The 'Barack Obama' Discussion Thread [merged]

MandyPerfumeGirl wrote:It's absolutely disgusting that people are so stupid as to think he wasn't born in this country. The fact that he was born in this country was established long, long ago or else he wouldn't have become president. Do these stupid Republicans think that U.S. citizenship is proven after he was elected president?

The reason why his U.S. citizenship is questioned by Republicans is they cannot stand that a black man holds the highest office in this country. In short, a black man is in charge, instead of the other way around (like it always used to be way back when), and they can't stand it. They didn't get their way in 2008, so they did the mature thing which is they're trying to bring him down in any way they can.

MSNBC suspends analyst for off-color remark about Obama


Mark Halperin, an MSNBC political analyst, was suspended Thursday by the network for making an anatomatical reference about President Obama. (MSNBC)


By James Oliphant

June 30, 2011, 8:56 a.m.
MSNBC suspended political analyst Mark Halperin on Thursday morning after he used an anatomical epithet to describe President Obama on the “Morning Joe” show.

Halperin, an editor at Time magazine, was discussing Obama’s barbed comments aimed at Republicans made at Wednesday’s press conference and said that he thought the president was a being “kind of a ...."

“Mark Halperin's comments [Thursday] morning were completely inappropriate and unacceptable,” MSNBC said in a statement. “We apologize to the president, the White House and all of our viewers. We strive for a high level of discourse and comments like these have no place on our air. Therefore, Mark will be suspended indefinitely from his role as an analyst.”

Halperin issued an apology as well.

“I completely agree with everything in MSNBC’s statement about my remark. I believe that the step they are taking in response is totally appropriate,” he said. “Again, I want to offer a heartfelt and profound apology to the president, to my MSNBC colleagues, and to the viewers. My remark was unacceptable, and I deeply regret it.”

Halperin rose to prominence in Washington circles as the man behind the daily ABC Internet report named “The Note,” which offered a dishy inside perspective on the D.C. political scene and attracted a heavy following. He’s a co-author of “Game Change,” a chronicle of the 2008 presidential campaign that is being made into a film by HBO.

Thursday morning, Halperin appeared to be encouraged to some degree to be off-color by the hosts of “Morning Joe,” Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.

“Are we on the seven-second delay today?” Halperin asked. “I wanted to characterize how I thought the president behaved.”

“We have it we can use it,” Brzezinski said. “Go for it.”

“Take a chance,” Scarborough said.

“I thought he was kind of a ... yesterday,” Halperin said.

“Delay that. Delay that. What are you doing?” Scarborough said. “I can’t believe you! I was joking. Don’t do that! Did we delay that?”

The remark was not bleeped, and viewers heard it in its entirety.

Here's video. Warning: the video contains offensive language:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

JM130ELM wrote:a reputable news network

(Oh!) Rob Petrie wrote:OH NO THE MAN SAID A DERRTY WORD OMG NO BLOCK MY EARS IVE LOST MY INNOCENCE

Unprofessional? Yes.

Outrageous? No.

Gallup: Obama job rating sinks below 40% for first time

President Obama leaves the Oval Office on Saturday on his way to play golf at Andrews Air Force Base. (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press)

President Obama's summer woes have dragged his approval rating to an all-time low, sinking below 40% for the first time in Gallup's daily tracking poll.

New data posted Sunday shows that 39% of Americans approve of Obama's job performance, while 54% disapprove. Both are the worst numbers of his presidency.

Obama's approval rating has hovered in the 40% range for much of 2011, peaking at 53% in the weeks following the death of Osama bin Laden.

But Americans' view of his job performance continued to tick downward as the debt-ceiling debate heated up. By the time he signed legislation averting a federal default, he was mired in the low-40% range.

The polling setback comes as the Republican race to unseat him has kicked into overdrive. The past week has been dominated by the activity in Iowa ahead of the Ames Straw Poll, and the entrance of a new contender in Texas Gov. Rick Perry. The candidates have routinely assailed Obama's leadership in appealing to conservative activists who dominate this stage of the nominating contest.

Obama is set to launch something of a counter-offensive on Monday with a three-day bus tour of the Midwest, a trip that includes two stops in Iowa. The White House denied that the itinerary was politically motivated, however.

The three-day tracking poll was conducted from Aug. 11-13.

Chris wrote:Time for Obama to stop fence walking to placate everyone, and unleash his inner Clinton.

