HaHaHa

I totally agree with this post, still - Obama's the best the US can come up with, and while he surely can't change as much as he wants to (which means: next to nothing), the very fact that he was elected is a signal that the American population at least moved a little bit away from their idiocy. And maybe in a few years, when they realize that an other president can't change the world, they will be enraged enough to really change some things.

Well, man can dream, can't he?

Where is the Obama as a Messiah thread anyway? Did I miss something?

I think you really have to spend 8 years under a President who marginalizes you and implies you're a terrorist if you have a dissenting opinion and to watch nonstop hate spewing from a major news network to really appreciate just how negative and how destructive politics had become in this country. It's waking up every day angry because your country is doing disgusting things around the world that most of the civilized world disagrees with. It's losing your pride as you face the rest of the world's righteous anger against you. It's agreeing with the rest of the world when they hate you for actions that a majority of you don't support. And when you agree with the rest of the world, you're suddenly "unAmerican" for holding to your American values, values that once made us great. Things have been turned upside-down and backwards and inside-out for so long here, that to hear positivity and inclusion and rationality again, instead of fear and over-emotionalism, is almost life-changing.

Obama is so refreshing a change that it's hard not to be (probably over-) enthusiastic about him. His message is one of inclusion and one of healing. We're hurting and we're screwed up. And we need some positive news, so is it any wonder we're probably too happy?

Although I'm inclined to agree with the cynical realism of the first post in this thread, I still think an American president can change some major things. Especially when it comes to US foreign policy, which - like it or not - has a huge influence on the rest of the world.

Are you seriously comparing Obama to Hitler? I'd love to know how you can even begin to jump to that comparison, because beyond the fact that both speak well, and both are (were) intelligent, their philosophies are completely different.

Zeitgeist was utter nonsense, btw.

lyzzrd said:
I think you really have to spend 8 years under a President who marginalizes you and implies you're a terrorist if you have a dissenting opinion and to watch nonstop hate spewing from a major news network to really appreciate just how negative and how destructive politics had become in this country. It's waking up every day angry because your country is doing disgusting things around the world that most of the civilized world disagrees with. It's losing your pride as you face the rest of the world's righteous anger against you. It's agreeing with the rest of the world when they hate you for actions that a majority of you don't support. And when you agree with the rest of the world, you're suddenly "unAmerican" for holding to your American values, values that once made us great. Things have been turned upside-down and backwards and inside-out for so long here, that to hear positivity and inclusion and rationality again, instead of fear and over-emotionalism, is almost life-changing.

Look, my country is poor since it was conquered by the Spanish conquerors and since then we have corruption, tyranny & we don´t have good education , freedom of speech (Search for the countries with most journalists killed pro year & Iraq will be followed by Mexico), so you cannot say your country is as screwed up as mine is. In 2000 the elections were won by the conservatives (Which in their campaign said, would end with corruption & bring this country education, jobs & so on.) after a more than 60 year regime by the liberals, most people supported the conservative party because they were feed up of the liberals; look now at my country & you´ll see a more corrupted, less educated and poorer country than 20 years ago. So please so yourself a favour and don´t believe everything you hear. This is one of the reasons I don´t believe in democracy.

Youdy said:
Obama's presidency will bring about no great changes to the workers of the USA or for that matter the workers of the world. He will instead be more of the same just a slightly different shade.

Will Obama help the US via foreign policy? Maybe but don't forget it is Obama who wants to enlarge the US military and made noises about invading Pakistan is the Pakistani army doesn't do it's job.

Don't get over excited America because you'll be let down.

All this being said Obama's election is a progressive thing in American socity and for that I welcome his victory over McCain's.

The US electorate shouldn't have voted to get things to 'change'. They should have rioted; that brings about change.
Exactly

Just to leave another comment here: I am suspicious of every president the economy/wall street/the companies promote, which is what happened with Obama. I am also suspicious of every American President since the 19th century. Obama does make too much sense for the ruling class in my opinion, because he satisfies some of the hunger for change, while presumably most will stay the same. It is fine for you that you can rejoice, unfortunately that is also fine for *ahem* "them" (conspiracy theory detected).

And Zeitgeist may have many characteristics of a conspiracy movie, and I personally don't like it's style - but it is factual, or lets say the core facts presented, especially considering the monetary society in Addendum are basically true (while their focus on "project Venus" is a little... specific).

And, ahem "I watched the religious portion of the movie, and it was such total crap (and wrong to boot) that I didn't sit around for the rest" - cite your sources please. In fact the part about religion and Christian mythology might be one of the most provable portions of the movie. Unless you have studied mythology of the antiquity, I guess you didn't really check it, did you? No, I did not do so either, but the movie happened to show it's sources rather well, and from the basic knowledge of the presented myths that I have and further research in books we happened to have and the internet I have not seen any evidence that proves this to be "total crap (and wrong to boot)".

The fact you realize it's not just the banks, but companies altogether that control society, is very nice. But your later sentence "That's the way the system works and is supposed to work when it's healthy." is wrong, and contradicts your statement that control of the state is not in the hands of the American people.

In fact you are very right in a way - Obama is the best thing to happen to your political system since a long time. But the fact is: your, no our, whole political system is "corrupt" so to say. He will stabilize it, and if you think about it, let your enthusiasm rest just for a moment, this is exactly what the ruling establishment - the companies, banks and political class, yes even the Bush dynasty - wants. Especially with our recent financial crisis, and I have to stress that there were MANY notions predicting this, in exactly the way it happened (the crisis, not Obama being voted as President, that was relatively easy to predict in the last few weeks).

This will never sound right to you, for I am highly biased in my opinions, as every human being . We all as human beings are doomed to have our own, personal opinion and regard it as truth. Fact is: Whenever our very foundations of believe are attacked, we have physical reactions, mood changes, aggression, it's not exactly a thing we control that much. We can only hope but to have an opinion that overlaps with reality, and question ourselves as often as possible, searching for empirical evidence, and even then we can't be sure. But it helps to question ourselves and others, ESPECIALLY when we are overcome with feelings, as just now, because after 8 years of stupidity an intelligent president was elected.

lyzzrd said:
Youdy said: The US electorate shouldn't have voted to get things to 'change'. They should have rioted; that brings about change.

Yep, riots have worked really well in getting things to change in this country. Historically, they've been nothing more than a footnote.

Thats because they don't want workers to realise that they work; and for far better than elections at that.

And there is an obvious sign that Obama is just another puppet of the ruling class - they donated millions of dollars to his campaign.

Hm, well, maybe I have a little too much faith in American democracy. I'm just thinking - imagine if someone like Jimmy Carter had been president in the 1980's instead of Ronald Reagan; don't you think that would have made a difference to the people of Central America?

Well, I was more thinking in terms of warfare against other countries. The Reagan administration spent $1 000 000 per day to fight the democratically elected Sandinista government in Nicaragua in the 80's. That included weapons and military training for the Contras, which in turn did major damage on the already burdened little country. Would the Carter administration really have done the same? Would JFK?

Headbanger2510 said:
And why do always people say such great things from JFK? What great things did he do?
This speech:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-3T3gWKURc8&feature=related