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Hey guys, so for the few times I get into political discussions with my friends, it is usually about Obama. The original Obama fervor the circled around the U.S. has died down, and a large amount of people who I've talked to have turned their hatred to him. They believed he would fix the war and the economy which he hasn't so far.
But, when I ask them if they really know anything bout his policies or what hes done, they give me blank faces. I also really don't know what he's done.
So I ask you TL, what has Obama done so far? People love announcing their misinformed opinion about the current political situation, but I find that they have nothing to back it up. What do you guys feel about Obama?
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I'm not sure if it was Obama specifically but recently a bill was passed so TV commercials can no longer be louder than TV shows, which is A+.
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Obama is doing as i expected, i knew that he was going to be a bad president from the get-go but his amazing speaking skills and ability to tell people what they wanted to hear got him the position
this is merely an example that the skills to be a good president are not the same as the skills to win an election
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I feel that he is certainly well-educated and values academic learning. And his personality is less of a punchline than George Bush's. He's also got a great body.
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Vatican City State1650 Posts
He's fine. Certainly much better than Bush. And he has probably achieved more legislative breakthroughs than almost any other president in the history of US.
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On October 10 2010 08:04 naonao wrote: I'm not sure if it was Obama specifically but recently a bill was passed so TV commercials can no longer be louder than TV shows, which is A+.
i was jealous when i heard about that. i hope theres a law passed in canada, cause it gets ridiculous sometimes.
EDIT: and people are prob mad because:
1) FAUX NEWS likes spreading misinformation 2) Change doesn't happen overnight (especially when half of America is automatically against everything you stand for) 3)RE-EDIT Oh and he had to fix the damage caused by past administrations....
But cmon, he's trying to fighting an uphill battle against every needs change. Healthcare is a wonderful example of a really good policy that got battered and battered until it was only a shadow of its former self. Even so, it's better than what was there before, but it could have been so much more.
**and take what I say with a grain of salt, cause I don't follow American politics that closely, so I may be slightly off**
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He passed the healthcare bill. Major plus if you ask me.
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Soldiers have been recalled. I believe insurance (health) will be available to us all in couple years. not too sure either
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On October 10 2010 08:02 Kezzer wrote:
But, when I ask them if they really know anything bout his policies or what hes done, they give me blank faces. I also really don't know what he's done.
Call me ignorant and unlearned, but how is not settling the war and getting the economy back in shape not failure of policy, even if many things aren't his fault? Not to support Bush, but a lot of things that he failed at just weren't directly his fault either. Still, though, we associate things with our president because the executive really does have THAT much power and influence.
From what I have seen, the Health Care bill has done absolutely nothing. He's wrecking the future of the Space program by driving it in a completely different direction. The bailout for the big corporations would have been better spent by just giving every American a share of that money.
I am glad that he played along with the damage control for the oil spill, though.
Obama was the better option than any chance of Palin being second-in-line for President, but I feel like McCain would have been more effective as President.
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People will always blame the politicians. Seems to me he was a damn sight better than the other options and the previous few presidents. At least speaking skill implies intelligence, in which people like palin were clearly lacking
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Not living in US, but im sure he is 100 times better than Bush. Still doesn't deserve that Nobel tho.
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All he does is spend and spend and spend. Granted its not all him, but the current trend in American government is digging such a deep hole... I'm ready for another change.
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On October 10 2010 08:21 Hikko wrote:Show nested quote +On October 10 2010 08:02 Kezzer wrote:
But, when I ask them if they really know anything bout his policies or what hes done, they give me blank faces. I also really don't know what he's done. Call me ignorant and unlearned, but how is not settling the war and getting the economy back in shape not failure of policy, even if many things aren't his fault? Not to support Bush, but a lot of things that he failed at just weren't directly his fault either. Still, though, we associate things with our president because the executive really does have THAT much power and influence. From what I have seen, the Health Care bill has done absolutely nothing. He's wrecking the future of the Space program by driving it in a completely different direction. The bailout for the big corporations would have been better spent by just giving every American a share of that money. I am glad that he played along with the damage control for the oil spill, though. Obama was the better option than any chance of Palin being second-in-line for President, but I feel like McCain would have been more effective as President. Just a thought concerning the bill, don't you have to wait to see what it does? I'm pretty sure the reforms don't happen immediately.
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Is it actually possible for Obama to fix all the problems Bush left behind in the past 2 years? I think alot of people forget about that and go "shit still isn't solved, he must suck"
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CNN Poll
47% say Obama is a better president than Bush 45% say Bush was a better president
Obama's problem with the public remains the economy. No matter how many accomplishments he has, and there are several big ones like Health Care reform, Financial reform, and drawing down in Iraq/set to in Afghanistan his negatives will continue to rise. When times are bad in the country the leadership always gets the blame, even if there is little they can do to turn things around quickly.
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Korea (South)11567 Posts
All he has done is spend gross amounts of money pretending to save our economy and then waste all of our time on other issues as the post-crisis recession has lingered on without any responsible response from government. I think "epic fail" is about right.
One Big Ass Mistake America
But what i hate most, is that people blame him for the countries economic situation. it wasn't bush's fault. it wasn't obamas fault. it was the investment bankers, and those that give out loans. we brought on this situation on ourselves. the president can only do so much given the way america is heading.
I just find it funny that people blame him for everything from taxes to less money. The fact that 55,000 jobs at $245,000 /year have been created thanks to obama is a victory in itself.
Obama isn't a bad president, he just came at the wrong time.
