"This is petty."

This should headline every comment, it IS petty. Some people voted for Obama, some didn't. In my opinion his comments about Las Vegas are weird and is indicative how someone can go to Ivy league schools and still be an ignoramus. For those of us that live and work in the real world, Las Vegas is obviously an attractive place for large conferences, the hotels are incredibly cheap, the weather is typically warm and sunny so you don't have to worry about travel issues, and you have ample space for whatever convention is being sponsored. Obama has likely never lived in the "real world" but we knew (or should have known) that when he was elected. Of all things to gripe about, this is simply petty. We're looking at some big time issues here, this shouldn't be an issue.

How do you define the "real world?" I've never understood this phrase. Is he living in an alternate universe? It is so overused by those on the right that it is laughable. For a party that supposedly lauds working to achieve your dreams, the "american dream," etc., how they can continually bash Obama for achieving so much, in terms of education, despite a less than privileged background, is beyond me.

As always, the "fear the educated" rhetoric never ends.

Work a job. Make a payroll. Understand how government and taxes affect your day to day operations.

Obama could have worked at Cravath, Wachtell, S&C, etc. He didn't do it. He never did it, he's surrounded himself with folks that sit in bubbles and congratulate themselves on how smart they are. And look where we are....

You and i must have a different view of academia then, because, at least in my field, that isn't the case at all.

Extremely narrow view if you think that all they do is "sit in bubbles and congratulate themselves on how smart they are."

And, last i checked, he has had jobs...

I understand many complaints about Obama, but this one is by far the most annoying. The whole "job" and "academia" thing is ridiculous.

cbus4life wrote: How do you define the "real world?" I've never understood this phrase.

Sign the front of a paycheck.

What, a community organizer? Did he create anything? Build anything? Make anything work? Help make things work? Hey, he's the President, what has he done? Most of my "left-leaning" friends say that the best thing he's done is beat Hillary in the primary, no kidding! So he's a great campaigner and that is supposed to be an accomplishment?

queencitybuckeye wrote:

cbus4life wrote: How do you define the "real world?" I've never understood this phrase.

Sign the front of a paycheck.

I guess i've never had a real job either.

So, a person who is in academia, then moves over to a Think tank and then to a government research institution, say Congressional Research Services, is not a real job?
I like to play this out, what qualifies for a "Real job"?

cbus4life wrote:

queencitybuckeye wrote:

cbus4life wrote: How do you define the "real world?" I've never understood this phrase.

Sign the front of a paycheck.

I guess i've never had a real job either.

I wouldn't go quite that far, but IMO someone who has never worked in the private sector is ill-equipped to govern in areas that affect the business world.

He has worked for the Business International Corporation, the New York Public Interest Research Group, a Community Organizer in Chicago (oh the horror), law firms in Chicago while attending Harvard Law School, a professor at the University of Chicago School of Law, and at a law firm that specialized in civil rights litigation.

Yea, maybe not the work of a typical American, but he worked his ass off in numerous situations throughout his career before becoming President.

queencitybuckeye wrote:

cbus4life wrote:

queencitybuckeye wrote:

cbus4life wrote: How do you define the "real world?" I've never understood this phrase.

Sign the front of a paycheck.

I guess i've never had a real job either.

I wouldn't go quite that far, but IMO someone who has never worked in the private sector is ill-equipped to govern in areas that affect the business world.

He has worked in the private sector...

queencitybuckeye wrote: I wouldn't go quite that far, but IMO someone who has never worked in the private sector is ill-equipped to govern in areas that affect the business world.

Couldn't the reverse be said then? That a person that is solely based in the private sector is ill-equipped to govern or oversee government policies?

Or, can we acknowledge that there can be overlap, in that today both worlds are crossing and you can have people that can go back and forth with no problem? Meaning, that one can be in government and have an understanding of the private sector.

cbus4life wrote: but he worked his ass off in numerous situations throughout his career before becoming President.

I'll stipulate that this is true. The question is to what end? How many jobs did all of this hard work create?

ptown_trojans_1 wrote: Meaning, that one can be in government and have an understanding of the private sector.

