Five Ways President Obama Changed My Life

[shadowym1]

That sound you hear are teabaggers grinding their teeth while watching this. Of course you will get the obligatory "socialism" crap as well even though they have no clue what that actually means.

[circusboy90210]

#1 the only person who got you an education not obama. #2 cash for clunkers started before obama was in office. #3when bush did a stimulus program it was a bad thing. yet another thing obama was not responsible for. #4 yet another thing that would have done no matter who was in office. #6 was bush. wow

[firstclasslady50]

No woman, Obama did not give that to you; the taxpayers of this country gave you that stimulus money!!! Get your facts straight!!

[firstclasslady50]

I wonder if Obama is paying for Peggy Johnson's gas now that it is once again over $4 a gallon.

Remember her? She's the moocher who said that once Obama got elected he was going to pay all her bills, gas, and mortgage.

Wonder if she got any Obama money!!

[PatricksTime]

how is that hope and change going for ya?

[chums101]

You need to be thanking me and the others working so Obama would have money in his stash to give away. I'm glad to see you got grant money which allowed you to get a bs job and then take advantage of the cash for clunkers program. I work but could not afford one for myself. It must be nice.

[curtbr72]

Sister you sound ignorant. Where does all this money magically come from? Why am I working to pay for your kids healthcare? I find it funny that people think money grows on trees.

[shifragri]

Obama 2012! I love this clip! BTW the student loan reform bill signed by Bush, is really an accomplishment of the Democratic Congress!

[linwooddeaton]

gee where does all that money come from?

and a college student saying this.....clueless.

[classicallady]

GOBAMA2012!

[TheUrbanRevolution]

For me - I was able to get my son's physical taken care of 2 months prior to the 1 year anniversary. It used to be we could only get a physicals every 12 months. Since the health care reform bill, you can get physicals as often as you want because they are now considered preventative care! For me that was a $480.00 savings and we have employer-based health insurance

[TAMPADOC64]

A small correction, Barrack Obama didn't pay for all of this, WE paid for all of this. Loans for people that can't afford them? Isn't that what wrecked the economy? YES!So when the money runs out and inflation is killing your house value and gas is $5.00 a gallon and your husband is still out of work, remember, Barack Obama DID do that.

[blazman2]

I think that you can assume that in a year he can find the time to create a legal business entity.

[blazman2]

ahh proud to suck from the teat!!

1. I find the cash for clunker comment to be a bit dubious. She can't even name the type of car.

2. The husband is collecting unemployment while starting a business? This is not legal. I think we shall see that you have to pay it all back.

[nigassma]

but your assuming that he made it a legal entity already. "he has a year to get his business off the ground" is all she stated.

[Azureindigo]

hater

[xxdakxx]

Actually Barack Obama didn't give her anything. He took taxpayer money for all of this which will have to be paid back. Middle and upper income taxpayers in the very near future will have to pay this back. This fact will decrease overall income and initiate moral hazards in the sense that soon it will not pay to make more money since a greater percentage of income will be taken out at those levels. This will give more incentive to stay at a lower income level and being provided for by the govt.

[gmt903]

In in other countries, where education is valued more, the government helps out those that are willing to sacrifice to continue their education. Obama is willing to do that. I applaud that. This woman is looking for handouts. She's looking for some opportunities. Being that she works in nonprofit, I'm sure she's not trying to milk the government to get rich, which she will NEVER be in nonprofit. Unlike greedy corporations that get handouts from the gov't all the time.

[theloniousMac]

There is nothing that cannot be learned absolutely free in this country. The information of all humanity over all the ages is available for free. What people want is not education, they want free home and bored while they hang out in schools.

[gmt903]

I think what one majors in does have a implication on the level of difficulty it is (or is not) to find a job. Certainly, if one has a job in any technological field than the job market would still certainly be competitive, but a bit easier than one in a field of, say, philosophy.

The point I was trying to make, and I think the millions of people who are looking for jobs right now would agree, is that just because you can't find a job doesn't mean you aren't intelligent enough.

