Obama tells Oprah He Deserves a B-plus for 1st Year as President

Obama will be graded depending on everyone's political beliefs.  The Hawks are very impressed with his Oslo speech.  He gave a speech as a professor would, justifying war, actually saying the same things George Bush did, even justifying preemptive strikes. 

He is definitely smooth when it comes to speeches and that one was a memorable one, at least one that has never heard by that audience before. 

The  more I research Afghanistan and Iraq, the more I reach the conclusion that it is all about oil and not about security.

Terrorist regimes know only one thing: weakness is an opportunity to jump on and use for its own purposes. If we learn nothing but this TRUTH in action we just might be spared from  God forbid  an international disaster of proportions that  no one should ever experience.

Obama should receive an "A" for all the spin we have listened to this year.

Bad business for the World if President  Obama thinks that his Plus qualifications are basically  linked to US healthcare system's progress. The whole World is in danger, a real danger. This require urgent actions by govs, ONGs  and citizens.  It is not an issue of talk-shows or Christmas spectacles.

By the way, history did not stop in 1942. At present,  United States is the Number One Military Empire in the World. The "small fleet" based in Pearl Harbor was a cruel attack by the Japanese, the same as Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear attack by the USA.

If have time, please take a read of an article by Catherine Lutz, at Newstatesman.  I quote just a piece :

The global expansion of US bases - and with it the rise of the US as a world superpower - is a legacy of the Second World War. In 1938, the US had 14 military bases outside its continental borders. Seven years later, it had 30,000 installations in roughly 100 countries. While this number was projected to shrink to 2,000 by 1948 (following pressure from other nations to return bases in their own territory or colonies, and pressure at home to demobilise the 12 million-man military), the US continued to pursue access rights to land and air space around the world. It established security alliances with multiple states within Europe (NATO), the Middle East and south Asia (CENTO) and south-east Asia (SEATO), as well as bilateral agreements with Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Status of Forces Agreements (SOFAS) were crafted in each country to specify what the military could do, and usually gave US soldiers broad immunity from prosecution for crimes committed and environmental damage caused. These agreements and subsequent base operations have mostly been shrouded in secrecy, helped by the National Security Act of 1947. New US bases were built in remarkable numbers in West Germany, Italy, Britain and Japan, with the defeated Axis powers hosting the most significant numbers (at one point, Japan was peppered with 3,800 US installations).

Moreover, these bases are the anchor - and merely the most visible aspect - of the US military's presence overseas. Every year, US forces train 100,000 soldiers in 180 countries, the presumption being that beefed-up local militaries will help to pursue US interests in local conflicts and save the US money, casualties and bad publicity when human rights abuses occur (the blowback effect of such activities has been made clear by the strength of the Taliban since 9/11

Well he made some good things, but the foreclosures are high and too many people are losing their jobs and houses... Just a C, for you mr. president!

I think most Americans have a very short attention span and an even shorter memory.  After 9/11 we wanted vengence and couldn't wait to blow something up over there.  Very few of us asked any questions about where or who we would be fighting.  We didn't ask how or when we were going to pay for it.  And when people did stand up to object to the war they were booed by all as not supporting our troops (which I will never understand since it seems to me if they didn't want our troops to go over there and die then that seems like supportuing them to me).  Of course this war is about alot more than terrorism but our current government seems to be caught between a rock and a hard place.  If they pull out now it will only be a matter of a few months before the extremists will be in control of Afghanistan and be right back in business.  If we experience an attack on our shores after that the President would be crucified for pulling out.  If he stays to try and build up some local government and army he is called a war monger and we can't afford it.  We should have thought about that before we went there.  Was is messy and long and horrific and very expensive.  There are no easy solutions and that is reality.  The same is true for all the other issues we are dealing with (healthcare, economy, etc.).  I don't expect the President or Congress to fix all our problems with a wave of the hand nor do I blame them for all the problems we have.  What I do expect is that once they are elected they start representing all the people and not just their party nor the special interest groups that we allow donate ridiculous amounts of money to candidates during campaigns. Money is not free speech - capitalism is not democracy.  One vote - one voice is democracy and until we hold our elected officials responsible and demand honest statemenship and compromise to resolve the serious issues facing our country then nothing will change. We need to stop allowing the far right and left extremists dictate the concersation simply because the media thinks they make better news that rational individuals who want to honestly debate issues on the pertinent merits.  I would be a loyal viewer to any news channel that actually went out and reported what is really hapeening to average Americans in this country rather than listending to a bunch of paid political pundits yelling their press points over each other. We all play a part in the political and corporate corruption because we have allowed it to go on for far too long.  We need to remember that we need to vote in every election for every political office starting from local city goverenment, state and federal offices and not think we have participated in the system because we vote in the Presidential election.  Many politicians have no problem ignoring a huge part of the population because they know they won't vote so it won't effect them being re-elected.  Let's show them this is not the case. I voted for President Obama and I believed him when he said he was for change.  I am still trying to support him and hold his counterparts in Congress dually responsible as well.  I have been out of work for almost a year now and if things don't change soon I don't know what will happen to me.  I have never been this scared in my life and for the first time in my life I could actually be faced with homelessness.  I believe in you Mr. President but the time to assign blame and let Congress work it out on their own is over.  This is your presidency now and what you inherited is yours to own now.  Show us you are who you said you were and stand up and fight for us!