll

Exactly!....

I was gonna reply to 'respect the ocean'...but then just figured he was a 16yr old kid or just some stoned out 20 something. So what was the point?

 

Wow!
I wonder if politicians (who have never surfed) arguing about Slater vs. Irons would sort of sound like that.

 

Please explain where in my post it shows even the smallest inkling that I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm not too sure what you are trying to get at...

 

Before even saying anything, let it be known that I am much further left on the political spectrum than Obama, so I am not speaking from the viewpoint of an Obama "supporter."

In fact, I agree that there may be little to no difference between President Obama's environmental policy and the environmental policies of previous presidents, but I would submit that is not because he doesn't want them to be. In Obama's case, he entered the presidency with a heartfelt desire to be an agent of change for our country. Whether or not you agree with the changes he would've like to see, I think we can all agree that he genuinely desired to change things. However, the tides of Washington seem to crush even the most zealous and idealistic men and women, turning them into "business as usual" politicians. This now unfortunately includes Obama.

That also doesn't mean that Obama is the same as Romney (or other Republican candidates) and it certainly doesn't mean that his beliefs about protecting the environment are the same as theirs. Everything, and I mean everything is currently being sacrificed in the name of job creation. It's a short-sighted approach, but it's the reality of what's happening. If Obama tried to push environmental regulations through Congress, Republicans would claim that doing so would eliminate even more jobs, and they'd be right in the short-term, so what is he supposed to do? Classic "rock and a hard place" situation, if you ask me.

A president is only 1/3 of our government, and thus he or she cannot change things alone. Republicans in the Senate and House have filibustered their way through the second half of his term and completely crippled him from introducing any form of legislation, even when compromises are attempted. Stomping your feet and throwing a fit (AKA filibustering) without offering any viable alternatives for how to go forward isn't productive, it's childish.

 

Erroneous! Our (unpublished- except for his memoirs) constitutional law professor President has done his best to thwart that antiquated system and sidestep that pesky congress.

As "someone much further left on the political spectrum than Obama" could you enlighten us all as to when & where that system or philosohpy has been most successfully implemented- keep in mind you will want an example that we can compare to the US of A- the best attempt at self governance and individual liberty.

 

Which one hasn't? You've being naive if you think he's the only one. Also, it's not particularly important to me that our President hasn't been published.

I'm actually not very interested in naming examples of other countries with different systems and arguing about them on this forum. However, I will say that individual liberties, while I'm thankful for them and believe they're incredibly important, are not the end-all-be-all for me if only a small portion of citizens truly possess the tools to exercise those liberties and live out their dreams. In other words, I am less concerned about the millionaire who gets taxed a bit more than I am about the hardworking couple who can't afford health insurance for themselves and their kids.

If our country were smaller and everyone had his or her own plot of land and a cow, I'd be totally fine with the idea that everyone has to fend for him or herself. I just don't think that it's feasible to exercise a live and let live philosophy within such a gigantic structure (i.e. the nation-state). Besides, I'm happy to share with others (by paying taxes or otherwise) and I believe that I am at my best when I'm working with other people and sharing resources to mutually better our lives. No, I'm not a communist. I simply believe in sharing and taking care of others when they can't take care of themselves. And no, I don't believe the nation-state is the best way for that to happen, but since we're talking about the 2012 elections, let's keep this discussion confined to that line of thinking.

 

My point about Obama being unpublished as a law professor goes along the lines of his 150+ "present" votes. It points out the unprecedented vaguery of his experience and philosophy as a candidate and the, to borrow a phrase, "willful suspension of disbelief" given to any question about his background and associations by the media crowd chanting "change".

This quote, by an anaonomous Czech citizen makes the point succinctly:

"The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president".

 

Voting for anyone in the current field besides Ron Paul is simply a vote for the Banks, Primary Dealers, and Defense Contractors to continue running the country. If you're okay with Financial Institutions and Weapons makers running the country, then vote for the one you'd want to drink a smoothie with. Otherwise vote for Ron Paul. But the best option is to Vote to Stay Above the Weather.

