And, it has begun

[Chino]

Trump must have at least enough knowledge about business in order to be where he is at today, I don't care where he started. Look at his next project.

https://money.cnn.com/2011/03/25/real_estate/trump_scotland_golf_course/index.htm

When completed, the facility will include two courses, a driving range, and a short-game practice area. There will also be a five-star hotel of 450 rooms, a mixed-use residential community of 950 condos, 500 single-family homes, 36 villas and staff accommodations.

One big factor in the project's favor is that it preserves much of the landscape as open space, leaving vegetation and wildlife habitat in place, while reshaping and re-purposing the rest for the great game of golf. Most local residents were left undisturbed.

"The community realizes that it will enhance the area and will also provide many jobs," said Trump. "There are no negatives. Sir Sean Connery came out in support of the development and we're moving ahead rapidly."

The course will be of the "links" type, like St. Andrews, the 500 year-old course lying about 80 miles southwest and celebrated as the birthplace of the sport. Links is a Scottish word referring to open lands, usually of coastal sand dunes.

Links courses, at least in Scotland, are especially challenging because of the harsh weather: The whipping winds can play havoc with approach shots. Links also have few trees or water hazards but often deep sand traps or bunkers.

The Open Championship, sometimes called the British Open, is always played on a links course, and you can be sure the Donald is savoring the idea of his new course hosting a major tournament.

[rumborak]

Having Trump as president must be a lobbyist's wet dream.

rumborak

[Dublagent66]

If Donald Trump ran as president with Oprah as his VP, I'd bet they win.

This will probably be the only time y'all ever see me type these words,  but the American people are smarter than that. 

They elected Obama, didn't they?  How could it get any worse?

Oh please. That was hardly the worst decision America could have made

It's the worst so far, and we'll never know how bad it could've been, but I'm talking about how bad it is NOW.  Even Jimmy Carter was better and that ain't saying much and I was alive during his era, were you?

[PlaysLikeMyung]

I can't even argue with you. If you think Obama's one of the worst things that could happen to this country then I don't know how I could convince you otherwise

[XJDenton]

Carter was a pretty decent president IMO. Really I don't see how either president can be blamed for the economic crises they inherited.

[PlaysLikeMyung]

Carter was a pretty decent president IMO. Really I don't see how either president can be blamed for the economic crises they inherited.

That's one of the points I wanted to make. Carter inherited one helluva mess, much like many presidents before him. At least Obama's trying. You can't fault him for that

[XJDenton]

Barack Obama - Either Doing His Best In One of The Most Difficult Times In American History, Or Hitler

Barack Obama, the first black president, proved to millions this year that he is either trying his best to lead the nation during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, or he is the modern-day incarnation of Adolph Hitler. One of the two.

In 2010, Obama made a number of political compromises while still trying to pursue many of the reforms laid out during his 2008 campaign. Also, he was a totalitarian monster comparable to the perpetrator of one of the worst genocides in history. He is either a president who passed a comprehensive health care measure despite staunch opposition from powerful private interests, or a radical-Islamist sympathizer bent on systematically dismantling American democracy and eradicating all human liberty. He either lowered taxes for most Americans while failing to communicate that effectively, or he is pure evil. Whichever.

Barack Obama, two of the most important people of 2010: the one who was elected to be president of the United States and execute laws to the best of his ability, and the one who murders senior citizens and hates all white people. Only history will say which he is for sure.

[PlaysLikeMyung]

pretty much

[rumborak]

It's the worst so far, and we'll never know how bad it could've been

You are seriously suggesting that Palin as VP would have been better.

rumborak

[El Barto]

Carter got a bad rap in many ways.  Fair or not, the president has a great deal to do with the mood of the country,  and Carter certainly didn't make people feel warm and fuzzy.  I don't think he was so much a bad president as a lousy cheerleader, which is what people seem to want.  This is a guy who, when energy costs were sky-rocketing, told people to put on a damn sweater instead of cranking the heater up.  That's not what people wanted to hear.  You'll never succeed in politics by telling people the truth.  The future model has been to just tell the people to turn the heat up to 80, and buy a Lincoln Towncar while they're at it.  Then it's just a crapshoot as to whether or not you're a great president or a goat. 

[emindead]

Having Trump as president must be a lobbyist's wet dream.

rumborak

This is what I'm thinking as well.

[Dublagent66]

It's the worst so far, and we'll never know how bad it could've been

You are seriously suggesting that Palin as VP would have been better.

rumborak

No.  I'm seriously suggesting that we don't know how bad it could've been.  All we know is how bad it is now and it's never been worse.  Period.