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The economy is out of his hands. The IMF and World Bank, and others can push and pull all they want. Obama can try to create a buffer between the pain but in the end it's going to crumble hard. Look at any impoverished country, Honduras for example the illegal coup that just happened. More than 70% of the population are in poverty (what is the states at right now?) and the government was trying to reform particular infrastructure. The rich & corporate did not like that one bit. He's out now. The coup took place and all the people are forming (collecting from different groups) to oust the ouster. The sad part is that the "election" that took place months after the coup was plagued with intimidation tactics and who knows what else. Hilary Clinton et al. accept the election as legitimate. This reminds me of the silence of the Florida voting fiasco that got George back into office.
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The expectations that went into the Obama presidency were (and still are to some extent) simply ridiculous. Contrary to public opinion, the President is hardly some god amongst men that has supreme authority to revitalize the economy and fix the woes of the nation...he's a man, guided by a bunch of other men, all who rely on oftentimes contradictory interpretation of facts and is responsible for making policy decisions that have effects that few can ever anticipate.
Is Obama a good president? Sure, he's doing a swell job when you consider the INSANE expectations people had of him and the limitations of his office.
It's always the easy way out when people think, "Problems in the country = President can/has to fix them". Some problems, such as the underlying causes for the economic crash and healthcare, just can't really be "fixed" or "solved" in a few short years, regardless of the man who occupies the highest position of power. There are so many other factors that tie into what a president can or cannot do that must make the job a living hell and these factors also are significant when you consider the rather short-sighted nature of the American voter when it comes to far-reaching policies that go back several administrations.
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On October 10 2010 08:28 dcberkeley wrote:Show nested quote +On October 10 2010 08:21 Hikko wrote:On October 10 2010 08:02 Kezzer wrote:
But, when I ask them if they really know anything bout his policies or what hes done, they give me blank faces. I also really don't know what he's done. Call me ignorant and unlearned, but how is not settling the war and getting the economy back in shape not failure of policy, even if many things aren't his fault? Not to support Bush, but a lot of things that he failed at just weren't directly his fault either. Still, though, we associate things with our president because the executive really does have THAT much power and influence. From what I have seen, the Health Care bill has done absolutely nothing. He's wrecking the future of the Space program by driving it in a completely different direction. The bailout for the big corporations would have been better spent by just giving every American a share of that money. I am glad that he played along with the damage control for the oil spill, though. Obama was the better option than any chance of Palin being second-in-line for President, but I feel like McCain would have been more effective as President. Just a thought concerning the bill, don't you have to wait to see what it does? I'm pretty sure the reforms don't happen immediately.
Exactly. America is doomed to political retardation because the majority of voters have very short attention spans. The first-term GBW tax cuts are just now up for expiration, what does that say about how long it takes for a presidency's actions to take effect? The retarded thing about US politics and how voters respond is they act like you can judge the effectiveness of a presidency during the actual term! It's ludicrous. You can't figure out whether a president was effective or not until at least a few years AFTER he's out of office.
Yes, there are a few ways to look at a President and see how they're doing and you can look at some rare situations and say "The President didn't make a good choice there," but as any historian will tell you, it is extremely rare for a leader of people to be fairly or accurately judged by their contemporaries. This is the conundrum of democratic society, especially one as consumerist and soundbyte-ish as the American one.
We're dealing with the economic blowback of twenty years of corporatism. Is it any wonder that in a scant two years, we haven't been able to solve it? You'd have to be a goddamn magician to pull America out of the mess its made itself in only two years. Not only that, Obama was saddled with TARP before he ever got into office! How the hell are you going to blame someone for a bill that was passed before he was even president? That was a Republican bill! Now you've got spinsters and radio jocks claiming it as part of Obama's portfolio of spending. It's just sad to see people listening to these lies and thinking they're truth.
And then you look at Obama's actual performance with TARP, a program he did not create, and he's gotten back a good chunk of the money, he's pushed through several laws for financial reform, and he's struggled very hard to build consensus for even more reforms. Unfortunately, people within his own damn party turned on him because they were paid off by the bank lobbying groups, and of course the Republicans didn't play ball because they wanted him to look like a lame duck.
It's all pretty ridiculous to me that people don't understand we've had nothing but a Republican agenda over the past 20 years, and all it has netted us is a great deal of unemployment, a few uber rich banking/financial/legal professionals, two costly and unnecessary wars, and a completely fucked up trade deficit and spending deficit.
Clinton, while affiliated Democratic, had many many Republican ideals. He was more of a Republican economically, and Democrat politically, socially, and foreign policy. In terms of economics, we have had 20 years of bullshit trickle-down theory, corporatist, top-down low tax, free market initiatives. And that's what led us to this point. It sure as hell has not been Obama bringing us to this point.
And to the Americans out there who don't think there's something systemically wrong with the way this country runs itself, I don't know what to tell you. The solution is not to vote in someone who will lower spending and be Christian. That's not going to get us anywhere. The problem is a lot bigger than that. It's going to take radical reform, both in the political process (lobbying, subcommittees etc) as well as the economic philosophy, and in major industries like insurance, medical, real estate, banking, and education.
Our country's problems are not something that voting in some smart guy who wants to spend less money is going to fix. I really wish the American majority wasn't that basic in their understanding. Then again, average American knows very little about politics or economics or history, so I don't have much hope.
I know I sound insulting and arrogant here, but that's really not where I'm trying to come from. There are tons of brilliant Americans out there, but the voting results of the last twenty years speak for themselves. This is a game of numbers here. And both parties have been playing off people's fear, selfishness, and ignorance for decades to get themselves in power. There are no angels in this war, only devils.
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Vatican City State1650 Posts
What the idiots don't understand is that the economy is not Obama's fault. He's just cleaning up after what Bush SHAT all over the country over the past 8 years. Jesus fucking christ.
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