Barrack Obama: Best of....Worst of....SO FAR
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DarcSkies777
Members Posts: 5,600 ✭✭✭
What things are you happy about with Obama's presidency SO FAR?
And what things are you disappointed by SO FAR?
Best:
Healthcare Bill
Finally a smart president that wont embarrass our country over seas and knows what he's talking about when he is talking about it.
Worst:
Healthcare Bill is weak
WAY too optimistic and opportunistic. Doesnt take huge risks
Seems gun shy
Didnt end the war in Iraq like he said he would...draw back is just double talk to me
And what things are you disappointed by SO FAR?
Best:
Healthcare Bill
Finally a smart president that wont embarrass our country over seas and knows what he's talking about when he is talking about it.
Worst:
Healthcare Bill is weak
WAY too optimistic and opportunistic. Doesnt take huge risks
Seems gun shy
Didnt end the war in Iraq like he said he would...draw back is just double talk to me
Comments
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really, it is NOT the sweeping "change" he promised.
but overall he is doin well imo -
what took other presidents 100 yrs, it only took pres. obama 1 1/2 to refim healthcare. it may not be perfect, but dagit, it sumthin. way better than not havin nada.
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as for disappointments ? the only thing i dont like is that he didnt pull the troops out but i understand that given the current economic situation & that its still early its WAY TOO RISKY so he hasnt done it yet. he prolly doesnt wanna spark retaliation from insurgents & them takin that ? the wrong way as a victory & empowering the insurgents to prompt another attack. america & his reputation aint ready for that.
UM..being in this war is actually BAD for our economy.
Secondly, Spark retaliation? They gonna ? Americans and our allies regardless if we're in the desert or not. Our being there just gives them ammo and a recruiting tool. I hear we're really there fighting Pakistan & Iran though indirectly. -
Best:
Healthcare bill, and Wall Street reform bill that will be passed soon
Worst:
Increasing the already huge deficit. I'm started to get very worried. -
arbitration wrote: »Best:
Healthcare bill, and Wall Street reform bill that will be passed soon
Worst:
Increasing the already huge deficit. I'm started to get very worried.
Wow, what a bunch of ? . The Healthcare bill is insufficient and doesn't seriously address the real problems that need to be solved. The Wall Street bill....ditto but worse. And as for the deficit, I'm still waiting for ANYONE to explain to me why the debt needs reduced immediately. National Debt is a long term issue that could cause a lot of trouble down the road, but disaster is not looming in the months ahead due to the debt. Try to tackle deficit reduction in the middle of a recession is just bad economic policy, and even conservative economists will agree with this (unless they're running for office, selling a book, or have a contract with Fox News).
Actually, if Congress was not more concerned with political posturing than good policy, they'd be spending MORE money. The stubborn unemployment rates and tough times all around are no surprise. I been said before they even passed the Stimulus Bill that it wasn't nearly enough money. Sure, it was enough to prevent us from spiraling toward Great Depression era conditions (and that is very fortunate because Americans today are way softer than they were in the 30's. It would NOT be pretty) but by all means the job market is still ? and there isn't a clear path to recovery without taking some other action. Spending another trillion or two on public works programs (which we're gonna need anyway to stay competitive and to help us move towards energy independence) would actually get the ball rolling.
Our big problem with the National Debt is that everyone hollers about it when the economy sucks, which is the worst time to try to reduce it. Then when the economy gets good again, nobody cares about debt anymore, even though that's the time to start paying it off. Don't let the alarmists and the doomsayers trick you into thinking our debt is destroy us in the next few years. But when the recession is over and the economy is strong, don't forget how worried you were about the debt back in 2010.
As for Obama:
Best - He got a healthcare bill passed which does indeed suck, but still has a few good aspects which will likely become popular in the near future, hopefully emboldening future leaders to take further action; He actually has the ? to tell Israel's extremist right-wing coalition government to go ? themselves; He sold Arlen Specter out.
