*Americans I know are horrified at his kowtowing to the tyrants of the world.*

Ah Amicus, so your friends seemingly want another sabre rattler!
Just bully, force and threaten, never mind the people skills.

Sheesh and there was silly old me, thinking that alot more is
achieved when we talk to people and try and figure out our
differences.

Then those same Americans are truly puzzled, why they are hated
around the world. How odd.

Is that how you too lead your life Amicus?

<<never mind the people skills>>.
Where is the evidence of Obama's people skills?
Teleprompter skills, yes.
People skills, no.
Unless you count the kool-aid drinkers.

<<a lot more is achieved when we talk to people and try and figure out our differences>>.
This statement ignores the reality that Obama has achieved precisely nothing,
apart from reducing America's standing in the world of course.

<<Then those same Americans are truly puzzled, why they are hated around the world. How odd.>>
Before Obama, America was hated and feared.
After Obama, America is hated and treated with contempt.

That's progress to a "progressive" I suppose.

*Teleprompter skills, yes.
People skills, no.*

Ah Proxy, so you prefer the Palin method, just write it on your
hand hey.

As to people skills, Obama has them in spades, just like Clinton.
That is why he gets on with the rest of the world, unlike
Bush-Cheney's sabre rattling.

*This statement ignores the reality that Obama has achieved precisely nothing*

Proxy, you really should stop watching Fox TV, they arn't the
brightest and a bit biased you know.

Obama has indeed achieved heaps in one year and nine months, but
no, no magic wand, as some
expected

At the end of January 09, the GFC was in full swing, share markets
were crashing, hundreds of thousands a month were losing their
jobs, GM and Chrysler were just about ready to shut the doors,
threatening millions more jobs. The pain of 8 years of Bush-Cheney,
was unleashed on Americans.

Today, things are turning around. Banks are repaying money borrowed.
GM is being refloated, taxpayers are being repaid. Large American
firms are back to healthy profits, consumer sentiment is turning
around, as they rush to buy their ipods and ipads.

The deregulation of oil industry regulation by Bush had much to do
with the BP saga, but we've now survived that one too.

Obama is an active president. Meetings to crank up cricial r&d
in future industries such as electric vehicles, solar and a host
of others, have hardly stopped. Every business leader of note has
been at the White House, adding their contribution about America's
future. Things have been set in motion, but it will take some years
for all the results to show, as that magic fairy is indeed an
illusion and reality prevails.

America is once more accepted and respected, when under Bush, all
that the world could do was snigger at the fact that they US had
a prez who was battling to walk and chew gum at the same time.

Sadly Bush nearly bankrupted the nation in the process. Obama has
done a great job at picking up the pieces that remained.

bushbred, how do you go from comments about Obama and Palin, to accusations of support for Netanyahu and nuclear military?

Then you verbal me about being excited about it - the piece is about Obama and his lack of competance, you've driven off on a different road.

If Obama was competant, why hasn't he got the middle east sorted out? Iran sorted? What does he do, go and bow and kowtow to the local despots and apologise.

The result of that is..? Nothing, as expected, oh, except less respect for the USA, well done Obama, so now everyone feels they can do what they want, and the USA will apologise, not kick their butts.

What a statesman, what a guy! (for you, not anyone else interested in peace)

If you want peace int he middle east, you need to be a strong man, it's how it works there, tolerating their intolerance to them, is a sign of weakness.

Obama is weak!

"Sheesh and there was silly old me, thinking that alot more is
achieved when we talk to people and try and figure out our
differences"

Where has that worked in the muslim world?

Sheesh, I guess you don't have those skills either eh yabby "Is that how you too lead your life Amicus?"

Obama will be a single term leader and the dems will be int he wilderness because of him and the dem policies for decades.

They will be punished for putting someone in charge who was a self centered preening imbecile, who listened to no one, and for someone with no experience, that just makes his time in office even worse.

The author says:

//Furthermore, as president his push to assure that 30 million more Americans are insured under a more just national healthcare scheme is a significant and worthy change.//

and I say..ONLY a person who has NOT read the bill..and is ignorant of how such legislation was to be used to introduce rampant socialism to America through a political framework would say such a thing!

It's not the 'idea' of bring healthcare to 30million people which is the problem...it's THE BILL itself and what wolfish laws are brought in under the sheep skin of 'better health care'.

Thanks to astute political commentators and some research.. the American people have been SAVED from Communist infiltration and dominance by the last mid term election.

Unless one knows what is really going on with the Unions and Obama's marxist friends..this might not make much sense. So I suggest you

"get up to speed" and become aware of the bigger picture.

*If Obama was competant, why hasn't he got the middle east sorted out?*

Did it occur to you, Amicus, that Obama had a couple of other things
taking up most of his time? Like a collapsing global economy,
or an American economy spinning out of control?

Your bias is showing here. 8 years of Bush-Cheney sabre rattling
achieved nothing in the ME, yet you wonder why Obama did not
wave a magic wand in a year and 9 months. I remind you that the
last guy who came closest to achieving a result was Clinton,
using people skills.

*Where has that worked in the muslim world?*

It works everywhere Amicus, but you need to understand the
psychology of people skills versus sabre rattling, to understand
how and why. Clearly you are of the sabre rattling tradition.
You don't know any better. Fair enough.

Obama is hardly inexperienced. His talents showed through in how
he won the US presidential election. His was by far the best and
most organised campaign, making the rest look like schoolboys.

But he had complete power in his campaign, unlike as prez. Some
of those members of congress and the senate are not the brightest
little pixies, so its a bit like trying to herd cats.