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ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

Now, mediocre president, fair enough. Falling short of promise, also fair enough. But even with a voodoo dick, some problems are persistent.

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ORIGINAL: TreasureKY

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ORIGINAL: domiguy

I am rarely wrong.

You claim that quite often here.

Pity it doesn't hold true.

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ORIGINAL: rulemylife

The problem, I think, is that the expectations of many of his supporters were too high and that the opposition has reinforced those feelings of disappointment.

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ORIGINAL: TheHeretic

It might not be so hard, Panda (and nice to see you!).

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ORIGINAL: TheHeretic
He'll be running against a crazed extreme, racist who will throw all the sick people out of the hospitals, and take away granny's social security check.

President Obama must decide now how he wants to govern in the two years leading up to the 2012 presidential election.

In recent days, he has offered differing visions of how he might approach the country's problems. At one point, he spoke of the need for "mid-course corrections." At another, he expressed a desire to take ideas from both sides of the aisle. And before this month's midterm elections, he said he believed that the next two years would involve "hand-to-hand combat" with Republicans, whom he also referred to as "enemies."

It is clear that the president is still trying to reach a resolution in his own mind as to what he should do and how he should do it.

This is a critical moment for the country. From the faltering economy to the burdensome deficit to our foreign policy struggles, America is suffering a widespread sense of crisis and anxiety about the future. Under these circumstances, Obama has the opportunity to seize the high ground and the imagination of the nation once again, and to galvanize the public for the hard decisions that must be made. The only way he can do so, though, is by putting national interests ahead of personal or political ones.

To that end, we believe Obama should announce immediately that he will not be a candidate for reelection in 2012.

The Democratic co-chairman [Democrat Erskine Bowles] of a deficit-reduction panel convened by the White House said that the blueprint he unveiled Wednesday was the product of lengthy discussions with Republicans, and he appeared to question past efforts by the administration to engage with the GOP on fiscal matters.

"I told people in the White House I had spent more time listening to people in the opposition party than they had done as a whole group," said Erskine Bowles, in an interview the day after he and Republican co-chairman Alan K. Simpson released a proposal for deep spending cuts and broad tax changes touching almost every aspect of the federal budget.

Throughout his presidency, Mr. Obama has struggled to build bridges to Republicans in Congress, who say the White House refused to take their ideas seriously.

In the interview, Mr. Bowles said he was pleasantly surprised by his experience with the panel's Republicans. Through the work of the commission, he said, "you get to know a guy like Tom Coburn, who's nothing like the caricature that's painted."

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ORIGINAL: Charles6682

What about the former governor of New York,George Pataki.He is by no mean's a liberal.It's amazing,he was re-elected in New York state 3 time's in a row.New Yorker's will vote for a Republican at time's.Just a thought.He would probaly carry New York state,which has a huge Eletorial College point's to it.He could probaly win Flordia.I don't think Flordia will win Flordia this year.he would probaly win Texas.He would probaly win every other state that vote's Republican anyway's,regardless of who the candiate is,as long as they have an R next to their name.Would certainly be a shot,at least.

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ORIGINAL: TheHeretic

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ORIGINAL: rulemylife

The problem, I think, is that the expectations of many of his supporters were too high and that the opposition has reinforced those feelings of disappointment.

And who built those expectations so high, RML? Remember, "the seas will stop rising, and the planet will begin to heal?" Can you Google the Berlin speech for yourself, or do I need to grab you a link to American Rhetoric?

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Falling short of promise