My biggest peeve with Obama is, he appears to reward those that should be punished.

It doesn't matter what we talk about. During the Bush* Administration many misdeeds were done. Yet in almost every area the perpetrators were not only not punished in any manner but seem to be rewarded. Bankers that cause great economic turmoil get huge government bailouts and now huge bonuses. Bush*'s legal council is still mostly in place along with most in the Justice Dept. The Defense Department has the same people leading it even though major atrocities were committed under their leadership. The same Generals are in place even though they contradict the CIC and say the army won't do what the President just said they would do. Bernanke is going to keep his job even though he holds much blame for our circumstances. Obama wants to appear the Bigger man but he undermines our Legal system and our morale. I want accountability, I don't want more of the same. This is the one subject that no one brings up and yet it is to me the most important one..You can't let criminals get off scott free because it just says come do it again because no one cares..

There is no appearance here, they are being rewarded, by not being investigated or prosecuted for the criminal acts that took place under the previous administration.

He appointed and supported a guy for secretary of the treasury who clearly knew he had not properly filed corrections for a couple of years and owed money, and didn't pay until he was nominated.

Not sure what can be said about something as flagrant as this aside from asking who is actually surprised?

I really don't know what the Obama people are thinking. They appear to be trying to take a page out of Bill Clinton's textbook without realizing that the underlying conditions are much different. Also, no matter what you think of Clinton (I personally think he was the best president of my lifetime, and I've been around since Nixon), he was willing to take unpopular stands, ones that created the conditions for popularity and prosperity later in his presidency. Yes, he lost Congress, but he pushed through the unpleasant stuff (or at least strongly tried) while he still had political capital. Obama isn't taking a strong stand on anything, is still relatively popular, and Dems probably won't have majorities this large in Congress for a generation. Yet he's already capitulating to the right.

to not act like his predecessor, ruling by fiat ect, so hard in fact that the end result is the same

I should have been more careful with my post. But if his SOTU strategy is correct, it sounds to me like Clinton's strategy after he lost Congress.

Which, I assume can only mean that Obama is reserving the right to step in when he needs to.

He needs to step in - or remove the "unitary executive" privileges from the books completely.

such as the liberal base that worked to put him in office.

I would love to see him take one action that made me think otherwise.

I wish someone would tell that to Obama.

We were in a car, me, a bully, and a friend. We stopped at a cliff. There's something there I really want. I get close to the cliff. The bully also sees something there that he wants, next to what I want.

The bully pushes me so that I fall off the cliff as he goes to get what he wants. He just assumed that I'd be okay whatever he did. When I try to hang on to the cliff said bully reaches out his hand and catches me. There I am, dangling over the cliff, saved by the hand I'd like to bite. It's very far from unclear that he won't go over the cliff himself at that point, whether he lets go or not, and, in any event, I have the car keys.

I have a weak-willed friend 20 feet away who, for various reasons, isn't going to pull me up from over the side of the cliff by himself. But he does have a gun and would be willing to at least help. He's unlikely to shoot the bastard on his own because I have the car keys, but he's not that good a friend and he's also a climber, so he could always fetch the keys. Now, I could yell to him, "Help this fine fellow pull me up" or I can yell, "Shoot the bastard, he pushed me."

The first is a lie and unjust. Yet, if I do that I will live. The second is the truth and what I think he deserves; but if he's shot, I die.

Do I die righteousness or live by lying? I hear a lot of people complaining that the bully wasn't shot while they were dangling.

If I live, what do I do after the fact?