[TheCulturalObserver]

@gmt903... I'd posted my credentials, and my wife's credentials but then decided it wouldn't make any difference to you. You're a firm believer in the Government hand out tax payer rape being described here so I'd be wasting my time.

[shopgirl12]

Love you Robby Rob!!!!

[TheCulturalObserver]

I was just thinking about this piece a moment ago and one other thing occurs to me. The young woman implies that she feels how corporations felt under the Bush Administration. In reality the Bush Administration provided tax cuts but the amount of money given away by Barrack Obama to corporations in less than a year is over THREE TRILLION DOLLARS. The Bush Admin. tax cuts can barely be called a fraction of this amountI

[TheCulturalObserver]

"Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them. "

"No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! "

[TheCulturalObserver]

This woman is intelligent enough to earn a Doctorate and yet still dependent upon the government for everything. She couldn't find a job, but found a way for tax payers to pay for her study on AIDS in the "black community." She gets a tax payer funded hand out for a new car. She finds a government sponsored way to avoid paying her student loans. She doesn't even thank the rich white Americans who are paying the vast majority of taxes in the country, the taxes she is living quite well off.

[gmt903]

@TheCulturalObserver: what kind of crackhead comment is that? Do you even know any PhDs? If you did, you'd realize how hard it is to get a post-doc job when the economy is GOOD. Just because she can't get a job doesn't mean she isn't trying or she's not smart enough. I encourage you to talk to more post-docs. Jobs that require a PhD are highly desirable and highly competitive.

[gmt903]

Along the lines of education, do you even know how much it costs to get a bachelors, masters, AND a PhD? She's not "avoiding" paying her loan back. She's not looking for "hand outs." She actually accomplished what we should all strive for in this country... to EDUCATE ourselves. All she is hoping for is a way to feed her kids and family - and that is difficult to do with the amount of loans she has.

[gmt903]

@TheCulturalObserver Your comment makes me wonder if you have an education at all. Or a family or kids. Or if you even know what it's like to struggle in life. Or if you realize that there are rich black people too. (WTF kind of comment was that about, anyway???) But maybe you are just an uneducation, closed-minded white man who was handed money from mommy and daddy.

[ih8makinusernames]

theres poor white people too, they're not all blue blooded spoiled brats, rasist asshole. Oh oopsI forgot, in good ole Minority America Blacks can't be racists, my mistake.

[kenblevins]

The government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

- Ronald Reagan

[skhicks1]

I am glad that some people are benefiting from the policies of the current regime. As a libertarian I view people like this same way that I view slave owners. Robin like a slave owner is benefiting from the labor of others who have no say in the situation. Others includes the following: (a) unborn generations that will inherit this ungodly debt, (b) current taxpayers and (c) all Americans whose buying power will be cut to a fraction of what it currently is because of currency inflation.

[Brandonian3030]

NOPE

[Mavinga1975]

Fabulous, Tunde! Thank you so much for showing that we don't have to succumb to the cynicism that we see on television. Real change happens to real people.

Kiese a.k.a. Tunde nephew

[thembiwoulddowhat]

Great commentary!

And by the way, Ive wanted to be like Robin when I grow up since I was 9 ;)

[Hardwyre]

OBAMA DIDN'T DO DICK! CONGRESS SORTED ALL THIS SHIT OUT! JUST BECAUSE HE SIGNS THE PAPER DOESN'T MEAN HE DESERVES THE CREDIT!

Why the hell is the AIDS research for "black communities". Racist bullshit. If someone wanted to do AIDS research in "white communities" they'd be sued and reprimanded. AIDS doesn't give a fuck what color someone it.

Cash for Clunkers was just another bunch of bullshit. Lets FORCE everyone to pay for your car. Perfectly good vehicles are being trashed.

[LeslyFromColumbus]

"If someone wanted to do AIDS research in "white communities" they'd be sued and reprimanded."

If white communities made up 50% of new aids cases and the NIH got millions to research this tragedy, nobody would hold it against the white community. And by white community I mean HETEROSEXUAL whites, 'cause we know how Reagan "took care of" homosexual whites: by ignoring their plight.

