scruffy said

Old Mr Dangerous said
I don’t disagree at all that George Bush Jr. was a disaster on an unspeakable level. He and his cabinet were disastrous on a level that was staggering.   

was bad, but not quite that bad.   

I agree and disagree. I underplayed and overplayed my thoughts on his reign.

Nothing is ever as bad in retrospect as was the anticipation of the horror experience.

Like you fear surgery, maybe? When it actually happens, it may be like unspeakable wretchedness, but post-surgery you’re essentially healed and/or pacified. Not as bad as the build up.

scruffy said

Old Mr Dangerous said  
Like you fear surgery, maybe? When it actually happens, it may be like unspeakable wretchedness, but post-surgery you’re essentially healed and/or pacified. Not as bad as the build up.    

assumin you wake up.   

I always hear about that scenario and it sounds like the worst kind of reality nightmare.

As a Republican, I don’t think Obama did a horrible job. Many Presidents in the past have done much worse and left their succeeding presidents with much worse. My two gripes would be taxes and healthcare.

The taxes portion has more effect on me at a state level. I live in a democratic state with a multi-billion dollar deficit. For years now, the only answer CT has come up with for said deficit is to drastically raise taxes (and in-turn drive away many mid-tear businesses). 

The healthcare portion is what gets me the most (on both sides of the argument). I now pay hundreds more a month essentially to support someone else’s healthcare. I understand that almost every other country in the world has universal healthcare and I am not totally against it, but I think us who now have to pay more should get some kind of kickback for it. Because while I’m happy that someone out there who maybe just couldn’t afford healthcare is being helped by me in contributing, I now have less funds in my account. Adding financial struggle should not be a catalyst to alleviating financial struggle…

Now, I’ve been fortunate to always have healthcare and have never known what it’s like to be without. From that standpoint I can sympathize. I met a private contractor one day fishing who was unable to afford health insurance as it was going to be almost twice as much money as he was technically a “small business owner”. One day shit went south for him health wise and Obamacare saved his ass. He only utilized it for a period of time and afterwards was able to secure his own private healthcare.