Worst - His entire policy agenda thus far has been watered down and he's partly to blame. He needs to grow a pair and stop letting Congressional Clowns with disingenuous talking points control the dialogue. Similarly, he doesn't have the ? to say what I just said about deficits and the national debt, even though he knows it's the truth. In his parroting of John Boehner's line that [paraphrase] "during a recession the federal government needs to spend less just like working families do" is extremely disappointing. It indicates that he too cares more about a good sound byte than he cares about serious economic policy. I still like the guy and think he has potential to do good things before his Presidency ends, but he has to realize that you don't get good public policy by trying to find common ground with obstructionists who don't even truly believe the nonsense they're spewing. -
Good : Healthcare, Wallstreet reform
Bad : Comprimising too much, Still bein in Afghanistan, Allowing off shore drilling rather then pressing for alternative sources of energy -
ether-i-am wrote: »Obama will go down in history as one of the best presidents America has ever had.
What are you basing this on? He's been pretty unremarkable so far. If things keep up like they do, he'll be remembered for breaking racial barriers and making history as the first black man elected president, but as for his actual presidency, there hasn't really been anything memorable so far. -
shootemwon wrote: »What are you basing this on? He's been pretty unremarkable so far. If things keep up like they do, he'll be remembered for breaking racial barriers and making history as the first black man elected president, but as for his actual presidency, there hasn't really been anything memorable so far.
HCR was pretty damn ground breaking. Once the things go through people will be happier. But he still didnt do anything that would put him on Mount Rushmore. He had the chance to be GREAT. But he let the GOP bend him over like a ? for a whole year and had to settle for a consolation prize. Unless thats what he wanted all along and never really gave a ? ?
Either way he has been memorable. But not anywhere near what he could have been or promised to be. -
Best: Giving Hillary a job like how Tony hooked up Ernie in Scarface, Reforming the Student Loan system, Haiti, Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, sending a shot whistling past the Military-Industrial Complex's head by cancelling the F-22, Sotomayor, Stem Cell Research, saving GM from destruction (very unpopular at the time), taking on the teachers unions, Health Care Bill, manning up and putting the Health Care Bill on his back after Scott Brown won and his advisors told him to chalk it, sonning the ? outta dumb Republicans at the summit and their own retreat during said Health Care legislative process, New START Treaty, actually giving a ? about Global Warming and trying to do something about it, Financial Reform bill that's tough enough on Wall St. to get co-signs from Krugman and Liz Warren, making BP pay to clean up the spill, Stimulus (? CMR, b), Cash 4 Clunkerz, resisting the urge to talk ? to Iran during the Green protests, beefing w/ Netanyahu, ordering the Navy to pwn those pirates, increasing the drone attacks, moving to end Don't Ask Don't Tell, LOTS of little environmental things that you'll never hear about, ending the ridiculous Jesse-Helms-created AIDS travel ban, ordering the Army to maintain their current rate of withdrawal from Iraq despite rising violence and ethnic tensions, seemingly turning every far-right conservative into a foaming lunatic ranting about conspiracy theories.........
Worst: Tim Geithner, Afghanistan surge (thought I understand why), seriously believing that Health Care could be passed by August, riding w/ Bernanke against The Fed audit, not spending MORE on Stimulus, letting liberals get too attached to a Public Option that wasn't even a Public Option anymore, increasing the drone attacks, not moving on Don't Ask Don't Tell faster, lifting a finger (much less showing up in person) to help unimpressive and clearly doomed candidates like Coakley/Specter/Corzine/Deeds, Elena Kagan (maybe), playing golf smh, stepping in the bear trap by answering the question about that cop, pushing Iraq withdrawal back 3 months, reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act, getting shook by Wanda Sykes sonning Republicans at the Correspondent's Dinner and having Jay Leno (boooooo...COCO) replace her the next year, using Bush's same old ? legal tricks to keep Gitmo detainees locked up, all the CIA black sites that WEREN'T closed, not prosecuting guys like Mark Swanner (look him up), not having BP's executives shot & dumped in the oil-contaminated Gulf...... -
DarcSkies777 wrote: »But he still didnt do anything that would put him on Mount Rushmore.