[PlaysLikeMyung]

All we know is how bad it is now and it's never been worse.  Period.

This just isn't true

[PraXis]

Carter is the 2nd worst president in history. #1 is GWB, but Soetoro is going to be #1 soon enough.

[PlaysLikeMyung]

Here's an idea: how bout you wait til he's finished his term(s) to make such judgements?

[PraXis]

Here's an idea: how bout you wait til he's finished his term(s) to make such judgements?

He campaigned on "but but Bush!" yet he continues Bush's illegal wars and now we have a 3rd war in Libya (and Yemen might be next). GITMO is still open, still torturing. The fed gov't is still expanding and employs 22 million people while we have 11 million in agriculture, manufacturing, and mining combined. The stimulus bill (as expected) failed and was nothing but a handout to state employee unions. The real unemployment (U-6) is 18%. A record number of Americans are on food stamps. We all thought Bush's deficits were crazy and Obama tripled them. The big banks (i.e. got more powerful through bailouts and the financial regulation bill that gives Goldman Sachs and the Federal Reserve even more power. Where does it end?

[emindead]

WHY DON'T YOU LET THE MAN FINISH, HUH? You pointed reasonable arguments but I think it's more reasonable to let the man finish. Maybe in the last month of his mandate he changes his mind and starts fixing things... OR maybe he wins the re-election and THEN he goes 180° on what he's doing at the moment and finally fixes the whole world at the last second, just to be a hero. You're being unreasonable, PraXis, you just won't let the man finish.

[El Barto]

Where I think he's being unreasonable is in the assumption that any other electable president would have been any different.  He's a continuation of Bush, just like McCain would have been, and just like Huckabee, Clinton, Gingrich or Pawlenty would be. 

[PraXis]

WHY DON'T YOU LET THE MAN FINISH, HUH? You pointed reasonable arguments but I think it's more reasonable to let the man finish. Maybe in the last month of his mandate he changes his mind and starts fixing things... OR maybe he wins the re-election and THEN he goes 180° on what he's doing at the moment and finally fixes the whole world at the last second, just to be a hero. You're being unreasonable, PraXis, you just won't let the man finish.

He's another globalist puppet, so why bother letting him finish? He is only doing their bidding, just like Bush. Both parties are owned by the same people. They argue on tv about taxes or abortion, but they're high-fiving each other in the background. Everyone except Dr. Ron Paul and Dr. Rand Paul is controlled by the bankers.

[lordxizor]

Obama has taught me that it likely one of these two things is likely true:

1) He's a gigantic liar and never intended to do what he said he was going to do. (Obviously he exaggerated, as all candidates do, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he did indeed intended to do what he promised to some degree)

2) Politics are much more complicated than he thought and he doesn't have the ability (or the guts) to do what he wants to do. (I think this is much more likely. Look at Gitmo. He announced it was going to close only to have the reality of the process of closing come back to bite him.)

or I guess I'll throw in

3) He truly does have a four or eight year plan and he simply hasn't gotten very far yet. (If this is the case, he sure hasn't communicated it well)

Obviously we need to wait at least a few year after he gets out of office before we can truly judge his presidency. I tend to cut him some slack because it's not like he started the giant mess he's in. He just hasn't made it a ton better at this point, the economy is obviously rebounding though jobs haven't been coming back yet. People in America want results right now or they scream failure. Everybody knew this was not going to be an easy climb out of the recession and it hasn't been. Things are getting better, but Obama seems to get no credit for this. People only criticize that it's not gotten better faster. Obviously the huge deficits are alarming, and it really bothers me that a guy who appears to be very intelligent doesn't seem to think it's a bigger issue.

[PlaysLikeMyung]

WHY DON'T YOU LET THE MAN FINISH, HUH? You pointed reasonable arguments but I think it's more reasonable to let the man finish. Maybe in the last month of his mandate he changes his mind and starts fixing things... OR maybe he wins the re-election and THEN he goes 180° on what he's doing at the moment and finally fixes the whole world at the last second, just to be a hero. You're being unreasonable, PraXis, you just won't let the man finish.

He's another globalist puppet, so why bother letting him finish? He is only doing their bidding, just like Bush. Both parties are owned by the same people. They argue on tv about taxes or abortion, but they're high-fiving each other in the background. Everyone except Dr. Ron Paul and Dr. Rand Paul is controlled by the bankers.

