Political Discussions
Barack Obama Was Elected Nine Months Ago
Posted by filosofia • 7/12/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: america politics, obama, President
Barack Obama was elected nine months ago, and already we are now beginning to see signs that the Americans are maybe a little bit dissatisfied with the President who was inaugurated amidst such a huge wave of euphoria only last November.
Are there any tangible reasons for this? Or is it just that people are not happy unless they have something to winge about?
User Comments
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He's been in office less than seven months, and with his election, we had hope that things would be better, which they are. We've pulled out of Baghdad, we now have sensible strategy in Afghanistan: the real war on terrorism, we're using science instead of religion to decide policy, there's work being done on the health care problem...
The biggest problem is still the economy, though, and while Obama inherited the problem, the corrective actions don't seem to be adequate. -
regardless of who is in power. people will "winge" about the opposing party/ideology -
Some people were whining about Obama's actions and their effects before he was even sworn in - that has nothing to do with policy, and everything to do with pre-set ideologies that they weren't gonna like him, they aren't going to give him credit for anything, and nothing is going to change that.
Other's had unrealistic expectations - and are naturally disappointed. I heard people asking why the economy didn't automatically bounce back on January 22nd. Obviously, you aren't going to please that crowd right now (and maybe not ever).
For the most part, people are still quite happy about most of what he's done thus far, and are looking to what he plans to accomplish in the coming years.-
I didn't care much for the some of his cabinet choices, or (as senator) his support of the TARP, but I still gave (and continue to give) him a chance to prove himself. It's not like he's going anywhere soon.
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When Obama ran, he portrayed himself to be much more moderate or centrist than he really is. Once he got into office, his left leaning tendencies began to show. Also, he raised close to one billion dollars while campaigning for President. When you get that much money, you are indebted to a lot of people. All one has to do is to look at the deal he cut for the UAW in the Chrysler and GM restructurings and you can begin to see why his approval ratings are dropping.-
I never saw anyone on the right accuse him of being centrist during the campaign. There were always accusations of being "dangerously" leftist. The right's complaints never changed in this respect, so to talk about a shift is disingenuous at best. Presumably this rhetoric comes from right-wing talking points aimed at the mainstream voters who elected him, a mainstream that the far right imagines to be secretly right-wing, but duped by Obama's charisma in the context of a bad economy.
And as those of us with more left-leaning tendencies keep pointing out, Obama is definitely more in the center or even right of center on issues that matter to us. We've even pointed out some examples. But how he looks from the center or left is irrelevant, because that would take a leap of the imagination that appears to be nearly impossible when one is seated far on the right. -
Recite far right talking points. Repeat.
Recite far right talking points. Repeat.
Recite far right talking points. Repeat.
No matter what Obama does...
Recite far right talking points. Repeat. -
Yeah, I believe Socialist and Communist were the common names being used to describe Obama during the election.
He's far more centrist now than he was during his election - which makes sense, since it's hard to be bipartisan if you're all the way down the hall at the end of a different building. -
Bullsh*t. He talked much more moderately and fiscally conservative than the way he is governing. Not until he let slip about "redistribution of wealth" did his leftist agenda begin to come forth. Thanks to the inept media in this country, he got a pass and not much was made of it.
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I don't know who you were listening to, but every right leaning pundit and conservative within earshot 'round here and on the air/radio labeled him as a socialist/communist as soon as he won the primary. The whole Joe the Plumber/redistribution of wealth brouhaha just sent it all into fever pitch.
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'Not until he let slip about "redistribution of wealth" did his leftist agenda begin to come forth.'
See Adam Smith thread... o_0
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Tangible reasons?
"If we pass this stimulus bill.. Unemployment won't go above 8%"
"Transparency" followed by even traditionally "left" reporters complaining that they've never seen anything like the "control of the press" that O's whitehouse is presenting..
no pork in the stimulus... yah.. lets not even go there...
the list goes on... you can start with 158 of them here.
obamawtf.blogspot.com/2008/05/documented-lie-50-obama-claimed-he-had.html-
He is building quite a Presidential resume, eh?
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as much as I may not agree with some of the spending he asked for, the president of our federation isn't omnipotent. There are many other factors at play
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That list on an anti-Obama blog is from August 11, 2008. It has nothing to do with Obama's presidency. On the other hand, the link's inclusion here does help point to continuities in right-wing drivel.
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So Obama hasn't broken the vast majority of his promises? But since he is a Democrat that is okay, right?
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The vast majority? Not hardly.
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No, he hasn't broken the vast majority of his promises.
