This is very brief summary.
My info is derived from BBC News.

So far, in the 2 weeks in power, i have noted a few things he has done/influenced.

Closed down Guantanamo Bay
Proposed(Put in place yet?) caps on executive pay, stamping out what i consider greed within the "elite" higher classes of buisnessmen.
Urged stimulus bill action.

Discuss his proposals so far.

Note what his promises were before coming to office, and what he has done since.

I think i speak for most of the Brits when i say we're happy with whos in charge of America (for once)

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  do her}
elseif(getThingFlags(source) & 0x4){
  do other babe}
else{
  do a dude}

Simply smashing, old chap.

Obama broke a promise

the obamameter is pretty sweet

From a Canadian:

I think his approval rating polls are already in a death spiral and it's not his fault. The Republicans used the media to make sure that he alone held the blame for cabinet nominees not paying their taxes. Obama's plans are pretty good, but all of the senators and congressmen - Republican and Democrat alike - are a bunch of sleazy con artists who are busy trying to stuff the bill full of their junk like it's one of their mistresses. Somehow Fox also has him taking the blame for the financial companies spending the money Bush gave them on year end bonuses and luxury jets?

I emphasized polls because they don't actually reflect the way normal people think, it's just what the media wants to make people think other people think. If you follow.

I don't really care about the Cuba thing, but I think the Exec cap is awesome. Though .. it sounds better than it actually is. I looked into it, and some execs that got bailed are still making millions and millions. Good idea, poor execution.

...We've only been unhappy with that since about 2002.

Obama has stamped out greed among executives.

no he hasn't... the greed is still there and always will be... only way to stamp it out is to hand me a chainsaw and the freedom to do whatever i want with it

>.>
<.<

He hasn't done anything yet. He's made decrees that don't take effect for months, and he's backed a congressional stimulus bill that is out of control.

In all fairness, he has helped the IRS catch several tax evaders by nominating them for his Cabinet. Maybe if he nominates a few other people we can actually afford the stimulus bill.

Damn foreigners mind your own business. It's not like Americans have opinions of your politicians. (Finland is ruled by a woman! :downswords:)

American business is everyones business.
Who else would we laugh at? >_>

Anyone else see his angry speech today?

This is basically the things I came away with from just general observation:

1. Closed Gitmo (Perhaps a bit rashly)
2. Backing bill with all the same pork blah
3. Picked 3 people who broke the law in his cabinet
4. Hopefully is going to end DEA raids on medicinal marijuana (woo!)

Still to early to tell anything of note...

The entirety of Congress needs to be ousted. Obama just wanted a stimulus. Congress LOADED THE **** OUT OF THE BILL with very wasteful pork spending. If this passes and I'm sure it will, it will prove that wild, unchecked spending will make it through anytime. Congress will be this nation's undoing.

I'm sorry but voting should require a license and an IQ > a brick.

Well that's the thing. People knew exactly what they were voting for and corporations knew exactly who they were sponsoring: someone who would pursue their interests in the federal government.

They aren't stupid, they just don't care. They, personally, benefit greatly by loading the bill down with pork.

My only comment so far is this:

**** Eric Holder.

Apart from that I do not yet have an opinion.

Just for the record, Guantanamo isn't closed yet, he signed a bill that will close it eventually. Regardless, he's still going to move those prisoners SOMEWHERE so I don't get what all the excitement is about. I do like the fact that they will get trials, I am 100% against detaining anyone without charging them, giving them access to competent attorneys, and trying them in a reasonable amount of time.

All that being said, I am still really confused about how it's legal in the US to go to another country, pick some people up, and then detain them for breaking American laws.

Obama hasn't done anything of note yet, give it a few months.

Personally I'm glad Obama was elected president everytime I see his wife on screen. Hellllllllooooo misses President!

...srsly?

Is anything I say on these forums serious?

You mean when you said you loved me...

That was over MSN, you're safe, babyboy.

... Yea, because the Government has never done something that isn't legal before.:P

I like where this is going!

But can you handle it?

I want to see if this stuff about the US Threatening the UK with withdrawl of Intelligence data if they didnt shut some judges up about a Guantanamo Inmate.

If its true then the US can go **** itself.

I think we're doing a good enough job of that as it is.

I think he's doing crap so far:

1) Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
He signed this into legislation. Allows for for employees to have an easier time sueing for pay discrimination in the workplace.