[CitizenWorm]

The end is really funny but it's kind of sad that getting a little bit of what she & the rest of us SHOULD've been getting all along makes her feel like the cat-who-ate-the-canary/corpora­te pirate.

Reminds me of Eve Ensler talking about how grateful the ladies in New Orleans were for a brunch. She said something like...is this what we've come to? Where a brunch is such an unexpected gift to cause tears? That's definitely a paraphrase but you get my point.

Yay for all of this...now, more please!

[TheAsh88]

Ummm...she's definitely not a welfare recipient. This chick has a PhD, lol. Thats what happens when a government's interests are in it's people and not the corporations.

[Hardwyre]

TheAsh88> "Peoples' interest"? ... What the hell do you think the NIH is? National Institute of Health. A federally-funded organization that sells a lot of its research to corporations to produce treatments and medications. Treatments and medications that are SOLD back to the taxpayers for HUGE profits.

[baratunde]

thank you everyone for the comments and ratings (even from the haters). with such a tense political environment, it's good to hear the story of how these policies can affect people's actual lives.

[bevisdoesntsuck]

@baratunde Unemployment,homelessness,expi­red Bush tax relief,bigot attorney General Eric Holder,Gun Grabbing supreme court justice Elena Jew Kagen this must be the change Buck Wheat promised!

[obamamaniacs]

@bevisdoesntsuck Bush tax 'relief' was for the very wealthy. not for the middle class or for the poor. Unemployment was way up before Obama came into office and we've always had homelessness. Stop hiding behind that white sheet of yours.

[kirkleyrobert]

@baratunde hey i looked in the dictionary for the word "haters" you used.........its not there so you should probably give back that grant that you got from taxpayers.................seco­ndly why dont you say thank you to the white taxpayers that work everyday tell them thanks for raising generations of your family through welfare

[funkytoes]

THIS WAS AWESOME! Seriously these stories need to be spread like a Southern California wildfire. We need to hear this. It's good for the spirit.

[obamamaniacs]

I guess you didnt watch the whole video and understand in how many ways these policies have improved this family's life?

[CitizenWorm]

Have you seen the numbers on how the nation debt is effected by letting Bush's tax breaks for the wealthy expire? I suggest you Google it. It might relieve some of your stress about the deficit.

[robertantonnyc]

Great for you and so many others. It was really good to hear this. Thanks for posting.

[obamamaniacs]

Welfare is welfare. So let's take back all the money Bush gave to the corporations that were going under because "millions of people would lose their jobs" and then the money was given as bonuses to the upper echelons of mgmt.

I'd love to sue all of those execs and businesses to get that money and back and re-distribute it back to the taxpayers.

[CitizenWorm]

So you are in favor of a "free market" I suppose. How did you feel about Bush's tax cuts? What about the effective tax rate for those in the top tier? They're only taxed up to the first $250,000 you know, the rest is not taxed.

Then there's corporate welfare...and it's going to companies that take manufacturing over seas and exploit workers in countries without protections.

Is that your version of a free market? Cause that's what we have.

It's time for you to go beyond talking points sir.

[Hardwyre]

CitizenWorm> Your facts are grossly wrong sir. People still pay over 250k. Google "tax brackets" and look for the moneychimp link. Where did you get the idea that people stopped paying taxes after a point? You're either blatantly wrong or sadly misinformed. People will pay 35% on anything they make over 372k in 2009. Social Security has a cap at about 93K, no other income-based taxed has a cap.

[CitizenWorm]

@ Hardwyre

You're absolutely right. I had several things crossed in my mind when I left this comment. I don't know what I was thinking.

Also, I know this is ancient but I was offline for a while. Anyway...you're totally right...I was way off on that.

[africalive]

This is fabulous!!!!! Wish I could've made the block party, but trying to hold down the fort in CA.

[realdamian]

Love it! But I feel some kinda way about having her FULL name in this. Call it superstition, pessimism, or fatalism...CONGRATS though!

[CitizenWorm]

Nobody is anonymous on the internet. It's sad but true. "Security" is a bed time story so we can sleep at night without bad dreams.

[bigdom187]

Great video Baratunde! I bet there are tons of stories like this around America. It's great to see that the President's initiatives are working.