Comments for Evaluating Obama's First 100 Days at http://www.hatchforsenate.com , comment 1 to 4 out of 4 comments http://www.hatchforsenate.com Sun, 05 Sep 2010 01:09:04 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.hatchforsenate.com/blog/evaluating-obamas-first-100-days#comment-46 The whole problem in Washington is that - to us who are working hard in our everyday lives and doing all that we can to contribute to society - it feels like we have the Jets and the Sharks running the country. They can't get along and nobody is interested in meeting in the middle. Another big issue I have is that Barack Obama appears to be pushing us into a socialist nation with all of this nationalizing the auto industry, banks, and now trying to get rid of private student loans (which will affect me directly). There's nothing anyone can do about it because the media portrays him as an untouchable celebrity and everything that comes out of his mouth is brilliant. Well, Hitler was a great orator as well but his policies were a bit twisted to say the least. I feel like my freedoms are being sabotaged everyday he is in office and nobody there is doing anything to represent the silent majority. Further, although I do like you Orrin Hatch, I really am not fond of career politicians because it seems like they forget their true purpose. An great example would be Arlen Specter - he's a dirtbag. He's not representing anyone but himself and that is frustrating. How many other "public servants" share his same motives and ideas? - Roxanne Barlow Fri, 08 May 2009 10:44:05 +0100 http://www.hatchforsenate.com/blog/evaluating-obamas-first-100-days#comment-45 The marked difference in the way the media treats Obama versus other presidents is laughable. No probing questions. No challenges to the one-of-a-kind massive spending and debt programs. No heated debates over foreign policy. No -- instead he is treated like a celebrity, and journalists want to appear as his friend ... basking in the reflected glow of his popularity. So when Orrin Hatch delivers a scathing review of Obama's first 100 days, I have no doubt that journalists and liberals with simply label it as "whining." But in fact, he points out the very frightening reality of what these past 100 days will burden America with for the next decade or longer. And it appears that given another 100 days, the tax burden will become greater, our ability to compete in the world marketplace will grow weaker, our strength (real and perceived) in the world will be diminished, and we may be well on our way to slipping in status to a 2nd-class country: impotent, non-competitive, and forced to take a back seat regarding world affairs. If the long-term consequences were not so dire, the utter foolishness and naivete' of the Democrats and liberals would be laughable. It is a sad chapter in American history that we fail to understand what freedom actually is. And it is NOT bloated government. - Paul Martin Fri, 08 May 2009 10:33:57 +0100 http://www.hatchforsenate.com/blog/evaluating-obamas-first-100-days#comment-44 Your op-ed is a complete waste of time and effort for a number of reasons. The primary reason being that our political culture has been so polluted with stupid decisions and non-substantive bickering for so long that it is virtually impossible to have any meaningful dialog on any issue. You complain that Obama did not take the opportunity to work with Republicans on ideas that would have a real economic impact and while that's true in theory the reality is that the Republicans in Congress were spending at least as much energy shouting "bad idea" to everything that the president was proposing as they were to promoting any alternative. (Sometime when you have an hour to talk I'd be more than happy to share what should be happening in Washington.) The reason that your op-ed was a complete waste of time is that this same spirit of Washington politics has filtered down to the electorate as a whole. Anytime someone writes a political op-ed 95% of the readers fall into three camps defined by their relationship to the writer - "the writer is in the other party so I disregard anything said as largely false", "the writer is a member of my party, but does more harm than good so I will ignore whatever they have written", or "the writer is on my team politically and so I agree with whatever is written with no questions asked." Nothing is accomplished by the op-ed because virtually nobody is reacting rationally - they are all reacting based on their established positions and the op-ed does nothing to alter those existing positions. If you want to help revive the Republican party to the point that they can have a meaningful voice in the nation again - and if you want to return America to her greatness you need to stop writing op-eds and start helping to reform the culture of the Republican party. Let the Democrats self-destruct (they will, just as the Republicans have done) and focus on building into the Republican party a culture of individual integrity where we can discuss our ideas openly without political posturing so that others inside and outside the party can trust us again. We need to be able to disagree honestly and discuss frankly if we are to again become a party of principles and ideas rather than an opposition party. - David Fri, 08 May 2009 10:29:14 +0100 http://www.hatchforsenate.com/blog/evaluating-obamas-first-100-days#comment-43 The whole problem with the way Washington works is that everything is partisan no matter what. Even your evaluation of the President's first 100 days is partisan. Did he really do nothing that you could be even remotely happy about in his first 100 days? - Laura Fri, 08 May 2009 10:14:40 +0100