That is a brilliant move [/sarcasm] in a time when all companies are hurting and employees are losing jobs.

Give employees an easier way to sue employers (we already know how lawsuit happy people are in this country) if they feel like they deserve more money.

How are small companies supposed to prepare for all of this? It demands an increase in HR responsibilities, lawyer fees, and everything else related to it. That's if an employee doesn't even sue. If they sue - a lawsuit could destroy a small company.

I get all this "fair" mentality Obama is pushing - but ffs, is it realistic? Life isn't fair. To me this is a retarded measure in the time we are in (I'm referring to ecomony). We can argue the merits of this law (well they shouldn't be discriminated against) but look at how abused the judicial system is. You don't see a window here?

2) The scare tactics

I get the logic that while Obama proposed a stimulus, it's the Congressman who have added all the fluff.

Regardless, have you turned on the news and listened to the administration? This is supposed to rally us up? Talking about how bad of a situation we are in? Yeah, that gives me hope. Did anyone see the press conference today? Guy went on and on with stats like "If we count the number of jobs lost in last four months, that's more than the entire amount of jobs in South Carolina!!!"

Leave these stats for the news. Don't have the people in charge be making it sound like it's possible we can never recover from this if the stimulus doesn't pass now as is.

Going back to my point - Obama proposed a stimulus. It then got to almost $900 BILLION dollars. I applaud the Senate (mainly Republicans) for saying "Um, has anyone actually read the stuff in this bill?"

Then Obama comes out and makes it sound like you are damning the country if you don't sign the bill now. That if you have an issue with the bill, you are wrong because you are thinking like the past.

Has anyone read the original proposed bill here? At least seen the measures in it? It's a freaking joke! They're pulling this create 3.6 millions jobs number out of their ***, all based on the idea it could create jobs.

Look at the Broadband part of the bill. 6 billion dollars to try and spread broadband access to everyone. This is helping the problems that got us in this mess? There's no oversight of who gets the 6 billion - so big companies could get it making smaller companies go out of business since don't have the funding (thus you lose jobs). 6 billion isn't enough to accomplish the goal. There's no guarantee big companies will even create jobs for it. Look it up how very few groups who would be affected were happy with the broadband bill.

And this is only 0.6% of the bill.

Obama has lost a ton of respect for me because of this scare tactic crap. The bill has obvious fluff. No one is going to think you're bad because you say "it should be trimmed". Instead, he says we will fail unless its not of the scope proposed.

Well, that was too long a post. And that's only 2 things

Surely giving everyone free wifi would do more good (and be cheaper and easier) than trying to spread broadband?

Except wifi is crap.

Especially wifi with dial-up.

The whole point of the stimulus package is that it *is* pork barrel spending. Random deficit spending will make the GDP rise just because of the way it is calculated. That's basic Keynesian economics, although I doubt he would advocate doing that in this particular situation. It seems to me like we're looking to the same economic thinkers who got us into this mess to get us out. Why not at least listen to the people who predicted this would happen.

The worst part of this is I haven't heard very much real debate or coverage on the economic theory behind this whole deal. Everyone is busy quibbling over details, but there's precious little attention being given to the different economic schools of thought and their perspectives on this issue. And what about coverage of how massively this will hurt us in the future? Even if this does work, you can just about say good bye to anything like national health care and hello to higher taxes. If it doesn't, we may be in a bit of a pickle.

And what happened to change? This is basically the exact same thing that Bush failed to push through congress a month ago.

Well if he managed to get it through, then thats a change.

Some "pork" may help for a little bit, but once bridges and roads are built there are no more financial benefits of the spending. Money needs to go towards things that will help create long-term jobs. The US needs investments instead of handouts.

The basic problem is that we're trying to squeeze blood from a turnip.

People are too specialized, and thus incapable of taking care of themselves.

When (GASP) we find that we only need so many widget 9000s, people lose their hyper-specialized jobs.

And, having no income, they find it difficult to survive.

What we need is a system that takes all this into account, not one that sweeps it under the rug and ignores it (the one we have now).

People who become to specialized in a common field doom themselves. No system should "bail" people out that are too narrow sighted to see the need for diversity.

True, but at the same time the government shouldn't impede one's ability to do so at every turn like it does now.

There is no system in place as of yet that prevents anyone from learning something new.

I'll let you know when we invent mind control to prevent this from happening.