He outright got to work on some o fthe smaller stuff, continued with the bailout (as expected and stated) is moving forward with his health care plan, worked very quickly on Iraq and Afghanastan, as well as other diplomatic measures for other foreign matters, reversed 11th hour Bush policies as promised, is working on reversing some more damaging laws (the protect marriage act, for one).
Did everything work exactly as planned? No, of course not. Nor would it as he has two more sections of the government full of people with different ideas to work with.
But he hasn't broken the promises he made. -
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q!
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Yes, sati. He has kept very few promises, I know that doesn't fit with your vision of the messiah, but it is true.
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I am enjoying having a man in office whose intellect, integrity, respect for the rule of law, and political instincts I trust. While I disagree about some issues, the air here in Washington, DC has never been so easy to breath.
Yeah, there's a lot of whining going on, but that's in the nature of a Democracy.-
integrity and respect of law.. LMAO...
have another sip of koolaid.. -
I agree with CSI on this one. Why is Obama blocking investigations into the crimes committed by the Bush administration? Thousands died due to their illegal activities. Obama just wants to push his reforms forward, which is understandable, but we are a country of laws and no one is above the law. Or so says the constitution.
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I suspect, Ben, that you have something different in mind than CSI.
Be that as it may, I believe that Obama is ducking the issue on investigations, because (1) he is afraid of criminalizing policy differences and (2) he doesn't want any investigations to detract from his policy concerns. I wouldn't say he's ruled them out outright. But going for them could hamstring his administration, giving Bush/Cheney a third term, so to speak, since we would only be thinking about their agenda.
That said, I'm all for some people quietly and thoroughly examining the Bush record, in case anything comes up. Obama could always deal with the results of such painstaking research later.
In any case, to suggest that Obama has no respect for the law because he is not dragging the previous administration through the dirt is going a little far. Indeed, if anyone is to do this, it should be the Congress. -
yeah, that is a shame
maybe if he and Cheney and Bush weren't all related
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I suspect, Ben, that you have something different in mind than CSI. \
Hmmmmmmm, you could be right. lol!
It looks like the wheels are beginning to turn, though:
1. Leading Democrats on Sunday demanded investigations of how a highly classified counterterrorism program was kept secret from the Congressional leadership on the orders of Vice President Dick Cheney.
2. Mr. Obama said this weekend that he had asked his staff members to review the mass killing of prisoners in Afghanistan by local forces allied with the United States as it toppled the Taliban regime there. The New York Times reported Saturday that the Bush administration had blocked investigations of the matter.
3. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is also close to assigning a prosecutor to look into whether prisoners in the campaign against terrorism were tortured, officials disclosed on Saturday.
4. And after a report from five inspectors general about the National Security Agency’s domestic eavesdropping said on Friday that there had been a number of undisclosed surveillance programs during the Bush years, Democrats sought more information.
www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/us/politics/13intel.html?hp -
Actually I Don't disagree at all with SATI, it should be investigated.
But I am sure we disagree on why he is blocking it.. I Think that it is because he isn't looking forward to spending the remainder of his life in jail once he is out of office and the tables turn again. -
No, Obama was a constitutional law professor. I doubt Bush ever even read the Constitution.
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He was an adjunct professor, yes. So what?
As far as his broken promises -
* He promised to put all bills that cross his desk online for FIVE FULL DAYS for the American public to view them. - Didn't happen.
* He promised to eliminate the income tax for all seniors making less than $50,000. Didn't happen.
* He promised to give a $3,000 tax credit for all companies that add jobs. - Didn't happen.
* He promised to consider the murder of one and a half million Armenians genocide, yet when he was in Turkey, he never mentioned it.
* "I'm going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We'll have doctors and nurses and hospital administrators. Insurance companies, drug companies -- they'll get a seat at the table, they just won't be able to buy every chair. But what we will do is, we'll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies. And so, that approach, I think is what is going to allow people to stay involved in this process." - Didn't happen.
* Earmark reform. Didn't happen, in fact he has signed into law, over 9,000 earmarks.
* He promised to go "line by line" to cut out any unnecessary spending. - Hasn't happened.
* He promised to put earmarks online for the public to view. Where is the government pork barrel web site?
So yeah, he has broken promise after promise. Except to take Michelle out on a date night. At taxpayer's expense.
In fairness, he did address credit card practices, Stem Cell research, and Iraq. He tried to close Gitmo, but his naivete has proven to be his biggest stumbling block on that one. -
Ccording to politifact Obama has only broken 7 of his many hundred promises on the campaign trail.
He has fully kept 32, has 68 more in the works, has compromised on 10, and 12 have stalled out. 386 have not yet been addressed.