 

unfortunately a vote for Ron Paul might as well be cast in the toilet- you will end up with one of the other two choices

 

~ The post you are replying to was a joke. You make some great points and your post was well written. The most well written and thought provoking I have read on here so far.

 

all of them except for paul are a HUGE joke. obama, bachmann, romney, and hunstmann being the biggest.

i haven't went through this thread cause last time we read it almost 40% of people said they were voting obama, but out of over a hundred replies only 4 of those people said why they were voting obama. 3 of them said cause he wasn't as bad as the gop guys. one of them are old friend yankee picked apart anyone who said anything bad about obama.


obama is a joke. same foreign policy as bush who everyone including myself couldn't stand. same fiscal policy only 4x worse. including bailouts. took the bush mess, and metastasized it. do you like HIGH taxes? do you like your dollar DEVALUED? do you like all the endless wars we've been in for 10+ years? obama has strengthened all of bush's foreign policies, and sent troops to africa, libya, and other places we have no business being in. his foreign policy is a carbon copy of bush. don't give me that ''he finally ended the war in iraq'' crap either cause he didn't. that was a deadline set up by bush before he left office for december 2011. obama's deadlines were 16 months after taking office which would have been may 2010.

paul isn't going anywhere though. other than being almost 80 years old which will go against him for most people both sides will sandstorm him. the right media will lambast him, and tout him as not being conservative enough because he wants to pull the troops out of the middle east, and he's for gay marriage, and it will just go on, and on. the left media will make up lies about him that he's racist, and blah blah blah blah, and hates immigrants, and it will never end.

by the way i voted for obama, because i thought he was the lesser of two evils. not anymore. most of the gop front runners look like clowns actually they all do. i would rather not vote in this presidential election than vote for the joke that is obama again though.

 

Ok, this is my input, if anyone cares to read - specifically speaking about Ronald Paul

Now, Paul puts me in a messy situation. Every time I read or watch him talk about his economic policies, I never disagree. He's right on with audits the fed, cutting a trillion right off the back, and taking down thousands of useless social "community organizations" that do just nothing. Hes right about that, and hes very knowledgable, very moral, and very true to his principals (as we all should). That being said, his foreign affairs and social issue viewpoints are very....wacked the hell out, to put in layman's terms. If you plan on voting for Ron please look into these issues. Now, personally I don't like us Americans being the policeman of the world per-say, especially in these super trying times, but I don't think we should be as isolate as Senator Paul takes he would like (ex. let iran feel free to test nuc's and all that dandy stuff) - yet I would prefer our pre-WWII stance, where we did fight when we were personally attacked. I propose a quasi monroe doctrine (james monroe's 1823 doctrine telling world powers that if they mess south or north of american boarders, the usa will call if an act of aggression and act in force back) for the middle east, focusing manly on nuclear activity and weaponization of bio warfare. I say let the barbarians bomb the tits out of each other. But, nuclear weapons is just such a threat to man kind, and Iranians just are flat out nuts and won't hesitate. Paul needs to realize the severity (I'm sure he does) but understand we can't live in a 100% libertarian world because flat out people in other parts of the world want every single American dead.

I am between Romney and Paul as of now, leaning towards Romney because if he wins the nominee I am just certain he will beat Obama, and in the end of the day I just want him the hell away from office, maybe he can go back lobbyyin-- opps I mean being a community organizer in the most corrupt city in America, Chicago.

Sucks that there isn't a solid candidate that all of the GOP, and people that are rational that see the horrendous state Obama has put us in, are really gun-hoe for.

 

i think romney is obama only white, an older businessman, and an R in front of his name. maybe he's better than obama, but that doesn't say much.

i used to say i was liberal, but after this guy i'm not. the democrats used to be an okay party, but now it's all marxists.

i guess i'm liberal on some things like gay marriage, wars, etc. i myself don't think we need to be in the middle east anymore, and most conservative citizens agree. however most conservative politicians like john mccain, and pretty much everyone running minus paul think we should still be there, and don't address the wars over there as part of the debt crisis. in fact they seem to preach about it as if it's deficit neutral.

