The amount of debt that the US and its citizens have run up in the past 15 years is staggering.It's just a matter of time before your creditors start demanding their money.

The only way the US will be able to their debts is by greatly dropping their standards of living. Smaller cars, public transportation, no more air travel, renting houses instead of buying ect.

Basically you will have to live like Spartans for the next 10 to 20 years. Unfortunately this is not what most people want to hear. They just want to hear that the problem will magically fix itself.

If America wanted a black man that could perform medicals they should have elected the guy from the Green mile instead of Obama.

American democracy has become nothing more than an exercise in choosing someone who you would like to have a beer and who will pat you on the head and tell you that it's going to be okay just keep charging it on your credit card.

No Obama won't be able to solve the problem US is currently in, no politician has the nerve to slap the US voter in the face and say "wake the F@ck up, the party is over".

Yes the republicans will easily win the next election all the have to do is point out the results of that little experiment. "See what happens when you stray of the path"

medicals = miracles

When it's all said and done, Obama will be the best thing for the Republican party since Jimmy Carter.

And Jimmy Carter gave us Reagan. :-)

American democracy has become nothing more than an exercise in choosing someone who you would like to have a beer and who will pat you on the head and tell you that it's going to be okay just keep charging it on your credit card.

In the old days, American democracy consisted of actually having a beer with the guy you elected. And then getting piss drunk and rampaging through the White House.

"but still wonder how so many people can still approve of him after this dismal performance so far"

Because his predecessor was so god damn awful and sunk the country into such an abyss that when comparing those two realities people remain hopeful for the future.

Because his predecessor was so god damn awful and sunk the country into such an abyss that when comparing those two realities people remain hopeful for the future.

I think there is a lot of this going on. If he doesn't get the economy turned around, he won't be reelected, but there is still a lot of time before 2012.

So what's the solution? Seven months into his term, he's a failure.
Are we really supposed to put the Republicans back in power? I for one, can't.
I can't overlook:
-Bush's attacks on the Constitution,
-keeping two sets of books (one without the cost of the wars factored in and another,never mentioned one with ever escalating defense appropriations and no-bid contracts)
-the attacks on personal liberties such as privacy, the Patriot Act and NSA monitpring of email and phone calls.

The Democrats are weak and people are mistrustful of Obama and they are watching him so the harm he can do is limited by that.

The Republicans on the other hand are aggressive, cohesive and band together to ignore the rule of law and public opinion. And they hide behind the flag doing it.

This country's ONLY hope is a third party.

Because his predecessor was so god damn awful and sunk the country into such an abyss that when comparing those two realities people remain hopeful for the future.

I'd buy this if it wasn;t for the fact that everything Bush supposedly did to ruin the country for the past 8 years Obama has already matched and surpassed in less than one. Continuing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? Check. Massive deficit spending? Check. And down the line.

I think a better phrasing of your sentiment would be "when comparing MEDIA COVERAGE between the two, people remain hopeful about Obama"

"Discouraged workers" was a political point rarely brought up before 2001. It was not a Democratic invention, but they popularized it when it turned out the 2001 recession was pretty mild.

I argued against its use then, and I'm consistent in arguing against its use today. "Discouraged" can mean too many things to be useful for anything but a political point. A housewife who learned basic networking in the 1990s, and got hired by a company who was hiring anyone with a pulse? (It happened, believe me.) Someone who came out of retirement, worked for a couple of years, got laid off last year and has now retired again? Maybe it's someone who merely retired at 65, 70, because he was too old for the work; such a person could be considered "discouraged" though there are good reasons he can't find a job.

So these people are unemployed, but "discouraged" now from looking for work, and what is their source of income? Welfare forever? Homeless? Or, most likely, living with one or more people who is/are the provider. "Discouraged" implicitly means "I'd like to work but can afford not to look."

On the other hand, "Unemployed and looking for a job" has a specific, concrete meaning.

This is where you've invested so much energy and resources into an endeavor that you won't allow yourself to admit the endeavor is a failure no matter how bad it does, because admitting the endeavor was a failure would mean you wasted all that time and effort and made an ass of yourself.

Are you talking about the Iraq War? Probably not since Bush already declared victory. Yes, we are still there. If I remember correctly, Obama said he would be out in 18 months, not 7.

Actually the exact Obama line was we should be out of Iraq "not in a year, not in 6 months, NOW". He did not live in reality then as he is forced to now.