That's like saying Lebron is a letdown because he hasn't won 6 NBA Championships and 6 Finals MVPs yet lol -
I don't think the health care bill is ground breaking. Social Security was groundbreaking. Medicare was groundbreaking. The Health Care Bill isn't going to have that kind of impact. Obama's presidency has not been progressive so far, and like the Clinton White House, Obama just seems to slide to the right more and more over time. Look at the guys involved with ACTUAL ground breaking legislation. The New Deal and The Great Society. Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. FDR is still one of the most respected and celebrated Presidents ever, and if it wasn't for Vietnam, LBJ would be widely regarded as the best President in the last 50 years. Those guys were progressive Presidents. On the other hand, Obama could do like Clinton and favor triangulation, but Clinton's presidency is obviously very forgettable. Obama would be the same. Too bad for Barack, even with his own party in charge, Congress is too spineless to give any new progressive measures a try.DarcSkies777 wrote: »HCR was pretty damn ground breaking. Once the things go through people will be happier. But he still didnt do anything that would put him on Mount Rushmore. He had the chance to be GREAT. But he let the GOP bend him over like a ? for a whole year and had to settle for a consolation prize. Unless thats what he wanted all along and never really gave a ? ?
Either way he has been memorable. But not anywhere near what he could have been or promised to be. -
You ? listed everything. Hasn't anything he's done been just ok?Swiffness! wrote: »Best: Giving Hillary a job like how Tony hooked up Ernie in Scarface, Reforming the Student Loan system, Haiti, Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, sending a shot whistling past the Military-Industrial Complex's head by cancelling the F-22, Sotomayor, Stem Cell Research, saving GM from destruction (very unpopular at the time), taking on the teachers unions, Health Care Bill, manning up and putting the Health Care Bill on his back after Scott Brown won and his advisors told him to chalk it, sonning the ? outta dumb Republicans at the summit and their own retreat during said Health Care legislative process, New START Treaty, actually giving a ? about Global Warming and trying to do something about it, Financial Reform bill that's tough enough on Wall St. to get co-signs from Krugman and Liz Warren, making BP pay to clean up the spill, Stimulus (? CMR, b), Cash 4 Clunkerz, resisting the urge to talk ? to Iran during the Green protests, beefing w/ Netanyahu, ordering the Navy to pwn those pirates, increasing the drone attacks, moving to end Don't Ask Don't Tell, LOTS of little environmental things that you'll never hear about, ending the ridiculous Jesse-Helms-created AIDS travel ban, ordering the Army to maintain their current rate of withdrawal from Iraq despite rising violence and ethnic tensions, seemingly turning every far-right conservative into a foaming lunatic ranting about conspiracy theories.........
Worst: Tim Geithner, Afghanistan surge (thought I understand why), seriously believing that Health Care could be passed by August, riding w/ Bernanke against The Fed audit, not spending MORE on Stimulus, letting liberals get too attached to a Public Option that wasn't even a Public Option anymore, increasing the drone attacks, not moving on Don't Ask Don't Tell faster, lifting a finger (much less showing up in person) to help unimpressive and clearly doomed candidates like Coakley/Specter/Corzine/Deeds, Elena Kagan (maybe), playing golf smh, stepping in the bear trap by answering the question about that cop, pushing Iraq withdrawal back 3 months, reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act, getting shook by Wanda Sykes sonning Republicans at the Correspondent's Dinner and having Jay Leno (boooooo...COCO) replace her the next year, using Bush's same old ? legal tricks to keep Gitmo detainees locked up, all the CIA black sites that WEREN'T closed, not prosecuting guys like Mark Swanner (look him up), not having BP's executives shot & dumped in the oil-contaminated Gulf...... -
shootemwon wrote: »I don't think the health care bill is ground breaking. Social Security was groundbreaking. Medicare was groundbreaking.
