USA Politics

I see your point and the difference might be a little fine, my main point is really I think Bill Clinton (and W and Obama) were more of a "I am one of you, I do regular things, eat regular food, etc" image where Reagan was certainly friendly, but (perhaps from his Hollywood days) was seen as living on a different level/lifestyle from the average citizen.

Of course I am sure in real life, Reagan had plenty aspects of his life that were common to most everyone and W. Bush, Clinton, Obama have plenty of areas where they are vastly different (beyond things directly relating to being President) than the "common folk".
 
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/02/rubio-implodes-in-new-hampshire-debate.html#

I watched this, and man, Christie beat the living shit out of Rubio, figuratively, and made him look like he was developmentally stunted. It was incredible - Christie has a rapier wit and a clever mind. Too bad for him that he (or people extremely close to him) closes bridges out of spite, because if that hadn't happened, this could have been done a long time ago.
 
Usually governors run as the "outsiders" (at least outside of Washington DC) ... Trump sucked up most of that space. I am not really sure the bridge deals means a whole lot. It would not really hurt him all in the general election, Hillary would have a hard time calling anyone out on shady dealings.
 
Thoughts on Bernie Sanders? Didn't see much talk about him in the previous pages. From what I've heard from him in his speeches and his debate performances, his political position seems to be identical to mine -though I call myself a social liberal instead of socialist- so he's the guy I'm cheering for from an outside perspective. Are his proposals just too unrealistic fiscally?
 
I could not disagree with him more on economic issues, but there is no way his ideas get past Congress ... he would have a hard time getting them past a democratic congress .. while the Dems have a shot to get the Senate this election, they will not have any kind of large majority and the Dems have no shot at the House.

On top of that, I do not see him getting elected or even winning the nomination .. though I would be thrilled if he beat Hillary
 
bearfan said:
but there is no way his ideas get past Congress
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Pretty much. I like his ideas but I don't see any of them going through realistically and he hasn't offered any real solutions to the issue of getting his ideas through a stubborn congress. If he gets the nomination, I'd probably vote for him just because I don't like the current Republican candidates (save for maybe Kasich and he doesn't stand a chance).

He also has the most annoying fanbase since Tool.
 
It is always enjoyable seeing Hillary implode .. Bill went on a long rant against Sanders, Albright said there "is a special place in hell for women that do not support women" (ie not voting for Hillary), Steinem said young women were going for Sanders because that "is where the young boys are"

Fun times
 
Not surprisingly, New Hampshire is being called for Trump and Sanders. Of interest will be a) the actual margins of victory, if Bernie cannot win big here, he is screwed in more diverse states and b) who comes in second and third (maybe 4th if 2-4 is closely bunched) in the GOP

The only possibly dropouts from this are Kasich and maybe Christie. Bush will probably go onto South Carolina no matter how he does here, but the other two pretty much bet everything on a good showing here

Of interest, even if Sanders wins big, he will not really get many more delegates than Hillary because of the super delegates .. all pledged to Hillary, so a 10 point win might only get him 4 or 5 more delegates than Hillary.

See here

http://www.cnn.com/election/primaries/states/nh/Dem

Right now 13% counted, Bernie up 56-42 .. but Hillary leads delegates 8-5 of the 32 that will eventually be allocated
 
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bearfan said:
I could not disagree with him more on economic issues, but there is no way his ideas get past Congress ... he would have a hard time getting them past a democratic congress .. while the Dems have a shot to get the Senate this election, they will not have any kind of large majority and the Dems have no shot at the House.

On top of that, I do not see him getting elected or even winning the nomination .. though I would be thrilled if he beat Hillary
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I have no idea how the process works in the States. No clue what the congress does, so didn't think of that being a factor, naturally.

I would still like him to win. I can't stand Hillary Clinton and the Republican candidates are just atrocious.
 
