ENOUGH!!!

[jdb1]

Anne said:

Now, let's forget about color, which to me is the least important thing about this. He's an intelligent man, a young man, a go-getter, and a straight talker so lets get on with what has to be done - as of Jan. 21, that is.

Yes, how true. And -- as someone in today's NY Times wrote: "Finally, a thin president!" There's a trend that sorely needs to be set.

I am constantly appalled, as I channel surf among the "reality" programs, like wife swaps and nannies and such, at how fat people outside of NYC are. (It's a proven fact that we here in NYC and other big urban centers walk more than the rest of the US. Not surprising, of course, since we have more sidewalks to walk on.) Not that we don't have our heavyweights in New York; of course there are plenty. But on these TV shows I've seen, everybody is fat. Yipes. Maybe Bar can lead the nation to see the benefits of arugula over Double Whoppers.

Also -- did we get a reading on the percentage of registered voter turnout on Tuesday? I haven't seen it anywhere, but then, I haven't really looked. I suspect it was somewhat better than our usual 27%.

[klondike]

Yes, how true. And -- as someone in today's NY Times wrote: "Finally, a thin president!" There's a trend that sorely needs to be set.

I am constantly appalled, as I channel surf among the "reality" programs, like wife swaps and nannies and such, at how fat people outside of NYC are. (It's a proven fact that we here in NYC and other big urban centers walk more than the rest of the US. Not surprising, of course, since we have more sidewalks to walk on.) Not that we don't have our heavyweights in New York; of course there are plenty. But on these TV shows I've seen, everybody is fat. Yipes. Maybe Bar can lead the nation to see the benefits of arugula over Double Whoppers.

The only fat that Mr. Obama should be concerned with is the kind that plumps-out the unregulated pay-raises Congress keeps passing for their Good Ol' Boy membership. That's the overdue "weight reduction" that work-a-day America really needs!
Judith, I'm going to guess that a significant percentage of those fatties hogging up your TV screen are, like myself, afflicted with adult-onset diabetes; since I contracted it five years ago, it's added an average of 1 inch to my waistline each year, despite a rigorously active daily routine, carefully monitored diet, and a regimen of daily meds; thankfully, I've the height & brawn to "carry it" better than most.
Just last week, the AMA estimated the total # of Americans afflicted with A-O diabetes to be peaking right now at just over 28,000,000 !!
So please try to keep a good thought for us "big people", okay?
We're really not all gluttons!
And by the way, I think the real hot, new Barrack-O trend is them ears! I just might starting taping clothespins behind my ears, get 'em all good & stuck-out, like on our new Commander in Chief! Tres sexy !!!

[Lzcutter]

Also -- did we get a reading on the percentage of registered voter turnout on Tuesday? I haven't seen it anywhere, but then, I haven't really looked. I suspect it was somewhat better than our usual 27%.

Judith,

The guys at fivethirtyeight.com estimate that 130 million Americans went to the polls or voted early.

Which is more than in the 2004 election.

I don't know the percentage (I'm terrible at math) but the AP reported yesterday that it was the largest voter turnout in 90 years (the year that women got the vote).

[charliechaplinfan]

I have to take issue with the thin president? GW may have been called a lot of things but I wouldn't call him fat

Seriously, I love that quote you picked out. I don't qualify as a baby boomer but I do realise how great it is that our younger generation will think nothing of an ethnic minority or a woman running for high office. That's something to smile about.

[Lzcutter]

Politico has announced that it was the largest voter turnout ever (for a presidential election) with a 64% turnout, just slightly higher than the 1960 election that put JFK in the White House.

[bryce]

Oh crap. There was an election Tuesday?!

[silentscreen]

I have to take issue with the thin president? GW may have been called a lot of things but I wouldn't call him fat

George W. was never fat. In fact he was a pretty fit looking man for his age. I'm tired of bashing ol' George. It went on for two years, he's leaving office, and as the title of this thread says, "Enough!"

[klondike]

"Enough!"

The time to have said "Enough" on the subject of George W. Bush was during the 2004 election, when he'd already sentenced over a thousand American soldiers to tragically unnecessary deaths or mangled quasi-lives from service in Iraq & Afghanistan, before several thousand more were killed or disabled.
But hey, he had show-up Daddy, right? Old H. W. got almost a thousand G.I.'s killed, maimed & wounded in the equally pointless Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and Pop had barely even flexed the real U.S. Military Muscle!

[silentscreen]

There is no doubt that George W. messed up his second term in office. I'm not defending his failures, but he didn't mess everything up all by himself, it was used constantly as a campaign slogan during this election process, and it's time to move on. Being pissed off at George W. isn't going to accomplish anything positive. We don't need to dwell on a past that can't be reversed, we need to get on with the business at hand. We need to pray for the new president and all the challenges he faces. I believe in closing doors and opening windows.

[klondike]

There is no doubt that George W. messed up his second term in office.