If one has not been there, any understanding would be cursory IMO.

ptown_trojans_1 wrote: So, a person who is in academia, then moves over to a Think tank and then to a government research institution, say Congressional Research Services, is not a real job?
I like to play this out, what qualifies for a "Real job"?

That history doesn't lend itself to understanding the private sector, which is hurting right now.

Obama's biggest mistake since taking office was his aloofness (for lack of better words) towards what makes America great. You can play it out all you want, we're at generationally high unemployment, a social security and medicare funding crisis and a private sector that simply is stuck in neutral as far as hiring is considered (the public sector maybe not so much...perhaps we'll just go in to more debt!). Unfortunately for all of us the last bit is what we need to move forward, and the administration to this point has been hostile to any advancement.

cbus4life wrote: He has worked for the Business International Corporation, the New York Public Interest Research Group, a Community Organizer in Chicago (oh the horror), law firms in Chicago while attending Harvard Law School, a professor at the University of Chicago School of Law, and at a law firm that specialized in civil rights litigation.

Yea, maybe not the work of a typical American, but he worked his ass off in numerous situations throughout his career before becoming President.

Having worked with a PIRG in the past, I'm somewhat skeptical of his work with NYPIRG. I guess I could qualify as a community organizer, too, because I answered one of the flyers for "Make $500 a week over the summer saving the environment." All we did was go door-to-door and hit people up for money while reciting our talking points. I'm not sure that qualifies as a "real job."

Re his work at law firms: he summered at two biglaw firms. Are we really counting that as substantive work experience? I'm willing to bet that the biggest entry on his ledger was "999800-0101: Lunch (3.7)". Summer associate life isn't fairly characterized as busting one's ass in the private sector.

Finally, you point to his work at a Civil Rights Law Firm. I have no idea what he did there or how hard he worked, but my understanding is that his license to practice lapsed in the midst of it. That means that either (1) he was practicing illegally for several years, or (2) he wasn't really working as a lawyer. Your guess is as good as mine.

FWIW, I think the biggest issue is that he doesn't have the significant private sector managerial experience that's a staple of most candidates for major public office (with a handful of notable exceptions). And, like I said earlier, this whole idea of being angry at him for telling parents not to let their kids play so many video games is kinda silly and petty. I can imagine future Huddle headlings, "Evil President Obama tells kids to eat their veggies." "White House Czar tells kids to be nice, not naught, if they want Christmas presents."

Cool, thanks for the info FFT. I'm not involved in law or the like, so that is cool information.

I understand that summering at a law firm and the like isn't necessarily great work experience, was just trying to make the point that he has certainly been around the private sector before.

cbus4life wrote: Cool, thanks for the info FFT. I'm not involved in law or the like, so that is cool information.

I understand that summering at a law firm and the like isn't necessarily great work experience, was just trying to make the point that he has certainly been around the private sector before.

Interesting fact: the firm where I work now actually acquired one of the two firms where Pres. Obama summered, so I can say with a great deal of confidence that I'm familiar with how his experience likely was. I gained ~17 lbs in 12 weeks from eating out a dozen times a week at whatever top restaurants we wanted. Most of us only did a few hours a week of actual legal work, and now that I'm on the other side of the desk (and sending projects to summer associates), I realize that much of it is "make-work." It was really a great life (enjoying the city on Uncle's dime), but I don't think it qualifies as a real job.

Ok, cool.

That is why i put "while at Harvard Law School," just thought i should throw it out there anyways.

I remember when everyone was talking about Barack Obama in 2004 I can remember asking "well, why do you like this guy" "he doesn't seem to have any executive experience", etc.

This is undoubtedly true and good reason for skepticism...but nonetheless I'm not even quite sure that is a prerequisite to a good presidential candidate or what is a good qualification for a presidential candidate. I mean, Jimmy Carter was a governor. Reagan was a governor and he wasn't allowed to deficit spend and actually raised taxes in California....but then when gets to Washington his credit card was his best friend and tax raises became akin to poison.

But, when we embark in life, there are only so many career paths we can choose and when it comes to being President, it seems that it'd be easy to fault a candidate for being inadequate in any number of the relevant areas that might add to your effectiveness as a president.

