I have read through all three articles in this thread, and honestly, everyone is blowing this way out of proportion. The "Thank Jesus" article is talking about how seemingly Obama influenced event to help these people, when he honestly didn't do all that much. The woman and her son were put in contact with the housing officials.

And then we have this Osegueda guy. It seems to me that he asked a perfectly legitimate question, as it boils down to "How are you going to help me?" which is in itself harmless. After all, it is a natural instinct to want one's self to be protected before worrying about others. Yeah, he did thank god when Obama called on him, but he is 19, pumped up with testosterone and adrenalin, and is talking to the president. Put yourself in his shoes, but replace Obama with someone you idealize, and understand that odds are you would have motormouth too.

The real crime here is the fact that this isn't news... at all. Obama answered some questions, a guy got a job because of the exposure, and a State Representative offered someone a house. Only the last one is even remotely news worthy. And you know what? That Republican blog isn't helping either. It isn't like Obama fucked up, he answered some questions and did little things that may make some people's lives easier. Oh noes, he is combining church and state to fix the economy.

In short, just let the story die, because it is stupid no matter how you try to spin it.

Dr. Jeebus wrote:

nihilisticglee wrote: I have read through all three articles in this thread, and honestly, everyone is blowing this way out of proportion. The "Thank Jesus" article is talking about how seemingly Obama influenced event to help these people, when he honestly didn't do all that much. The woman and her son were put in contact with the housing officials. And then we have this Osegueda guy. It seems to me that he asked a perfectly legitimate question, as it boils down to "How are you going to help me?" which is in itself harmless. After all, it is a natural instinct to want one's self to be protected before worrying about others. Yeah, he did thank god when Obama called on him, but he is 19, pumped up with testosterone and adrenalin, and is talking to the president. Put yourself in his shoes, but replace Obama with someone you idealize, and understand that odds are you would have motormouth too. The real crime here is the fact that this isn't news... at all. Obama answered some questions, a guy got a job because of the exposure, and a State Representative offered someone a house. Only the last one is even remotely news worthy. And you know what? That Republican blog isn't helping either. It isn't like Obama fucked up, he answered some questions and did little things that may make some people's lives easier. Oh noes, he is combining church and state to fix the economy. In short, just let the story die, because it is stupid no matter how you try to spin it. Was the guy's question really that legitimate? His question was "I work a minimum wage job. Will you give me free benefits?" That's not the government's job to do, and Obama's answer (having now watched the video) doesn't really address that. As for the guy marking out and thanking God just for being called out, the guy is a tool. He was even wearing an Obama shirt, if you noticed. You're right that this isn't really newsworthy, however, but since it made the news I had to comment on how ridiculous the story was and point out everything wrong with this. You have to realize that shit like this is giving Obama a lot of undeserved goodwill with the American people. That's not to say that he's fucking up, but news stories shouldn't be trying to give him credit or blame for things that he isn't doing. The left would have you believe that Obama parted the Red Sea for Moses, and the right would have you believe that he put Hitler into power. I'd like the news to actually focus on what he is doing. For example: when Obama was trying to push the stimulus bill through, there was almost no talk about what was in the stimulus bill and whether it was good or bad. The news was all about either Obama trying to save us or the Republicans standing together to try to stop Obama. None of that was really informative or helpful to the American people.

See, then whether or not his question was legitimate or not comes down to whether you lean to the left or the right of the political spectrum. I believe it doesn't matter how much money you earn, if you are working hard you should have benefits, and that the government should enforce that. I would also rather have some lazy people take advantage of the system if it does reward those who are hard working. It comes down to party ideals rather then intelligence.

I also don't think he is a tool for being so exciting by being called on. He is a 19 year old guy who probably has some illusions of grandeur, but we all do that about people we admire. This is probably something we are just going to have to agree to disagree on.

As for the stimulus bill, yeah, the media has grossly mishandled that. News blows these days, because people don't want news anymore, they want sides to root for, and opinions are the easiest way to set up sides.

Dr. Jeebus wrote:

And Nihilistic, hardworking people should get job benefits, but that's the responsibility of the employer, not the federal government. If a particular employer does not offer job benefits then they will lose their valuable and hardworking employees to other companies within that industry that do offer benefits. With the state of the economy that may be easier said than done, but that does not mean the responsibility then falls to the federal government to provide for everyone. After all, these are job BENEFITS, not rights granted to us in the constitution. The federal government's job is to fix the economy, and they're not going to do that by pouring a ton of money that we don't even have into welfare programs.

See, this will need of being another thing we will have to agree to disagree on, as it seems to be a different in what the government's job is. I don't trust companies enough to reward those who work hard, and believe the government should be doing something about that.

Dr. Jeebus wrote:

nihilisticglee wrote: Dr. Jeebus wrote: And Nihilistic, hardworking people should get job benefits, but that's the responsibility of the employer, not the federal government. If a particular employer does not offer job benefits then they will lose their valuable and hardworking employees to other companies within that industry that do offer benefits. With the state of the economy that may be easier said than done, but that does not mean the responsibility then falls to the federal government to provide for everyone. After all, these are job BENEFITS, not rights granted to us in the constitution. The federal government's job is to fix the economy, and they're not going to do that by pouring a ton of money that we don't even have into welfare programs. See, this will need of being another thing we will have to agree to disagree on, as it seems to be a different in what the government's job is. I don't trust companies enough to reward those who work hard, and believe the government should be doing something about that. If the government should be making sure everyone gets what they need, should we just become socialists?

Remember, I lean pretty far to the left, so yeah, I wouldn't mind socialism that much. That being said, I know socialism isn't the most popular form of government and probably wouldn't go over well with a good portion of the country, so I am not in a rush to see the government change.

And Syd, I don't think think it is the government's job to help those who dig themselves into a hole, but there are hardworking people who get fucked over too, and those are the ones I want to see helped. I would rather help a bunch of lazy assholes if it helped even a few of the hard workers.