Ron Paul wouldn't be any different

[PraXis]

WHY DON'T YOU LET THE MAN FINISH, HUH? You pointed reasonable arguments but I think it's more reasonable to let the man finish. Maybe in the last month of his mandate he changes his mind and starts fixing things... OR maybe he wins the re-election and THEN he goes 180° on what he's doing at the moment and finally fixes the whole world at the last second, just to be a hero. You're being unreasonable, PraXis, you just won't let the man finish.

He's another globalist puppet, so why bother letting him finish? He is only doing their bidding, just like Bush. Both parties are owned by the same people. They argue on tv about taxes or abortion, but they're high-fiving each other in the background. Everyone except Dr. Ron Paul and Dr. Rand Paul is controlled by the bankers.

Ron Paul wouldn't be any different

They'd take him out like they did JFK.

[antigoon]

Obama has taught me that it likely one of these two things is likely true:

1) He's a gigantic liar and never intended to do what he said he was going to do. (Obviously he exaggerated, as all candidates do, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he did indeed intended to do what he promised to some degree)

2) Politics are much more complicated than he thought and he doesn't have the ability (or the guts) to do what he wants to do. (I think this is much more likely. Look at Gitmo. He announced it was going to close only to have the reality of the process of closing come back to bite him.)

or I guess I'll throw in

3) He truly does have a four or eight year plan and he simply hasn't gotten very far yet. (If this is the case, he sure hasn't communicated it well)

Obviously we need to wait at least a few year after he gets out of office before we can truly judge his presidency. I tend to cut him some slack because it's not like he started the giant mess he's in. He just hasn't made it a ton better at this point, the economy is obviously rebounding though jobs haven't been coming back yet. People in America want results right now or they scream failure. Everybody knew this was not going to be an easy climb out of the recession and it hasn't been. Things are getting better, but Obama seems to get no credit for this. People only criticize that it's not gotten better faster. Obviously the huge deficits are alarming, and it really bothers me that a guy who appears to be very intelligent doesn't seem to think it's a bigger issue.

Pretty sure it's mostly 1.

Democrats are going to support him and vote for him no matter what. There's no real strategic reason to follow through on his liberal promises. What's most disappointing is that he's legitimized GWB practices and policies on terrorism and civil liberties that liberals used to rip him to shreds for.

[PlaysLikeMyung]

I still say we should be blaming Congress for a vast majority of all this. The President doesn't wield ALL the power. He's only as strong as the Congress below him. And Congress has been squabbling over EVERYTHING since day one. He's compromised a lot more than I expected him too, which brought about some pretty 'meh' policies that could have been great, but the blame can't be placed on him.

[El Barto]

WHY DON'T YOU LET THE MAN FINISH, HUH? You pointed reasonable arguments but I think it's more reasonable to let the man finish. Maybe in the last month of his mandate he changes his mind and starts fixing things... OR maybe he wins the re-election and THEN he goes 180° on what he's doing at the moment and finally fixes the whole world at the last second, just to be a hero. You're being unreasonable, PraXis, you just won't let the man finish.

He's another globalist puppet, so why bother letting him finish? He is only doing their bidding, just like Bush. Both parties are owned by the same people. They argue on tv about taxes or abortion, but they're high-fiving each other in the background. Everyone except Dr. Ron Paul and Dr. Rand Paul is controlled by the bankers.

Ron Paul wouldn't be any different

They'd take him out like they did JFK.

They, didn't take out JFK.  But They wouldn't let Paul get elected.

I actually think Paul would be a pretty decent president if it weren't for all those libertarian notions of his.  To be clear, I think a lot of them are great, but like most Libertarians, he seems to think that it's an all or nothing deal, and that's just silly.  I'd love to see a person like Paul get elected.  I'd just prefer to have somebody that isn't convinced that there's a one size fits all solution to the mess that's been made. 

[jsem]

True. Paul is not one who I see as being able to make compromises very easily.

[chknptpie]

I still say we should be blaming Congress for a vast majority of all this. The President doesn't wield ALL the power. He's only as strong as the Congress below him. And Congress has been squabbling over EVERYTHING since day one. He's compromised a lot more than I expected him too, which brought about some pretty 'meh' policies that could have been great, but the blame can't be placed on him.

Like

[GuineaPig]

Sucks that the Prez can't introduce legislation.

[antigoon]

I don't think things would be that different.

[j]

Obama is just another politician.  Anybody who expected anything more was being completely naive.

What's more, he's trying to operate in a broken system.  Any apparent differences with anyone else in office (including Jesus Ron Paul Christ...I'm not sure why some think he alone is magically exempt from this) would be purely superficial.

