Coming from a far right Conservative:

[Jeffy25]

Obama is growing on me slowly. Too early to tell, but I am starting to like him more and more the more I learn about him. Congress: not so much.

[Jeffy25]

and I am tired of hearing about tom daschle

[dickay]

As a conservative myself, I have never disliked Obama and actually very nearly voted for him. I've been impressed with much of his early doings...and his interview prior to the super bowl was outstanding.

[ragecage]

He kind of evokes a positive spirit, thats what I like about him.

[RickD]

Obama is very charismatic and will be an effective communicator to the world and to the American people. However I am not sold on many of his early decisions.

[OregonDuck1989]

Does anyone like Congress? lol What a bunch of wack jobs...

[oriole^]

As a Green, I've never really "taken" to Obama, though I did vote for him. I don't really see that he will fulfill much of the promise that his election brought forth...though admittedly, he himself didn't really say he was going to do a lot of that.

[Jeffy25]

He is growing on me, although I never really see myself agreeing with him very much. But he seems to have many of the tools that we will need out of a president.

[Alloutwar]

As a liberal/green guy, Obama was always my pick. I couldn't find an independent candidate that could light us up the way he did; I get his newsletter and am pretty encouraged about government and the president...for the first time since reflecting on Clinton during the Dubya years.

I like his adding repubs to his administration, I like his approach so far, and I think we might have a good time ahead of us all. I don't think he can make it all better by himself, nor do I think he's some messiah; but it's nice having someone I can look up to in office.

[TheNamelessPoet]

Only thing im afraid of is... all this $ he is spending... has to come from somewhere... and i haven heard of him cutting anything. just because u dont RAISE taxes... doesnt mean your keeping it status quo

[TheNamelessPoet]

remember the standard deduction was 4550.00 in 2001 when bush was in office (you are not taxed on any wages below 4550.00. the 1st year in office the tax deduction went to 7700.00. as for someone who spent a fortune... at least he lowed our taxes...

[oriole^]

remember the standard deduction was 4550.00 in 2001 when bush was in office (you are not taxed on any wages below 4550.00. the 1st year in office the tax deduction went to 7700.00. as for someone who spent a fortune... at least he lowed our taxes...

But clearly, it wasn't done in a responsible way. Bush took a several billion dollar surplus and turned it into an even larger in magnitude deficit. Lowering your taxes really doesn't mean all that much when you have to pay back more later...and well, guess what we're doing?

[dickay]

But clearly, it wasn't done in a responsible way. Bush took a several billion dollar surplus and turned it into an even larger in magnitude deficit. Lowering your taxes really doesn't mean all that much when you have to pay back more later...and well, guess what we're doing?

The reason we're paying now has nothing to do with the lower taxes of recent years. We were in a economic decline when he took office and then took a major hit on 9/11. The tax cuts spurred the economy. We had a record amount of job growth for much of the bush administration, which was largely due to the tax cuts.

9/11, Katrina, two wars, and gross 'spending' by the last administration was the reason behind our budget surplus going red. Bush and Congress was egregious in their spending. Thus far, this bailout and stimulus aside, I see Obama doing the same. Although he WILL raise taxes, where is that 'scalpal' he promised to use to carve out wasteful government? All I see with this stimulus is him promising to make even LARGER govt.

And the govt. spending aside, that has nothing to do with our current economic recession. Predatory lending, poor oversight, and most importantly short-sighted GREED by many of our major finanicial institutions are to blame. The Govt. set up the 'structure' for this greed to take place and didn't provide oversight. The companies took that power and were IMO crimanally egregious.

[RedsoxRockies]

I like Obama's personality.

[kenny1234]

The reason we're paying now has nothing to do with the lower taxes of recent years. We were in a economic decline when he took office and then took a major hit on 9/11. The tax cuts spurred the economy. We had a record amount of job growth for much of the bush administration, which was largely due to the tax cuts.

This is a giant assumption that is almost surely wrong. It is very unlikely that the tax cut generated enough economic activity to pay for itself. That whole idea has never really worked in practice - at least not at the levels of tax that people pay in the US. I'm not saying that the tax cuts were a bad idea - but they are a significant element that explains why the US had a large budget deficit before the current recession. The wars were the other major factor - I don't think either 9/11 or Katrina had a large impact on the US economy.