Originally Posted by StanF18

I think Reagan was an awesome Prez, ESPECIALLY foreign-policy wise.

But in terms of looking at the here and now, the verdict is still out on Obama and his team. When you talk about "long lasting harm", he inherited much of it from a 2-term Republican administration that had its' head up its' a$$. Bush was in complete denial even as the nation was already well into this recession. Completely out of touch with the day-to-day realities.

Trillion dollar pet project?? Is that what you call fixing a 1950s-vintage backwards road and bridge infrastructure and public transportation that has been surpassed and left in the dust by Japan, Germany, France, and most of the industrialized world?? I'm actually glad we finally have a President with enough balls to realize that our superpower status is NOT only determined by the number of carrier battle groups we have, and not only by how many wars we can launch simultaneously, but ALSO by how many semi-functional roads, bridges, and rail systems we can operate. And how many of our badly backwards schools we can upgrade to the modern realities of high-speed internet and technology.
Reducing taxes is all good and well, but it will only go so far. We need a COMPLETE overhaul of the national infrastructure.

It's called grabbing the bull by the horns, and passing legislation less than a month into a new administration, instead of sticking your head in the sand and repeating the old Republican mantra: "our basic economic indicators are strong", which is what Bush was saying even as Wall Street was reeling....

Bottom line: I think Obama is doing the best he can thus far, and he deserves a chance to not only reverse this slide, but to modernize the crumbling US infrastructure. I don't want my kid growing up in a country that will be known as a "has been" former superpower with 3rd rate schools, falling bridges, and crippled rail networks. Indeed, some would argue that we're already that has-been country. Resting on our 20th century laurels, and admiring our former glory, even as the rest of the world is passing us by.