The Flash said:
I have no idea how the process works in the States. No clue what the congress does, so didn't think of that being a factor, naturally.
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Basically any new taxes and spending need to be approved by Congress first .. a very different system from parlimentary systems. There is a built-in conflict between the President and Congress (even if the same party has control of both branches, but especially when power is split)
 
The Flash said:
I have no idea how the process works in the States. No clue what the congress does, so didn't think of that being a factor, naturally.
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We have 3 branches of government that have to answer to each other, so the President has to work with congress to accomplish things. This was Obama's biggest hurdle in his last term with a Republican controlled congress, and he wasn't anywhere near as extreme left as Bernie is.

Here's a blurb on how the executive branch (where the President belongs) works: https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/executive-branch

Anyway I agree that Bernie is the only likable candidate, which speaks more to how messed up our government is right now.
 
The (attitude of the )congress needs to change. For sure. I forgot how often or when that happens, but surely, no President with sane ideas can function with the (mindset of these) people in this congress. It's just blocking for the sake of blocking, to frustrate the opponent, and to keep things the same, even when things need to be changed.

So I rather just focus on the President and his ideas, especially(!) during President election time, regardless of whoever wants to block their ideas. The ideas (and the speeches!) need to be good, to start off with.
 
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Forostar said:
So I rather just focus on the President and his ideas, especially(!) during President election time, regardless of whoever wants to block their ideas.
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This is what presidential candidates want people to think about. It's easy to have big ideas.

The fact of the matter is that the USA is a very large, very diverse country with a lot of very conservative people in it, and a lot of very liberal people in it. They aren't going to agree. I think the #1 thing any potential president needs to worry about is how to get their ideas through Congress, and that goes for the ultra right-wingers such as Cruz as well as the ultra-left wingers such as Sanders. Neither are viable presidents, especially in the post-Obama world where partisanship has become more important than anything else.
 
Exactly. I just wish the alternative to Bernie wasn't Hillary Clinton. I really dislike her but so far she seems like the only effective option.
 
We will see what happens in South Carolina. The narrative has been that Sanders can win younger white voters and not minorities or more conservative democrats. As the primaries head south, that demographic does not do him well. He does not need to win it, he just needs to not get his ass kicked. But, if he cannot extend his support beyond the types of voters that show up in Iowa/New Hampshire, he is pretty much toast .. there are simply not enough delegates for him.
 
LooseCannon said:
It's easy to have big ideas.
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I beg to differ on that matter. I don't see Rep candidates addressing problems with lobbying and the power of the weapon industry. Where are their big ideas? Where are their ideas when it comes to racism? Major issues. Not everyone addresses these issues. Not everyone shows big ideas. Ideas to keep things the same are not really ideas.
LooseCannon said:
I think the #1 thing any potential president needs to worry about is how to get their ideas through Congress, and that goes for the ultra right-wingers such as Cruz as well as the ultra-left wingers such as Sanders.
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Please correct me if I am wrong but you won't hear anything bout it during campaign. Did Bernie express his worries? Did he tell how he was going to do it?
LooseCannon said:
partisanship has become more important than anything else.
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This is the real problem. What needs to change: Just the President's ability to change this level of importance of Rep partisanship? That cannot only come from a President. Certainly not from a Dem President.
By this reasoning, a Republican president is needed to have influence on the Congress. No way. That's the world upside down. The major issues won't be addressed this way.

New people and new mindsets are needed in the circus that is called Congress.
 
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Hillary has been pretty much running on the point that Sanders is living in fantasyland if he thinks his ideas are going anywhere/will ever be implemented (Bill Clinton has been saying the same as well) ... Kasich/Rubio have been making similar arguments as well against (mainly) Trump
 
bearfan said:
But, if he cannot extend his support beyond the types of voters that show up in Iowa/New Hampshire, he is pretty much toast .. there are simply not enough delegates for him.
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Nevada and South Carolina happen on the 20th for the Democrats. Nevada is a caucus - where Sanders has more strengths, I think, than Hillary, but the demographics in Nevada are mildly different than in Iowa. South Carolina a good 80% of the voters will be black, and Bernie does not have a great reputation amongst African Americans.
 
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