Obama; Nero?

[Larry Gude (Premo)]

Nero - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (15 December AD 37–9 June AD 68),[1] born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also called Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus, was the fifth and last Roman emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great uncle Claudius to become heir to the throne. As Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, he succeeded to the throne on 13 October 54, following Claudius's death.

Nero ruled from 54 to 68, focusing much of his attention on diplomacy, trade, and increasing the cultural capital of the empire. He ordered the building of theaters and promoted athletic games. His reign included a successful war and negotiated peace with the Parthian Empire (58–63), the suppression of the British revolt (60–61) and improving relations with Greece. The First Roman-Jewish War (66–70) started during his reign. In 68 a military coup drove Nero from the throne. Facing assassination, he committed suicide on 9 June 68.[2]

Nero's rule is often associated with tyranny and extravagance.[3] He is known for a number of executions, including those of his mother[4] and adoptive brother, as the emperor who "fiddled while Rome burned",[5] and as an early persecutor of Christians. This view is based upon the main surviving sources for Nero's reign—Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio. Few surviving sources paint Nero in a favorable light.[6] Some sources, though, including those mentioned above, portray him as an emperor who was popular with the common Roman people, especially in the East.[7]

It's always interesting to me look at historical figures and try to put them in context of our day and age. Bush, famously, was a huge fan of Churchill and, too bad for us, Bush missed the key fact about Sir Winston; he lead the decline of England in particular due to his war mongering and Western civilization in general. The Brits won wars and lost everything else.

Obama is big on diplomacy, put himself on the line for the Olympics, is an athlete himself, isn't real big on Israel, Parthia is closely related to Iran and Obama is well noted for throwing people close to him under the bus and he does like his extravagant travel.

Where the analogy really hits home is the legend of fiddling as Rome burned. Obama is focused on all sorts of things except the primary, far and away biggest issues to the nation as a whole, jobs and property values.

Obama, of course, still has some time to turn this around and start dealing with the real issues instead of the boutique ones.

I guess we'll see.

[aps45819 (Premo)]

Obama is totally clueless.
He's never ever had a real job or been in charge of anything, he's surrounded himself with sycophantic advisers from the communist/radical community whose ideology he's embraced all his life.


How can that possible be good for the country?

[Nucklesack]

Originally Posted by Larry Gude

Nero - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



It's always interesting to me look at historical figures and try to put them in context of our day and age. Bush, famously, was a huge fan of Churchill and, too bad for us, Bush missed the key fact about Sir Winston; he lead the decline of England in particular due to his war mongering and Western civilization in general. The Brits won wars and lost everything else.

Obama is big on diplomacy, put himself on the line for the Olympics, is an athlete himself, isn't real big on Israel, Parthia is closely related to Iran and Obama is well noted for throwing people close to him under the bus and he does like his extravagant travel.

Where the analogy really hits home is the legend of fiddling as Rome burned. Obama is focused on all sorts of things except the primary, far and away biggest issues to the nation as a whole, jobs and property values.

Obama, of course, still has some time to turn this around and start dealing with the real issues instead of the boutique ones.

I guess we'll see.

Did you know, according to legend, the Trojan prince Aeneas (survivor who carried the sword of Troy) was the founder of the Roman empire?

[Vince]

Originally Posted by Larry Gude

Obama, of course, still has some time to turn this around and start dealing with the real issues instead of the boutique ones.

I guess we'll see.

I think he will continue to take on the issues that get him the most time in the limelight. He loves hearing himself speak and being on TV.

[SamSpade]

Originally Posted by Nucklesack

Did you know, according to legend, the Trojan prince Aeneas (survivor who carried the sword of Troy) was the founder of the Roman empire?

As my Roman republic professor would have said - "pious fiction". The Romans never wanted to believe they were anything but sprung from the loins of heroes, even though they were almost certainly home-grown Italians, according to the best archaeological evidence.

He was vastly entertaining as a professor. He could always point out the BS in ancient history. In Livy, he'd always mention that just before the Romans were about to suffer an embarassing defeat, there were ALWAYS signs from the gods portending they needed to amend their ways, and the blasphemous Romans simply got their due. Or that they heroically charged out and pushed those awful Celts back to the Po Valley when evidence showed they were just paid off. Historians of that era never just reported the facts - they always had to editorialize.

[SamSpade]

Originally Posted by Larry Gude

I guess we'll see.

Hard for me to see any commonality with Nero. Although he didn't play the fiddle - since they didn't exist then - he probably didn't play the lyre or harp either. Rumor at the time was that he himself set the fire to burn down Rome in order to build the Neropolis he intended to create on its ashes. But who knows.

Thing is, Nero really took the whole godhood crap seriously. Worse, he fashioned himself as some kind of uber artist extraordinaire. I guess he thought to be the greatest artist was even better than being a god. He would give concerts where he would sing, and people would *feign death* to be carried away from them (he would later punish people who tried). When he died - the mob was comiing for him - all he could whine about was that the world was losing an artist. Lacking the courage to commit suicide, he tried to get one of those with him to do it as an example for him. Finally, his own assistant shoved a dagger in his throat.

Hmmm - I guess there is ONE point I overlooked. Nero emptied out the treasury on his stupid-assed projects. It seems that every spendthrift emperor was usually preceded or succeeded by a miser. I think it was Vespasian who once quipped to his son Titus (holding a coin) "does this smell? yet it comes from urine", a comment on his imposition of public pay toilets. Every time there was a surplus of money, some jerk emperor would succeed and deplete it again.

[ImnoMensa]

Originally Posted by SamSpade

Hard for me to see any commonality with Nero. Although he didn't play the fiddle - since they didn't exist then - he probably didn't play the lyre or harp either. Rumor at the time was that he himself set the fire to burn down Rome in order to build the Neropolis he intended to create on its ashes. But who knows.

Thing is, Nero really took the whole godhood crap seriously. Worse, he fashioned himself as some kind of uber artist extraordinaire. I guess he thought to be the greatest artist was even better than being a god. He would give concerts where he would sing, and people would *feign death* to be carried away from them (he would later punish people who tried). When he died - the mob was comiing for him - all he could whine about was that the world was losing an artist. Lacking the courage to commit suicide, he tried to get one of those with him to do it as an example for him. Finally, his own assistant shoved a dagger in his throat.

Hmmm - I guess there is ONE point I overlooked. Nero emptied out the treasury on his stupid-assed projects. It seems that every spendthrift emperor was usually preceded or succeeded by a miser. I think it was Vespasian who once quipped to his son Titus (holding a coin) "does this smell? yet it comes from urine", a comment on his imposition of public pay toilets. Every time there was a surplus of money, some jerk emperor would succeed and deplete it again.

Geez Man, Be Quiet: Dont give them any ideas. Next they will tax the toilets in restaurants and public places.

Dont give these Obama a-Holes any new ideas.

[Sonsie]

Nero? No, I think he thinks of himself more like this:

Obama Rockwell.jpg