Yes, he is being accused of "breaking" his promise number 511 about the Armenian Genocide because he didn't use the word "genocide" during a time when they are in negotiations. He still recognized the 1915 tragedy.
His tax plan (which includes the tax cuts for seniors) hasn't gone through yet. promise NOT broken. (abcnews.go.com/Business/Politics/Story?id=7571718&page=2)
In any case, he's technically broken 7 promises. I wish Bush had only broken so few.
Look for yourself:
www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/
the first one they list is the senior tax cut - their update is outdated - the ABC article talks about his lans for 2011.
The second one is the five day waiting period. They are considering it still broken because the WHitHouse has not consistently given each bill 5 days on their website, an dthe website is hard to navigate. They have made several bills available when they could, however and they are working on being able to do it regularly. Not exactly earthshattering.
The third one about lobbyists is still considered broken because they have not made the waivers and recusals pulbic - they are in the midst of doing that by a motion, apparently.
It just goes on and on like that.
The 4th one is the $3,k tax refund for businesess. It didn't make it in the stimulus bill, but their last update was in February. A lot of poo has hit the fan, and quite frankly the government balls out gave the companies money to stay afloat. What, they want an additional $3k per person on top o fthat? Get real
He's being acused of breaking the health care promise by not holding every negotiation on C-Span - although many of the discussions are being openly showed on TV.
Really, they'r enitpicking here.
He's done a damn good job, and if that's all people have to complain about, they should be damn happy.
Now enough of this. -
Anok, hon. It is one thing for you to pick apart the promises he has and hasn't kept, but to say that he has done a fine job and the people should be damn happy is really stretching it.
The porkulus bill, the cap and trade fiasco and his socialized vision of the single payer health care system are all terrible, terrible things and the American people should not be "damn happy about it." -
oh so because a person has taught economics, he'll never be a fraudster?
Or if he has taught criminology, he'll never be a criminal?
Wow... talk about non sequitor reasoning. Obamanatics at their best -
Whether or not you agree with some of the promises he is keeping is a matter of opinion. I think most of what he has done so far are either very good, a step in the right direction, or doing the best with the mess he inherited.
But as far as keeping his campaign promises, he's doing damn good. And maybe that's why people are mad. Maybe they're upset that he is doing his best to do what he promised. Maybe it's because they were hoping he would break his promises either to show him for an asshole, or because they didn't like the promise to begin with.
I for one think that a public option health care plan is the best thing that could happen to the entire industry. I'm not thrilled with the bailouts - but without them no one would be getting anything at all. I'm not happy that he didn't go after Bush and Cheney for their crimes - but it's still on the table and he's proceeding with caution. I am happy we are pulling out of Iraq, I am happy he has taken a step back from interfering in other countries unless it has something to do with us directly. I am happy about his stance on stem cell research, overturning bad 11th hour legislations, his cooperation with labor unions, and even his promise to over the DOMA legislation. I am thrilled that he has extended benefits to same sex couples who are federal employees (bout damn time). His stance on the credit industry was long overdue, and I hope he starts fighting corruption of that calibre in all industries. I'm thrilled to death about his plans for energy independence. Just think, no more funding terrorists to fuel our homes!
I'm happy that many of the legislation he overturned gave rights back to the states, and he is helping to focus on science rather than theology as law. I really can't complain all that much about what he's done.
Hey, I got a nice tax return this year, too
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To an outsider like me, this discussion is in equal measure both fascinating and baffling!
Perhaps it might not be inappropriate to include a link to the video which prompted my question? Many of the references are obscure to a European, but I get the gist I think. This is (apparently) a left-of-center viewpoint here, not a right-wing attack...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWulnfog20c-
Yeah, left-of-center types can tend to get ruffled by obama, cause he is technically right-of-center
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Agit8r, how is he right of center? He has the most liberal voting record in the Senate. All his policies tend to be socialistic in nature. He rewarded the National Education Association and the UAW, among other liberal groups. How is he right of...well ANYTHING?
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Anticrocks: You've heard me say the same thing. Try taking a leap of imagination. Assume Agit8r is neither stupid nor insane, and do the same with me. Now try and figure it out. Maybe you'll have to read more mainstream media (read: "liberal" in conservative speak) to get it, and maybe you'll to even read some left-wing media too, but it will come, if you make the effort. I feel like I've already done my part on other threads. Time for you to educate yourself.
Course, you'll need some of that there "empathy" that the right has declared suspect, but that was only for judges, right? -
AR, do you really think anyone in this forum cares what you think of them? I mean, really.
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sati...go draw something, the grown ups are talking.
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Yep, I admit it... I'm still a kid at heart. (My knees say otherwise, though.)
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Left of you ≠ left of center
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