That's being entirely too generous, and too forgiving: just ask the families of American Soldiers who died in Iraq & Afghanistan, from the spring of 2002 to Nov. 3rd, 2004; that stammering frat-boy ghoul sacrificed literally hundreds of patriotic young Americans to the machinations of corporate petroleum, millionaire military contractors {like his V.P.}, and hardline Republican agendists {like Rove, Ashcroft & Rumsfeld}; and all per force of his executive consent.

I'm not defending his failures, but he didn't mess everything up all by himself, it was used constantly as a campaign slogan during this election process, and it's time to move on.

No, you're right, he didn't mess up everything by himself, but I'm not looking to blame him for everything, just the so-called "Iraqi Conflict" (what a wonderfully homogenized euphemism that is, rather like labeling 4 gore-spattered years in Korea as a "police action"); after all, there is a real reason why, for good or ill, our president is called "commander in chief": no movement of armed U.S. troops to any foreign-soil conflict is possible
without his complete understanding thereof, his absolute verbal consent, and finally, his validating signature, before witnesses, on documents of hostile military intent. Whoever else might be formulating and engineering the legitimacy of military involvement, it ultimately cannot become an actual reality without the President's deliberate, personal consent.

Being pissed off at George W. isn't going to accomplish anything positive. We don't need to dwell on a past that can't be reversed, we need to get on with the business at hand. We need to pray for the new president and all the challenges he faces. I believe in closing doors and opening windows.

So do I, SS; and that's how I felt when I listened, from my GI hospital bed, to Tricky Dick announcing that he was finally agreeing to withdraw troops from Viet Nam; and when I attended a commemoration service for the slain Kent State Four, on that campus in Ohio; and when I heard lame duck puppet Gerry Ford announce that our King in exile, Richard the Worst, would receive a complete and absolute executive pardon, with or without Congressional approval, never mentioning that it would also absolve him from all war management misdeeds just as much as it would from the Watergate farrago. I've prayed for strength for every new American president since JFK was shot, and repeatedly vowed my intention to let all the old nightmares go, and not to fossilize my heart by "dwelling on the past", as did, I believe, the majority of my fellow "Baby Boomers"; we all embraced the idea of closing doors & opening windows.
But the hard & tragic lesson of Korea never kept us out of Viet Nam, did it?
And all the pain & insanity & blood & anguish & death in 'Nam didn't quite touch our multi-decade professional politicians enough to say No ! to our inexcusably corrupt involvement in Kuwait, and heck, who cares about body-bags and grossly overcrowded VA hospitals, when you're winning back those oilfields, right?
And Lord knows, we can't let those Haliburton stocks dip too low, so let's nominate a major shareholder into executive office, then propagandize some Homeland shock 'n awe, til we can justify ordering tens of thousands of American troops to the Middle East on a Weapons of Mass Destruction easter egg hunt; 'course those eggs explode, but who cares, profits are back up!
Puts me in mind of The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" . . I just keep wishing the words in the title would come true . .
Who knows . . maybe with this Administration, they will.
Against all the "lessons" of my lifetime, so far . . I continue to hope!

[SSO Admins]

While I was an Obama supporter and I'm very glad he won, I realize that many good people disagrre with me.

However, there was at least one election Tuesday in which no matter who got the most votes all the voters won.

[mrsl]

Klondike:

If I had a printer, I would print your post and hang it on the wall for times my patriotism wanes. A few things to add: the time to say Enough was when we learned the Florida voting machines were fixed and he did NOT win the election, not to mention that something is wrong when the popular vote is overridden by the electoral vote. Another is to say, "hey guys, somethings happened, and I have to leave right away to do President things, I'll be back to read to you later", instead of looking like he wanted to wet his own pants.

Until its over and our boys and girls are home, we still need someone to blame, and Dubya is a perfect choice since he is an idiot and he and Cheney should have both resigned long ago, since Congress didn't bother to impeach them.

Anne

[Dewey1960]

I strongly urge and recommend that anyone who believes that the key members of the Bush administration need to be held accountable for the travesty in Iraq read the new book by Vincent Bugliosi, THE PROSECUTION OF GEORGE W. BUSH FOR MURDER. Bugliosi, as most recall, was the notorious L.A. prosecutor responsible for putting Charles Manson away. His new book is one of the strongest, most passionate cries for justice I have ever read.
Here's a clip of Bugliosi discussing the book:
[youtube][/youtube]

[charliechaplinfan]

There is no doubt that George W. messed up his second term in office. I'm not defending his failures, but he didn't mess everything up all by himself, it was used constantly as a campaign slogan during this election process, and it's time to move on. Being pissed off at George W. isn't going to accomplish anything positive. We don't need to dwell on a past that can't be reversed, we need to get on with the business at hand. We need to pray for the new president and all the challenges he faces. I believe in closing doors and opening windows.

I think what Silentscreen is trying to say is that she isn't a Bush supporter or an Obama supporter. She's not trying to make excuses for Bush, I don't think there are any that can be made. The time has come to move forward with fresh policies and a new face in the White House.

[silentscreen]

You are right on the money Alison. The man I wanted didn't get past the primaries. Oh, and he's not in any way connected to GWB. After that I wasn't much interested, but I voted because it's a right I treasure. This was a really long and ugly process. I'm just glad it's over, and I want to move on.