A lot will depend on gas prices. Right now, a global economic slowdown is being fingered as the chief culprit, and that could well be given the austerity jonesing in Europe and elsewhere, but I noticed that the dropoff started around the time Obama (and various former Israeli leadership figures) started doing serious pushback against the let’s-nuke-Iran talk being drummed up by Netanyahu et al, talk that was adding about thirty cents to the price of every gallon of gas in the US.

If gas prices stay well south of $4.00 a gallon during summer driving season, Obama will be in much better shape than if they don’t.

The public opinion on Obama’s handling of the economy has soured. This is just great. Continuing to keep Geithner (a Wall Street stooge) as the secretary is finally paying off.

in…uhhhh…related news, Greek banks are preparing for the possibility of Greece going back to the Drachma:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/banks-prepare-return-drachma-083804551.html

If that happens, the bankster ripples will be felt a long way off.

Right. With Tim firmly in the saddle nothing will change and Obama will listen to nobody. Barry is as arrogant an inflexible as BV$H 2 was and considering his supposed great intelligence it really doesn’t wear well on him.

Phoenix is right. Gas prices are one of the main mine canary’s for a president running for re-election. And since the president has some leeway to affect them, not least by threatening to release some of the “strategic reserve” if they get too high for his political comfort, it’s likely that the republicans won’t be able to use them against him with much success.

Of course, if one U.S. JDAM goes sailing into Iran, or if one Israeli bomb is dropped, all the bets are off. Which is why Obama cut a deal with Netanyahu to hold off on “doing” Iran, at least until after the election. We don’t know what the “quid” was for the “quo” but there had to be one. Happily, some influential Israelis are pointing out the lunacy of attacking Iran.

It aint rocket science; in sustaining and protecting some of the worst of Bush’s policies, Obama has foolishly left a BUNCH of plates spinning. Trying to keep them going until after his possible re-election is going to be a trick.

Back to the gas-price thing: We DO love tooling around, even if we’re not going anywhere, which is a pretty good metaphor for Barack Obama’s presidential “accomplishments”.

You got that right. The whole Obama presidency has been a “five ball juggle”. I’m not necessarily defending him, but he has had his hands full dealling with N. Korea, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, Netanyahu, Boehner, McConnel, Cantor, the pipeline issue, BP, gay marriage, and ALL the loonies across the country.

But, as Super Chicken said to his faithful sidekick Fred, “You knew the job was dangerouse when you took it.”

Here’s an irony….Obama has been against the expansion of medical marijuana use. If more people had access to medical marijuana I’d bet the “optimism” in the country would be much higher. (Pardon the pun)

Ah, but haven’t you heard? “Consumer Sentiment” is at a 4 year high:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/consumer-sentiment-more-4-yr-135927376.html

It’s all manipulated bullsh*t, made up numbers so the sheeple think they’re getting a good deal when they’re being f*cked like dogs.

Good thing he’s got all those Wall Street guys in his Administration to back him up, then.

And of course he chose to bomb Libya, which is now in chaos. And to ramp up tensions with Iran. And to surge troops in Afghanistan. And to send drones to drop bombs on civilians in Pakistan. And to expand offshore drilling for BP. And to approve part of the pipeline. Wow. Imagine if you were defending him.

Romney’s meanness and wealth does not seem to bother most Americans. Fits our taste for violence in sports and wars. The .01 percenters have established that a good life goal is to take the opportunity to get ahead…way ahead. So his being rich does not bother a lot of folks.
‘Mericans will vote for a guy they can have a beer with…I bet BO has nor prob. Choices suck.

This is the way this entire election cycle will go: Both parties have a natural interest in avoiding most issues of import, because: 1), they both share most of the same priorities and as such there is no basis for real debate, and 2), because neither party has any interest in making things better for most people. They’re too corrupt to care about anything that doesn’t involve off-shore bank accounts.

If the Duopoly’s main goals are to make us all poorer, hungrier and powerless, what on earth can they say that’s remotely positive or even interesting? American Exceptionalism is taking on a vastly different meaning now. We’re an exceptionally dysfunctional nation.

So we’ll see a lot of personal attacks. Mittens is a bully who kills dogs. Obama is a socialist. Ad infinitum….

That’s all there is, folks. The Future no longer exists in American discourse. Just bullshit.

“Consumer sentiment is at a 4 year high.”

Only if you don’t eat; don’t buy gas; (It’s still way up, despite dropping some recently…); don’t get sick or need medication; don’t need to buy new clothes; don’t need to deal with “bill creep” in phone-and-computer bills and auto insurance bills; don’t have to pay for kids going to college, etc., etc.,

Short of it: bushCo weren’t the only ones jiggering the numbers…

Romney’s meanness and wealth….”Fits our taste for violence in sports and wars.”

