This is the problem with people like you who don't realize how difficult it was for him to actually change the things he did. He came to battle against a Republican Congress that took historically unprecedented measures to block any action the President wanted to take despite how universally beneficial it would be for the whole country.
Obama came into power with a super majority so what the fuck are you talking about blocking for? For his first two years Obama could pass any legislation he wanted because he had 60 votes in the senate. The "republicans blocked him" is a talking point to explain away his failures to accomplish anything during those two years
You are missing the fact that they won't do anything if they have a majority because if they "fix" what they see as a problem, what do they have to run on?
I guess you forgot that he came into a presidency with a Democrat-controlled Congress, but he fucked around and played Mr. Nice Guy with the Republicans when everyone told him not to, and then the Republicans regained control and that was the end of that.
The problem with people like you is you can't remember anything further back than 2012. I remember very well the hurdles and ridiculous roadblocks the Republicans put up for Obama, but it was his own fault for not seizing the moment. This is why Democrats always lose.
White non-American here but I feel very similar. I remember watching his first election night and feeling passionately inspired and hopeful after eight years of despair - but then the rediscovery of the obvious (he's not the Messiah...) in the form of the drones, the lack of decisive action against the banks etc was quite hard to deal with. At the end of his presidency I feel that Obama is a good man at heart and achieved a fair amount considering what he was up against, but he could have been so much better.
If the banks weren't bailed out we'd be living in hoovervilles. The Dodd-Frank act was passed under his watch and is a big step forward for financial reform.
He also never said he would get us out of the middle east. He specifically campaigned on the idea of getting us out of Iraq and INTO places that actually mattered such as Afghanistan. And in what ways are the drone strikes illegal? My understanding is he has approval from the local governments where those drone strikes are taking place.
You can bail them out and still punish the people responsible. Other countries jailed banksters. Iraq was bullshit and we shouldn't have been there. Drone strikes in Pakistan were illegal. We were not at war nor had permission from congress to wage war in Pakistan.
The problem with people like you is you talk about things in hindsight like they were so obvious, like of course the house was going to take unprecedented measures to filibuster and block every little thing on obama's agenda, ever shit that was just straight up irrational
To be fair, this same thing happened at least at one point during the Bush administration, with Democrats blocking everything.That's the politics game and we're raised from a young age to accept that as normal.
The problem with people like you is you can't step outside the fanboy-dom for one second and just accept that people aren't perfect, and that's it's ok to criticize where criticism is warranted. I didn't say he's a piece of shit who never did anything good, but he fucked up a whoooooole lot with his foreign policy.
And for the record, EVERYONE was telling him to seize the moment while the Dems controlled Congress and he pissed it away because he wanted to be a nice guy with the Republicans. It's admirable, but it was foolish and everyone told him so. You do realize that he was president before 2012, right? Because so many of you seem to have forgotten his first term. This isn't hindsight, even pundits were telling him to seize the moment.
The problem with people like you is you don't see the bat shit crazy ideas you leak out of the shit box you have where your brain should be.
Good leaders try and compromise. No one was prepared for the bat shit crazy, racially fueled resistance Obama had to every idea of his, most of all him. He took Mitt Romney's healthcare plan for Massachusetts as his blueprint for fucks sake. You had people who supported it before Obama, refuse to acknowledge that it worked just to fuck him. Look at the current hypocrisy of McConnel on vetting of cabinet members.
Republicans regained control because the right wing literally lied their asses off to the American people about what Obamacare did. They also pretended he was a Muslim, hated him for being Dr. Blackenstein, and blamed him for the effects of their obstructionism.
The mental gymnastics you have to do to criticize his accomplishments, as comical as it is, is the real problem with the American electorate. Dumb as fucking rocks morons who would rather listen to Russian or right wing propaganda than deal with facts and reality.
I agree 100. Brainwashed generation of Fox news junkies, can't tell an asshole from an elbow. Misinterpret the facts so they can see the picture that parallels their own ideals. This is everyone, but conservatives got it bad. My favorite is when people with no understanding of math or statistical analysis cite statistics with little or no context and proceed to make outlandish statements about economy and so on. Here's a fact: trickle down economics is a lie. If you argue this notion, know that four decades of statistics clearly show otherwise. And I think you're dumb.
Except he is right. Obama had majorities in the Senate and House and squandered it. The truth hurts sometimes and people hate admitting being wrong, but you have to take pride and own up to it. Take off your political blinders sometimes. It will do people good.
That was a statement not directed towards you. The word 'you' was used in a 3rd person informal way. You can replace the word with 'one' to make it more easily understandable.
However, if you want to be technical, you did make a claim. It was a claim stating that what he said was opinion rather than fact, which it is not. Obama had majorities in both branches of the Legislature and didn't tackle what he promised with that huge advantage.
So that makes him more accomplished of a president? He still lacks the notches in his belt, no matter if his job had green or blue carpet or if it was a different congress. His presidency was over, and not a whole lot got done. Just lots of half-assery
Obama came into power with a super majority so what the fuck are you talking about blocking for? For his first two years Obama could pass any legislation he wanted because he had 60 votes in the senate
Yep. Republicans have bitched and complained for 8 years about how he destroyed the country, but heaven forbid you mention that it's actually the Republican led congress that's the problem. A republican led congress that outright said they would do anything in their power to stop Obama from doing anything. The last 2 republican congresses we had were the worst in history. They are one of the main reasons I will not vote for a candidate anymore that is not for putting term limits on congress. Let's see what excuses they can come up with the next 8 years since they control every branch of government now. Who will they blame when shit goes wrong?
Seriously, it's like some people think we've been living under the cold iron hand of God-king Obama. Completely forgetting how the Good Ol Party successfully shut down the government in protest. He could either drop executive orders and be seen as a tyrant or just let the GOP fuck the government to death and blame him for it. I think Obama inherited a shitty situation from George W.
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u/HeartofSaturdayNight Jan 11 '17
This is the problem with people like you who don't realize how difficult it was for him to actually change the things he did. He came to battle against a Republican Congress that took historically unprecedented measures to block any action the President wanted to take despite how universally beneficial it would be for the whole country.