Where did our American pride go? Even ones against Obama, he IS still our president. He IS still part of America. Regardless of whether you agree or not, how about a little support? He was so right when he said we're so busy opposing sides that we forget to look at the big picture.

Good question !

payback is a motherf****r..

I was not against BUSH but I did oppose his method of leadership. OBama I support fully. I think some people just oppose OBAMA because he is democrate, some because he is black, some because he isnt leading the way they want him to,,,,

I think all sorts of things are American, good and bad. It does puzzle me though how anyone continually roots, expects, or hopes for any president to do poorly.

Although his comments were stated in the universal, they were actually directed at Congress in general and the Republicans specifically. He did make some critical comments directed at the Democrats also.

Every election we are given the choice between two parties because the independent parties are simply insufficiently funded to compete and the election process is stacked in favor of the two party system. The higher profile candidates tend to choose one of the two major parties anyway as being vehicles with much higher probability of winning an election.

There really isn't a lot of difference between the two parties other than the Republicans have excessive influence by their right wing minority and the Democrats have excessive influence by their left wing faction. This "lack of choice" has driven many voters, like myself to become truly independent in their allegiance and tend to vote for whoever tells the best lie. But in the end, the US continues down the road to continued government growth, increased debt, more intrusion into our personal lives, and more control by special interests. Some real help for this sad situation would be something like twelve year term limitations on all politicians and NO RETIREMENT PAY for congress. The job was never intended as a career.

Americans have much of which to be proud, but Congress is not one of them.

I agree. I think that is why he is proposing some serious change. We're just too afraid of change. What if it doesn't work? What if it makes things worse? At least this 'road' we continue down is something we're use to? Right? Honestly, I don't think changing things dramatically would be such a bad thing.

I took a lot of his critical comments to mean equally democrats and republicans

getting rid of the don't ask don't tell was a bone to the leftists but I took most of his speech to be pretty moderate and middle of the road

I think this speech bought him 1 more year.

He has 1 more year to get something done, or he may as well start making plans for his retirement in jan 2013..

Yes, he is. But the "Party of No" likes to get in the way of that policy. Just saying no because they can, I think Obama mentioned that last night. The bickering back and forth doesn't get the problems resolved any sooner, it just slows everything down. Right now, Americans need good jobs, better education, and affordable healthcare. The private sector cannot accomplish this alone, it needs a boost from careful government spending and new policies. Right now, many of the republicans have become fanatical, not coming up with any new ideas of their own to address these issues, just obstructing and slowing down the process of getting this country out of deficit, and slowing the process of creating more jobs for hard working Americans.

I think you're right.

You're likening nationalism to American pride-a false comparison. One can be proud of his country and disgusted by the government-this has been more often than not the norm in American history.

Just seems like one side is so quick to tear down what is trying to be created whether they should or not.

He's just another politician - face it. He talks with broad strokes
without providing any details. He's a good orator, is well-liked
as a person; however, his approval rating has been diminishing
over time. Time is the true measure - we will see what he can
pull off in the next couple of years.

I would have enjoyed seeing Perot push his candidacy in '92,
to see how a non-politician would run the country [for once].

I don't think one side is quick to tear down any more than the other, it was the same with Bush. It's just a lot of people actually expected something to change, but nothing has. We spent 987 trillion in a stimulus bill(I say we because in the end it is our money) in order to help our economy. However, unemployment continues to rise, and our dollar continues to lose value. What happened to that money? what did it actually accomplish? so me facts. Not what someone 'thinks' it helped. Point to specific examples.

It was an interesting note that at this point in Reagans presidency his approval was even lower than OBama and he came in with much FEWER mistakes to fix. I think it will take time to truly tell the impact of this President, especially since so many have such a stern time limit to see change of things that have taken so long to fall apart.

Fewer mistakes??

You seem to forget that Regan followed Jimmy Carter.

I agree with this. Things are not going to get better unless they stop being the "party of no."

And we were still not in two wars and the beginning of a depression, lower educational rankings, overwhelmed healthcare

By my point of view anyhow,,Reagan had a much smaller scale to balance out.

I would like to point out another observation as well. That often times party politics is too eager to find things wrong with the other party to be honest about what needs to be done for everyone. I think it makes MUCH too big a difference who delivers the message instead of what the message is. I imagine, had a popular republican been the one making those same points,,,We would have the same divide,,,except many of those opposing OBAMAS words would all of a sudden see all the LOGIC behind what was said and support it, and many of those who support OBAMAS words would suddenly nitpick anything out of that hour speech that didnt fit EXACTLY their values.

We need to get away from being on the Democrat or Republican side and get back to being on Americans sides.

preCISEly!