If he was a 4 star general he would have management experience and perhaps qualifications to be a commander in chief but would he understand the difference between managing career bureaucrats who may not jump to his orders like a Colonel might have? Would he have the political capital skills to help shape domestic policy?

If he had been a governor, would he know what it takes to lead a military or how to craft legislative deals and sway Senators a la LBJ?

Perhaps, he doesn't know intimately what it's like to have to decide which employee to fire or what alternatives one might undertake when the bank has cut off your credit line...but if there's one skill I think President Obama does have (and CCrunner, Believer and Writer will disagree) but I think he has a skill of being able to listen and empathize and gather information from sources and analyze it effectively.

He can listen to his council of economic advisers and Ben Bernanke who, to all but the most partisan, are quite competent and hear what they're saying and give an order based on their imput.

I think ultimately, he has his own opinions, from where or what or how justified they are I'm not sure, but it seems to be he crafts those ideas around other's beliefs and arguments and policy positions that have a good deal of justification. That in and of itself is a skill. He seems confident enough to have bold policy goals but also humble enough to yield to the experts he surrounds himself with, but not in such a way to be subservient.

I mean let's be honest...It's not like Pres. Obama sat in the Oval Office and crafted the TARP legislation or it was his idea to cut the F-22.

I don't know...I guess I just don't see the ideological bent and the "out of touchness" that I feel is exuded by, say, Nancy Pelosi.

BoatShoes wrote:Perhaps, he doesn't know intimately what it's like to have to decide which employee to fire or what alternatives one might undertake when the bank has cut off your credit line...but if there's one skill I think President Obama does have (and CCrunner, Believer and Writer will disagree) but I think he has a skill of being able to listen and empathize and gather information from sources and analyze it effectively.

He may indeed have the skills to listen and empathize and gather information. But how he interprets the information and what he does with that often skewed analysis is what I have issues with.

He's also adept at chastising, lambasting, scolding, blaming, and public ridiculing. When people disagree with his position he sees it not as valid but differing opinions, but rather blames it on their ignorance or blames it on himself and his staff for not having communicated his greatness well enough.

believer wrote: He's also adept at chastising, lambasting, scolding, blaming, and public ridiculing. When people disagree with his position he sees it not as valid but differing opinions, but rather blames it on their ignorance or blames it on himself and his staff for not having communicated his greatness well enough.

He also blames it on the previous administration......

wkfan wrote:

believer wrote: He's also adept at chastising, lambasting, scolding, blaming, and public ridiculing. When people disagree with his position he sees it not as valid but differing opinions, but rather blames it on their ignorance or blames it on himself and his staff for not having communicated his greatness well enough.

He also blames it on the previous administration......

Speaking of which....I found this billboard just put up in Minnesota pretty amusing.

fish82 wrote: Speaking of which....I found this billboard just put up in Minnesota pretty amusing.

I heard about those (there are more than one around the country) just this afternoon.

There is one in Iowa (I believe) that was funded by several small business owners. Seems that their experience is telling them that what is being proposed in the small business arena will not work.

Pretty novel concept that experience......

fish82 wrote:

wkfan wrote:

believer wrote: He's also adept at chastising, lambasting, scolding, blaming, and public ridiculing. When people disagree with his position he sees it not as valid but differing opinions, but rather blames it on their ignorance or blames it on himself and his staff for not having communicated his greatness well enough.

He also blames it on the previous administration......

Speaking of which....I found this billboard just put up in Minnesota pretty amusing.

My wife wants an "I Miss W" bumper sticker for our Buick, I'm trying to talk her out of it (and I'm ashamed to admit we have a Buick). We live in a very "liberal" neighborhood, and heck, my wife is probably one of the most liberal Republicans around and likely is much more liberal socially (very pro-choice, pro-gay rights) than most people posting here. At any rate election time 2008 our block was lousy with Obama stickers and yard signs, to the point where we were nearly ostracized for NOT having an Obama flag in our front stoop. The neighbors have seemed to have helped themselves to a giant bowl of STFU flakes in the last year.