Politics Obama - Actually doing a good job?

this is all true (except the representing me part i feel). i guess the question is what's the point of a 2nd term? how can you not get things done when you have the executive and both houses of congress. it's baffling and leads me to believe he's not even for the people that voted him in. he's into bailing out big banks, big corporations and continuing the GWOT.

by any measure his presidency has been a failure. the economy still sucks, the war marchine keeps moving, and he has continued the bush terrorism police state that the left was so against. he didn't just strike out (even when viewing it from liberal views) he never really showed up.

 

I can't wholly disagree. It's been a disappointing first term in terms of liberal expectations, but to say he didn't show up or that the economy sucks, is unfair. He did show up but was slapped back each time and the economy is better than what I expected, considering the mess that George W Bush left it in.

 

He only had both houses of congress for 17 weeks, and I'm not sure how much of that time was 'in session'. It started with the recount in the MN senate race, so there were only 59 D senators until that was done. And then 17 weeks later Sen Kennedy passed away and they were back to 59 D senators. And with the Republicans unprecedented use of the threat of a filibuster since they didn't have 60 votes, not much got done.

As for the clean-energy, I think the gains are somewhat real. Individuals needed to do a lot more, but there are a lot more solar and wind installations than before. And while Obama hasn't stopped natural gas drilling, the price of natural gas has caused the market to switch to that from coal, which is a good thing and caused CO2 emissions to drop. But, a lot more could be done, and Obama in his second term really needs to work on the domestic front to improve energy efficiency of old and poor homes, get more solar installations in the South, more wind on the coasts and in the plains, and to work with the other nations around the world to get them to work together on it.

 

I am hoping that the moderators in the debate will push the question of what they will do in the next 4 years more. I understand why Obama doesn't want to come out with a detailed list of everything he hopes to accomplish and should be able to get done, because it will get picked apart and attacked by the Right.

However, there is a lot of small town America that needs something, but they are voting for Romney for various reasons. Then you have the 'bad' parts of town where Obama needs to rally the community organizers just like he is running his campaign now. Have big fundraisers in stadiums across the country to promote cleaning up the slums, getting people to volunteer, and plant community gardens in vacant lots in the inner city.

 

I think if the President put effort into on every issue he wanted he could have gotten support from a few Republicans. Other Presidents have been able to get support from the opposing party. President Obama is not so unique that he could not have done it. The first step would be to tone down the negative rhetoric concerning the opposition. What a concept - say something nice to your opposition to get them to start a dialogue!

 

Negative rhetoric.? Are you really that blinded by ideology and disdain for Obama?

NO party has ever stated before (by several party leaders) that their single most mission was to block every Obama initiative.

NO party has become as extreme as today's Republican party.

 

Are you saying that no Republican as voted in support of any legislation proposed by President Obama? In his entire term?

Doggone, right the Republican Party is more extreme today than it was in 2000 - wonder why - oh, could it be the $16 Trillion debt??? Funny how $16 Trillion in debt can make some people go to extreme views that we need to control spending! Are you not concerned? $16 Trillion in debt doesn't make you want to be a bit more conservative with the spending???
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I thought Democrats were the party of "diplomacy". Even if you have legitimate criticism, wouldn't diplomacy call for first creating an environment where a real engagement and exchange occur? I know the answer, and I know you know the answer. I also know you will forever be a President Obama apologist - it hurts your credibility.

 

None voted for the affordable care act and three republicans voted for the stimulus bill - one later switched parties (Spector) and one is not running again (Snow) - because they both felt marginalized by a party that has swung so far right to be unrecognizable even to the Reagan years.

At the state level, Republicans introduced more than 30 bill around the country to impose government on a woman's body. I wont go into the numerous other legislative attempts at both the state and federal level to impose to restrict rights at levels never seen before rather than expand rights.

As to the debt, we certainly wont control it by making permanent the biggest contributors to the debt - Reagan and Bush tax cuts for the top one percent. Republicans are unwavering on this as opposed to the Democratic approach of a combination of spending cuts and revenue (tax) increases (at a rate of $3-5 spending cuts for every $1 tax increase on the top bracket).

 

it sure was nice to see obama get grilled on univsion. reminds me how bad the mainstream media is, and what a terrible presidency this has been.

 

Obama is a secret Muslim and a closet socialist and he's fooled the country.

That makes him really really bad ass.

 

no he wasn't perfect or particularly terrible on univision, but it was the first time i've seen real, on topic, non softball questions asked of him in a long time and it was very refreshing. it should be like this everyday in the mainstream media regarding a presidential administration, but it isnt.

my mindsets isn't to dehumanize an opponent, however, the interview itself wasn't so much dehumanizing as it was humanizing. no stupid teleprompter in chief responses. he was there face to face with tough questions, enough said.
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gotta stir that racial/minority pot every now and then to make sure and distract voters from issues. i feel you.

 

I agree that the four year obsession by some many on the right of Obama as a Muslim and/or socialist has been a distraction, unlike any in my lifetime.
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Oh, and I agree that to some extent these beliefs have a racist component, but the extent of which is difficult to measure.

 

it has, but bringing up race or the muslim thing when in between a talk about the economy is nothing more than a troll. the more you attack obama on the issues the more the trolls bring up race, muslim, birth certificate, to totally derail a legit conversation.

 

I find it difficult to have a legit conversation about the economy with folks who consistently refer to Obama as a socialist.

But that's just me.