Ill-timed kickoff: Obama's re-election statement could have waited.

[Divernan]

Ill-timed kickoff: Obama's re-election statement could have waited
Thursday, April 07, 2011
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

President Barack Obama's announcement Monday that he will seek re-election did not show a deft touch, particularly in terms of timing.

Perhaps the most glaring sour note was his campaign's talk of hoping to raise $1 billion for the 2012 campaign at the same time that Democratic, Republican and tea party politicians may be setting in motion a government shutdown this week for want of a budget compromise.

Somehow the idea of people scraping together their dollars now to re-elect the president is a little hard to fathom while those in Congress spar over which federal programs, some of which benefit millions of Americans, to eliminate. The real targets of the campaign's opening pitch are the special interests that will be most likely to put up the big money constituting the bulk of the Obama contributions.

The contradiction of Mr. Obama's embrace of a new U.S. military campaign in Libya, the cost of which already is in the billions of dollars, and the skinning of domestic programs in an effort to reach compromise with the Republicans also casts a shadow over the appeal of his re-election campaign. The Libyan rebels are now criticizing NATO because its actions have not enabled them to win their battles against leader Moammar Gadhafi's forces. If Mr. Obama had hoped that a quick victory in Libya would add to his allure as a candidate, it hasn't worked out.



First published on April 7, 2011 at 12:00 am

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11097/1137552-192.stm#ixzz1IpT9pznn

[madrchsod]

1. 5:25 and the first unrecommend....

my, my, someone can`t handle the truth.

[zbdent]

2. one of only two presidential candidates

who aren't cashing paychecks from Rupert Murdoch ...

[JTFrog]

3. For some folks around here, apparently no time would have been a good time.

FFS

Just another day in the haterhood....

[Divernan]

4. Editorial from Dem paper in Dem County - don't ignore reality

This editorial is not written by or for "folks around here". Don't go off the deep end and label as "hater", any and all who criticize one of the President's actions.

I didn't post an opinion piece by Rush Limbaugh.

This is the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, nor Richard Scaiffe's Tribune-Review rag. When a paper like the P-G which traditionally espouses liberal causes over conservative ones on it's editorial pages, and which influences voters in the second largest city/county in Pennsylvania, criticizes the President, it behooves the President and his supporters to take note.

Now, if you wish to defend the President's timing, please do.

On edit: re-reading your post, it is unclear if the "folks around here"/hater you are referring to is me, for having posted this, or the replier who went on the defensive for Obama.

[JTFrog]

5. He has no choice.

He is up against Citizen's United.

I'll repeat myself, for some folks around here no time would have been a good time.

[Doctor_J]

9. There is a Dem paper in the US?

:rofl:

[yellowcanine]

12. I don't care who said it. It is a lame argument. It is not as if there has been some great

national tragedy. The threatened "government shutdown" is very much a manufactured out of whole cloth "emergency" being used by the Republicans to try to get as much of the tea party agenda into law as possible. If Obama changes his planned timing for the announcement the tea baggers win one round. A small win, yes, but still a win.

Besides, get used to it, because these kinds of "emergencies" are going to be occurring on a regular basis from now until the 2012 election. So there will always be some kind of argument that Obama shouldn't do this or that and the other thing because of the latest "emergency." This is a calculated Republican strategy to try to push Obama off his game. Obama is not going to fall for it and neither should we.

[yurbud]

6. so you come to a discussion board to NOT discuss? Should we just be one upping each other in praise

of Obama?

What is it about citizens keeping track of whether their elected representatives actually do the job they hired them to do that you don't like?

[JTFrog]

7. Discuss away.

Blame Obama. The pukes need all the help they can get these days.

[Bluenorthwest]

10. You use the word 'hater' so what word do you use to describe

people who think a minority group should not have equal rights to theirs? If a word of criticism of policy, language and timing is 'hate' then what word could fit those who hold that God likes their kind of person better than that other kind, who therefore should not have civil rights equal to others? If mild criticism is 'hate' then what word would you pick to describe those who say we 'lack a spiritual element' and so should not be allowed to make families like others? That sure is a stronger negative than a critical word about timing, is it not? Do you claim that the religion magically makes it 'not hate'?
Sorry, but if critic are haters then intolerant equality opponents need a stronger word to describe them, I mean other than President, Vice President and Sarah Palin.

[JTFrog]

11. I want everyone to have equal rights.

And I believe Obama does too. He started the ball rolling in the right direction. More so than any other President. That's why I'll continue to support him and push him to do the right thing.

I can't have honest discussions with people who equate Barack Obama and Joe Biden with Sarah Palin. Call that whatever you want.

[yurbud]

13. what do you come here for if not to discuss? How exciting would uncritical cheerleading be...

day after day?

[LittleGirl]

8. How do you know that they hadn't already delayed this

announcement? Because recently there was an earthquake and tsunami that took thousands of lives. They might have wanted to announce weeks ago.

Whatever. Like another commenter posted, it doesn't matter what the administration does, it's always the wrong choice, the wrong time and the wrong decision. I'm just sick of seeing it here on DU.

[Fearless]

14. Freedom of speech is a right not a privilege.

It was created so that those in the minority would have a voice.