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SirLogiC
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13 Jan 2010, 11:31 pm

I am Australian so I don't really know the exact state of politics in the US but this is something I have observed a fair bit- the Barack Obama bashing, hate or w/e you want to call it.

From what I gather a lot of people are unhappy with the progress he has made however it seems like those people are ignorant that he has tried.

Things like the Guantanamo Bay facility. I think I read he tried to shut it down but there is enough people wanting it to stay that it is making it really complicated.

He can't stop the war in Iraq because there are enough people in the US that think it is just and that the US should be there.

He has tried to introduce a national healthcare system but can't because some people just can't see how free healthcare for the poor can benefit anyone, or that they will lose health benefits (when they can keep their private healthcare anyway). Talk of the cost seems moot to me when the Iraq war is sucking in more money than many countries GNP.

It just seems like a lot of the "good" things he is trying to do he can't because of politics getting in the way. US politics just seems so messed up to me.

So am I seeing this right or are my details wrong? What are your thoughts on this situation?



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13 Jan 2010, 11:33 pm

In other words, he is not a very good leader.



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13 Jan 2010, 11:35 pm

Filling his economic advisory team with former Goldman Sachs lobbyists is something he had complete control over. The fact Dean Baker - the one economist consistently right on the new depression - has no advisorial position is Obama's fault.

Without left critique Obama will only compromise with the right - remember that.



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14 Jan 2010, 12:13 am

SirLogiC wrote:
I am Australian so I don't really know the exact state of politics in the US but this is something I have observed a fair bit- the Barack Obama bashing, hate or w/e you want to call it.

From what I gather a lot of people are unhappy with the progress he has made however it seems like those people are ignorant that he has tried.

He came into office with a stronger position and more support (both among the general public and in the legislature) than probably any president since FDR, and he has done jack squat with that. There have been too many missed opportunities to excuse.

Quote:
Things like the Guantanamo Bay facility. I think I read he tried to shut it down but there is enough people wanting it to stay that it is making it really complicated.

Just talk. Things like the Guantanamo Bay detention camp are morally outrageous enough that a strong leader should be able to put an end to them quickly. The political will is there.

Quote:
He can't stop the war in Iraq because there are enough people in the US that think it is just and that the US should be there.

Virtually no one wants to be in Iraq anymore.

Quote:
He has tried to introduce a national healthcare system but can't because some people just can't see how free healthcare for the poor can benefit anyone, or that they will lose health benefits (when they can keep their private healthcare anyway). Talk of the cost seems moot to me when the Iraq war is sucking in more money than many countries GNP.

He allowed the Fox News coverage to dominate the discussion. FDR or Reagan would have gone to plead their case directly to the people, used the office of the President as a "bully pulpit" and gotten enough pressure put on the legislature to pass a decent reform bill. Obama is certainly a good enough orator to accomplish this, so why hasn't he done it?

Quote:
So am I seeing this right or are my details wrong? What are your thoughts on this situation?

The Democratic party has discredited itself with its spineless cowardice and inability to act on its people. The American electorate supported the Democrats in the last two national elections, and in both cases we have been betrayed by the party leadership.


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14 Jan 2010, 12:51 am

Obama thinks* the wars are just.
He want to start a new one with Pakistan. Recently increased troops in Afghanistan. Opened up 7 bases in Colombia. Israel, all the other military bases across the globe and the puppet regimes the US govt supports keeps getting millions in military aid.

*Thinks: He acts, he says what is told to him. Obama, like all the latest US presidents, are puppets working for something bigger than just America. Follow the money. See who are the ones that donated to Obama's presidential campaign. Who got the bailouts. Who is profiting from war.



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14 Jan 2010, 9:54 am

Orwell wrote:
The Democratic party has discredited itself with its spineless cowardice and inability to act on its people. The American electorate supported the Democrats in the last two national elections, and in both cases we have been betrayed by the party leadership.


Translation: Just as I warned people based on what conservatives experienced by giving the Republicans control of the White House AND Congress...once you put one party in charge of the whole legislative process, they pretty much do what THEY want and not what the PEOPLE want.

One party in charge of both houses and the executive branch is a proven recipe for disaster.



rmctagg09
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14 Jan 2010, 10:54 am

Personally, I feel that if you really thought that all of our problems would be fixed in a year, you're either naive or an idiot.



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14 Jan 2010, 11:15 am

rmctagg09 wrote:
Personally, I feel that if you really thought that all of our problems would be fixed in a year, you're either naive or an idiot.


Well said.


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Sand
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14 Jan 2010, 11:48 am

MissConstrue wrote:
rmctagg09 wrote:
Personally, I feel that if you really thought that all of our problems would be fixed in a year, you're either naive or an idiot.


Well said.


Well then, if "all" doesn't do you, how about "any"?



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14 Jan 2010, 12:03 pm

rmctagg09 wrote:
Personally, I feel that if you really thought that all of our problems would be fixed in a year, you're either naive or an idiot.


A new president has what's called "political capital." He has the momentum of change to get things done in his first 12 months that simply does not exist for the rest of his time in office.

While a new president may or may not get things done in his first year, it telegraphs what his agenda and priorities are. How he "spends" or "squanders" that capital says much about what you just got at the ballot box.



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14 Jan 2010, 11:32 pm

Obama campaigned as a true FDR/Trumen/Eisenhower-Progressive however since he got elected he has not acted that way. 2 weeks before he got into office a bunch of people from the Clinton White House sat him down and told him he couldn't be a progressive if he wanted political power. That he needed to give in to corporations and so on. Shame but it happens. Just look at Bill Clinton. in '92 campaigned as a progressive but turned out to be a DLC Corporatist



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15 Jan 2010, 4:15 am

Obama is an "empty suit" and he will be gone after 2010.

Like Jimmy Carter, but without the peanuts.

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15 Jan 2010, 5:34 am

I agree. Let's hope Hillary can take over as president... Obama did a great job but he was overburdened, and America really needs a safe pair of hands to be governed by...


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08 Feb 2010, 4:03 pm

ruennsheng wrote:
I agree. Let's hope Hillary can take over as president... Obama did a great job but he was overburdened, and America really needs a safe pair of hands to be governed by...


I'm not sure about your average American, but as a human being in this dynamic globe I certainly don't want to see a war with Iran flare up because Slick Hillie wants to look "tough" to the electorate.



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08 Feb 2010, 6:41 pm

Words don't = actions



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08 Feb 2010, 6:51 pm

ruveyn wrote:
Obama is an "empty suit" and he will be gone after 2010.


Is the situation that bad, do you think? Or were you thinking of 2012?