More of our troops have died in Afghanistan during Obama’s 3 and 1/2 year term, that died in the 6 years of Bush’s custody of that misery. Many more drone attacks and deaths of innocent civilians under Obama than with Bush.

Totally agree. I am just unable to wait to vote for the lack of hope and lack of change that this administration has been all about.

Cant forget weather and food supply-world wide. Also available clean water-our rates just went up and we have plenty of available water. I don’t see any rainbows on the horizon.

If this is surprising to some, they must have their head in the sand.

I am finally home after traveling the country for the last 6 months and have seen true depression across our country. Places that used to be filled with factories that employed hundreds and sometimes thousands were sitting empty and crumbling, whole cities were deserted. The churches seem to be doing fine, especially the mega-churches down south. One would think that one’s community would be reflective of the size of their church…That was not the case either as poverty,homelessness and unemployment were rampant through out the South. Most often it seemed that hope was all people were living on and they Hoped that someone would be wealthy or humanitarian enough to buy that desolate factory or store front and re-open it. They hope that Washington or their state governments will do the right thing and more often than not, many have been left blowing in the wind and desperate for help. People cannot eat or be clothed by hope and prayers.

How can regular Americans even think of economic optimism when they are watching their government take away: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, Unemployment benefits (for those who qualify),and ship our jobs out of the country. I talked to people who used to be moderately wealthy and lost everything…businesses, savings, house, car and family because of the unbridled greed from Washington to Wall Street.

The whole Gulf of Mexico is shut down thanks to BP, and who is being held responsible? Many communities, if they are lucky to have a grocery store, still have to put up with a store that provides little whole nutrition. I have seen stores where the produce should be composted and the meat shouldn’t even be allowed to be sold. Unfortunately, many people do not know how to do anything except what they are told to do…they don’t know how to grow food or even build the most simple of dwellings. Having an education does not make one immune to these travesties. I’m sure Washington and Wall Street want it that way.

Economic recovery could happen much quicker if we as Americans would stand together in solidarity for the good of America and clean up our own back yard first. Not to gain economic compensation, but because this is our home and it is the right thing to do. It has become quite obvious to me that continuing to engage in the “us” vs. “them” (i.e. Republican/Democrat, straight/LBGT&Q, Right/left, 1%/99%) dialog is getting us nowhere but further and more deeply divided.

Our country is turning into a police state and many are just standing around letting it happen out of fear. They are afraid if they speak up, they will lose the rest of what little most still have.

Two TV shows last night resurrected the Syria intervention dilemma. The government propagandists have returned to that subject to deflect from domestic problems. Christiane Amanpour was polluting the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, citing the need to intervene against Assad because the recent car bombings proved he couldn’t protect the people. Too bad the US supports the car bombers and the Al Qaeda fighters from Libya.

And Obama has either created or refused to deal effectively with the majority of those problems. As Tariq Ali describes his presidency, “surrender at home, war abroad”.

Well stated. Exceptional in the USA really means “special” as in special olympics. Our politicians are exceptionally disengaged from the citizens and US citizens are exceptionally disengaged from the world and display exceptionally USA-centric perspectives. There is no regard for how US policy disrupts and impoverishes other “sovereign” nations and peoples.

Well put.

I’ve never really understood why I’m supposed to be upset with Romney being hard-to-even-conceive rich as compared to Obama being I-can-imagine-it-but-no-way-in-hell-I’ll-ever-have-that-much rich. And so on for lots of political races.

They’re all rich. So rich that I entertain no fantasies that they understand my existence.

But then I don’t toss Marx in the garbage every time some journalist tells me how I should think about the socioeconomic status of various pols.

Good perspective-duly noted. I don’t agree with everything you say there, but a constructive dialog along these lines is exactly what we need.

I’d say there are still some conflicts worth taking part in, as ultimately they will never go away. But conflict doesn’t mean an acrimonious zero-sum game. And struggling for a better situation doesn’t absolve of us our responsibility to take care of ourselves and one another. Both can be done at the same time. I appreciate the number of constructive, civil debates and arguments I’ve had with political and cultural conservatives over the last few years. I put much of the little hope I have for this country in the fact that I seem to be able to have more and more of these as a lot of R-loyalist types I know have come to be as critical of their party as real progressives now are of the Ds. Unfortunately, countervailing against that is the rank intransigence and self-importance of the “middle” that have been pandered to for as long as I’ve been able to follow politics. I find they are the ones most resistant to finding novel solutions, as in their arrogance they think they’ve found the one true way and just shake their heads at those of us who continue to hope for ponies…