The Social Security Act didn't cover.....*pulls out list*, agricultural workers, domestic workers, self-employed workers, local/state/federal government employees, railroad workers, employees of nonprofits. It was improved slowly, piece-by-piece, over the course of 60 years. And keep in mind that a majority of blacks fell under one of those employment categories back in the day. -
would a good immigration reform be considered groundbreaking?
-
Swiffness! wrote: »The Social Security Act didn't cover.....*pulls out list*, agricultural workers, domestic workers, self-employed workers, local/state/federal government employees, railroad workers, employees of nonprofits. It was improved slowly, piece-by-piece, over the course of 60 years. And keep in mind that a majority of blacks fell under one of those employment categories back in the day.
Social Security was still groundbreaking immediately because it represented a huge change in the federal government's role. Even though it got better with incremental changes over decades, its initial enactment broke the ground for government to be able to implement wide reaching redistributive programs and a social net. How does Obamacare measure up against that? -
earth two superman wrote: »would a good immigration reform be considered groundbreaking?
NO AMNESTY, SEND THEM BACK
fuckwhitey -
earth two superman wrote: »would a good immigration reform be considered groundbreaking?
Not in my opinion. We need it to discourage ? like the AZ law and the public wants to see some serious action taken, but the severity of our illegal immigration problems is over-exaggerated. Immigration reform is just something we should ? do already. -
shootemwon wrote: »Social Security was still groundbreaking immediately because it represented a huge change in the federal government's role. Even though it got better with incremental changes over decades, its initial enactment broke the ground for government to be able to implement wide reaching redistributive programs and a social net. How does Obamacare measure up against that?
Because it uhhhhhhhhhhhh represents a huge change in the federal government's role and the largest expansion of the social safety net since Medicare. Why do you think it isn't? Because it doesn't have that weak Public Option the House passed?
? , I hooked up the audio/visual for a corporate conference a bunch of hospitals did 2 weeks ago. This conference was all about the changes coming. Ya'll should have seen the powerpoint this dude presented. It was about how hospitals will NEVER, EVER be the same again. Their payment structure is changing drastically, their regulation is being amped up, and you're gonna see new types of hospital systems evolve as a result, etc. Then he went into all the things that haven't been decided yet. This was just hospitals and it went from 8am to 3pm. The ? was so complex it gives me a headache just thinking about it. -
Swiffness! wrote: »NO AMNESTY, SEND THEM BACK
fuckwhitey
so you think a mother should be sent back to her country and her two American born children should be deported with her?
( i know immigration is much more complicated than that example, but im just wondering.) -
earth two superman wrote: »so you think a mother should be sent back to her country and her two American born children should be deported with her?
( i know immigration is much more complicated than that example, but im just wondering.)
Yes.....is what I'd say if I were actually one of those Pat Buchanan types -
earth two superman wrote: »so you think a mother should be sent back to her country and her two American born children should be deported with her?
( i know immigration is much more complicated than that example, but im just wondering.)
If they're born in America that would make them natural-born citizens. I don't think you can forcefully deport natural born citizens unless Joe Lieberman says its ok. -
Swiffness! wrote: »Yes.....is what I'd say if I were actually one of those Pat Buchanan types
Pat Buchanan is the GOAT cranky old stuffy conservative. ? bless him. -
shootemwon wrote: »If they're born in America that would make them natural-born citizens. I don't think you can forcefully deport natural born citizens unless Joe Lieberman says its ok.
Joe Lieberman eats children -
shootemwon wrote: »Pat Buchanan is the GOAT cranky old stuffy conservative. ? bless him.
....who strongly opposed the Iraq War from the jump and was called an anti-semite for doing so -
Swiffness! wrote: »....who strongly opposed the Iraq War from the jump and was called an anti-semite for doing so
Yeah well any conservative in America who will openly criticize Israel like Buchanan does is probably used to being called an anti-semite by his own side. Back during the military action in Gaza during December 08, Buchanan was sonning some Israel stan on tv but unfortunately that was when David Shuster had the 6PM slot so his being the host obviously ruined it.