Latinos To Obama: Change On Immigration Or Else


First Posted: 8/16/11 06:55 PM ET Updated: 8/16/11 06:55 PM ET


WASHINGTON -- Some Latinos around the country rallied on Tuesday against the White House's deportation policies, attempting to send a message to President Barack Obama that they may not support him for reelection if he continues to deport record numbers of undocumented immigrants.

"We don't need to discourage people from voting for President Obama," rally organizer Roberto Lovato of the Latino organization Presente.org told HuffPost. "He's doing a smashing job of it himself."

Latinos came out in record numbers for Obama in 2008, helping propel him to victory over John McCain. Obama's support from Latinos was based on his personality and politics, but also his rhetoric on immigration -- consistently among the top issues for many Latino voters.

Obama promised to deliver immigration reform and create paths to citizenship for some of the estimated 11 million undocumented people living in the United States. But after two years in office, he has yet to achieve even incremental steps toward comprehensive immigration reform, and meanwhile has expanded immigration enforcement to record levels.

Obama deported 393,000 people in the 2010 fiscal year, with an overall deportation record that far exceeds his predecessor, George W. Bush.

Some Latinos now have a message for the president: If deportations continue at high rates, he should not count on their votes in 2012.

"We know that the people in the Obama campaign ... are running a campaign that assumes that Latino voters will take anything over a Republican, including a Democrat that is worse than a Republican on immigration," Lovato said. "Our actions are to show that you're wrong."

Still, he said, they are not encouraging voters not to vote for Obama. "The idea is to save the Obama campaign" from defeat by a Republican, Lovato told HuffPost.

It's a message Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) has made as well. Gutierrez is applying pressure to the Obama administration to halt some deportations as part of a campaign he calls "Change Takes Courage." He said some Latinos may withhold votes from Obama unless he makes changes to his deportation policy, although he acknowledged that the alternatives are also unappealing to many.

"It's not about voting for the Tequila Party and it's not about voting for Republicans," he said in June. "I don't see Latinos doing that. What I see them doing is staying home."

The Obama campaigne has continued to court Latino voters, with the president visiting the border states and Puerto Rico for speeches, as well as appearing at a national conference for Latino organization National Council of La Raza.

"The President remains committed to fixing our broken immigration system while most of the Republican presidential candidates, and Republican leaders in Congress, are opposed to a comprehensive solution," Gabriela Domenzain, spokeswoman for the Obama campaign said in an email statement.

One conflict is over Secure Communities, an immigration enforcement program that shares fingerprints taken by local police with immigration authorities. Hundreds of Latinos and immigrants' rights supporters packed into a conference room to discuss their problems with the program on Monday evening.

The Obama administration announced on Aug. 5 that it would terminate its memorandums of agreement with states over participating in the program, effectively removing the states' ability to say no to what was originally touted as a voluntary program.

DHS has attempted to respond to some criticisms of the program, announcing in June it will reform the program to protect victims of crime and prevent racial profiling, two major concerns cited by critics of the program.

"DHS and ICE have been receptive to the community’s concerns and have worked with community stakeholders, law enforcement and ICE officials to make significant changes to the Secure Communities program, announced on June 17, to protect civil rights, protect victims of domestic violence and other crimes and to ensure the program is consistent with the top enforcement priorities," said Domenzain of the Obama campaign.

More than half of those deported under the program have criminal records, the administration announced in a document meant to "set the record straight" on Tuesday.

Still, immigration reform supporters argue the program should be discontinued altogether. They delivered thousands of petitions to the Obama campaign headquarters in Chicago, and held protests at Democratic offices in Houston, Boston, Miami, Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C.

“We have a president who promised in 2008 to pass immigration reform during his first year in office; he promised to be a friend for the Latino community," Presente.org organizer Carlos Roa said in a statement. "As president, he has delivered the total opposite of his promises. His decision to mandate [Secure Communities] is a direct and devastating attack to Latinos and immigrants. He must do the right thing and end [Secure Communities] now."

Forgiveness Man wrote:Obama has never fencewalked and he never tried to please everyone (at least not once he was in office). (Although the guy has no inner Clinton. I think Clinton sucked and even I can admit that he could do circles around Obama.) Obama is just not a leader and that is what brought his numbers down. The guy doesn't bring anything to the table except "I'm not Bush" and that only gets you so far when the economy is tanking. I think America just sees that the man just doesn't live up to his words.

CeCe wrote:Or else...what? They'll vote for a republican? Really? lmao

CeCe wrote:Or else...what? They'll vote for a republican? Really? lmao

Nystyle709 wrote:How can you say this and "Clinton sucked" in the same paragraph?