I don't dislike Obama.  Perhaps I'M being naive, but he seems to have some integrity and level-headedness, qualities in which other politicians are horribly deficient.  That pisses off the left because he's not a brainless partisan drone, and it pisses off the right for other reasons.  I'm curious to see how he fares in the upcoming election, I really have no idea at this point.

-J

[Dublagent66]

All we know is how bad it is now and it's never been worse.  Period.

This just isn't true

Well, not unless you count the great depression and that was caused by a stock market crash that spread across the world and lasted over a decade.  Stick around.  It will get a lot worse before it gets better and the current administration is only making it worse.  The recession of the mid 70's was nothing compared to what's coming.

I still say we should be blaming Congress for a vast majority of all this. The President doesn't wield ALL the power. He's only as strong as the Congress below him. And Congress has been squabbling over EVERYTHING since day one. He's compromised a lot more than I expected him too, which brought about some pretty 'meh' policies that could have been great, but the blame can't be placed on him.

Of course the President doesn't have ALL the power or should take all the blame, but he should have the power of leadership.  Obama doesn't lead, he listens to advise and signs whatever he agrees with.  He also tries to please everyone, and in the real world that's impossible.  A real leader has the knowledge and determination to do what's right and doesn't care what his critics think nor is influenced by party members that have their own agendas.

[emindead]

WHY DON'T YOU LET THE MAN FINISH, HUH? You pointed reasonable arguments but I think it's more reasonable to let the man finish. Maybe in the last month of his mandate he changes his mind and starts fixing things... OR maybe he wins the re-election and THEN he goes 180° on what he's doing at the moment and finally fixes the whole world at the last second, just to be a hero. You're being unreasonable, PraXis, you just won't let the man finish.

He's another globalist puppet, so why bother letting him finish? He is only doing their bidding, just like Bush. Both parties are owned by the same people. They argue on tv about taxes or abortion, but they're high-fiving each other in the background. Everyone except Dr. Ron Paul and Dr. Rand Paul is controlled by the bankers.

BTW, I was being sarcastic. I'm a Libertarian as well.

[PlaysLikeMyung]

All we know is how bad it is now and it's never been worse.  Period.

This just isn't true

Well, not unless you count the great depression and that was caused by a stock market crash that spread across the world and lasted over a decade.  Stick around.  It will get a lot worse before it gets better and the current administration is only making it worse.  The recession of the mid 70's was nothing compared to what's coming.

I still say we should be blaming Congress for a vast majority of all this. The President doesn't wield ALL the power. He's only as strong as the Congress below him. And Congress has been squabbling over EVERYTHING since day one. He's compromised a lot more than I expected him too, which brought about some pretty 'meh' policies that could have been great, but the blame can't be placed on him.

Of course the President doesn't have ALL the power or should take all the blame, but he should have the power of leadership.  Obama doesn't lead, he listens to advise and signs whatever he agrees with.  He also tries to please everyone, and in the real world that's impossible.  A real leader has the knowledge and determination to do what's right and doesn't care what his critics think nor is influenced by party members that have their own agendas.

Oh, I didn't realize you could see into the future. Could you possibly tell me the next winning Powerball numbers so I can get rich?

[rumborak]

It is always interesting to see the lengths people go to to justify their plain dislike for someone. I mean, Obama was the "worst president ever" almost the day he got into office. I remember people complaining about him less than a month of him being in office.

rumborak

[Dublagent66]

All we know is how bad it is now and it's never been worse.  Period.

This just isn't true

Well, not unless you count the great depression and that was caused by a stock market crash that spread across the world and lasted over a decade.  Stick around.  It will get a lot worse before it gets better and the current administration is only making it worse.  The recession of the mid 70's was nothing compared to what's coming.

I still say we should be blaming Congress for a vast majority of all this. The President doesn't wield ALL the power. He's only as strong as the Congress below him. And Congress has been squabbling over EVERYTHING since day one. He's compromised a lot more than I expected him too, which brought about some pretty 'meh' policies that could have been great, but the blame can't be placed on him.

Of course the President doesn't have ALL the power or should take all the blame, but he should have the power of leadership.  Obama doesn't lead, he listens to advise and signs whatever he agrees with.  He also tries to please everyone, and in the real world that's impossible.  A real leader has the knowledge and determination to do what's right and doesn't care what his critics think nor is influenced by party members that have their own agendas.

Oh, I didn't realize you could see into the future. Could you possibly tell me the next winning Powerball numbers so I can get rich?

You are so far off base it's not even funny.  How does what I said have anything to do with predicting the future?  I tried to explain to you how things should work NOW.  C'mon man!!  Seriously, what is your deal anyway?