obama is a horrible president. no better than bush from a liberal or conservative viewpoint. the only thing he's doing great by liberal standards even is distributing the wealth, and bowing to the saudi prince, and apologizing for america. yet everyone seems to turn the other cheek when you bring up the libya thing. obama is a fraud. why anyone would vote for him again unless they're receiving 125 weeks unemployment checks is beyond me. i'm baffled by it.

i've got no problems with liberals, or marxists stating their opinions or socialists or whatever. i personally would HATE to see this country turn into that, but i respect the right everyone has to their own opinion. the minute any of the people who have those ideals tout obama as a good president is when i stop listening to them, and their opinion turns almost invalid to me.

when bush was up for reelection in 04, and when he ran against gore in 2000 everyone said screw those guys vote for nader. in 08 all of the sudden everyone switches to fricken obama, and still wants to vote for him?

obama is not a lesser of two evils either way. whether you are a liberal, or a conservative obama is a terrible joke of a president. from both viewpoints i can't see why anyone would support this clown.

not saying every president hasn't done some bad things since i've been alive, but obama is the biggest joke. you knew what you were getting with carter, you knew what you were getting with nixon, ford, reagan, both bush's, and clinton. obama came in with a good guy attitude. said he would stop the wars in 16 months of office said he was close gtmo, said he would control the deficit, and would not get involved in any other conflicts. if a presidential candidate or any candidate running for office says they will do 15 things you can't trust them to do all of them, but can't you at least trust them to do maybe 8-10 of those things?

 

Agreed

You hit the nail on the Head... I also like alot of Gingrich's ideas, but I'm not sure they won't smear him into the ground with dirty campaigning if he wins the Rep Nomination.

Whoever is still voting for Obama... You really need to pull your head out of your a$$ understand some things about History, Big Government, Socialism and understand that he is about to drive this country into Socialism and more than likely a full-blown Economic and Financial System collapse. This guy is a joke of a President... Unfortunately, he was a joke of a Senator, but nobody wanted to heed the warnings...

Too much Talk and not enough Walk!

 

i can't believe 2 more people clicked obama since i last visited.

if ron paul wasn't in this i BET obama would be in a good lead.

why are you people who voted for obama so suckered? like i said last time we did this 40% of people said they would vote obama, but only 3 or 4 people out of 100 posted why they would, and 3 of those were ''obama isn't as big of an idiot as the other guys'' only one hopeless idiot defended obama, and called me, and everyone else an idiot who said the didn't like him, and also made up bs to make obama look good like ''unemployment is stabilized'' what a joker.

i don't see paul going anywhere which is a shame. i'd hate to see this thread happen once paul is out. i bet obama gets over 50%

i've made up my mind. i don't like romney, or gingrich, but it will come down to one of those two, and i'm gonna have to vote for them. stupid lefties will say i'm a ****phobe or hate poor people, because of it, but the truth is NO politician is gonna back EVERYTHING you do. those people are lying if they think obama is for EVERYTHING they are. he's clearly shown he is not.

 

You cant seriously think Obama is a socialist. It seems all the people who say things like this do not actually know what socialism is or they would not call Obama a socialist. Furthermore if you are against socialism I hope you have never received a letter via the USPS. Also you could consider police and fire departments a form of socialism, are you against those as well. I imagine you listen the the media and regurgitate what you hear without even thinking about it, you just like the way it sounds.

Personally i do not like any politician Obama included. Romney, Gingrich, Obama, or any of the other jokers, you will similar results from whoever gets elected. Moreover if you honestly believe the president and or government has the ability to create jobs in the private sector you are again watching too much TV and listening to too many talking heads. Think about things logically.

 

Socialism is a system of wealth redistribution. all the things you cite are simply government functions. Welfare (conveniently left out of your list) is a form of socialism. And yes, Obama is CLEARLY a socialist.

 

I wish Hillary would've been president or even the next one. Shes tough and would handle all the bs going on in both sides of Congress better than any of these current nominees. O well! Paul is so right about so many things but doesnt have the power to make it. Maybe we should nominate one of our surfing legends!

 

you are probably right. she definitely would have taken the message from the 2010 elections and changed her direction. Slick Willie gets a lot of credit for doing that in the 90s.