Your thoughts on Obama - now and then

[Sarevok]

Its been two years almost and I think it would be interesting to look back and contrast our feelings on President Barak Obama with the days before he was elected.

Well me personally am another person disillusioned with how the message Obama represented has withered way. I live in Bangladesh. In 2008 I was very excited about Obama. I think I first read about him in February or March in Newsweek and followed his politics since then. As the US election season heated up I told all my friends about how he is different and going to bring great change to America and the world. I also contacted my relatives in US who have citizenship and urged them to vote for him. I really bought his message and while I did not expect him to be another FDR I did expect great things from him. Over here in Bangladesh many people payed a lot of attention to US politics due to the notoriety Bush gained. I have no polls to post right now but from personal interactions as well as wealth of articles on him in the local media I recall Obama was pretty close to a celebrity. The most important thing I remember is that I never had much doubt Obama would do his very best to keep the promises he made. I did not expect him to suceed on all of them but he would fight hard. That is the key thing. If Obama showed he tried his best instead of compromising every now and then I don't think me or many other people would be so disappointed that our champion has failed. Say what you will about Bush the lesser but the man was stubborn. This a quality sorely lacking in Obama. And ultimately may prove to be his undoing.

What about you guys ? How excited were you about Obama in pre election days ? And how do you feel about him now ?

[His Divine Shadow]

No need to keep it long, severely dissapointed. I didn't expect very much, but not this little either, hell I didn't think it'd go in the wrong direction.

[Shroom Man 777]

I thought he'd reverse all the horrible shit the Bush Administration did. Turns out he basically continued the same shit. His main fault is for capitulating to the right wing cryptofascists, not that he was too Democrat or too blue or too left or whatever. He was not left enough, or whatever. His only fault is for following the path of the same people who've brought ruin on America and the rest of the world, so for all those right-wing cryptofascists gloating and chuckling and sneering about Obama and fuck, the main problem is Obama's ended up in their crowd of right-wing fascists - of all places!

[Stofsk]

I'm with HDS, no need to go into it in great detail, suffice to say I am greatly disappointed. To be fair the signs were there in the early parts of the lead-up to the election, about how he wanted to push for more bipartisanship, but that's a good goal. After all, I am sure there are plenty of Republicans who agree with Democrats on certain issues. But the idea that you can compromise all the time which basically amounts to caving into Republican demands just shows what a loser he is. I am seriously thinking he's going to be a one-termer.

[Losonti Tokash]

I'm with HDS, no need to go into it in great detail, suffice to say I am greatly disappointed. To be fair the signs were there in the early parts of the lead-up to the election, about how he wanted to push for more bipartisanship, but that's a good goal. After all, I am sure there are plenty of Republicans who agree with Democrats on certain issues. But the idea that you can compromise all the time which basically amounts to caving into Republican demands just shows what a loser he is. I am seriously thinking he's going to be a one-termer.

I hope he isn't, but only because it would mean keeping Palin out.

That, and the vain, distant hope that he finds where he left his backbone.

[Chris OFarrell]

Very disappointed.

I always thought that Obama was much more of a centralist then a lot of people thought, but that he was still way to the left of the Republicans on general issues. He campaigned so strongly as being against so much of what Bush stood for, that I was positive he was, at the least, going to take swift and decisive action against a lot of the draconian policies of the Bush Administration, that he would parlay his massive groundswell of support against a demoralized Republican side and bring some measure of sanity and equity back to the US.

That he would bring in experts, REAL experts, to fix the financial mess the US got into, and while it would be painful, he wouldn't shy away from making the big calls and doing what needed to be done, showing the same showmanship, charisma and leadership he showed during the campaign to *fix* the problems the US had, and do it quickly. That he would try for Bipartisanship because he genuinely believed in it, but wouldn't hesitate if they made a show of playing the 'Bipartisan...on our terms...' deal, to kick them in the face.


Instead...we got...yeah.

[Marcus Aurelius]

I am seriously thinking he's going to be a one-termer.

The funny part is that it's going to depend mostly on the economy. If the economy is good in 2012, the moving voters are going to vote for Obama again regardless of what the Tea Party and the republicans do, unless he screws up something in a really major way.

[Darth Yan]

somewhat disappointed, but not quite to the point of disillusionment. the guy's a politician, and politicians do often have to compromise. Freeing the prisoners from gauntanamo is actually a fairly challenging and divisive issue, and would be best left till he gets re elected. the fact that he was able to repeal don't ask don't tell is actually pretty impressive, and the health care reform does do more then alot of people give it credit for.

[GuppyShark]

I was expecting him to be a letdown, but I had no idea how much of one he would be.

I said to my Dad shortly after the election: "The Americans are going to be really disappointed when they realise he's just another politician and not the second coming of Jesus Christ."

After all that hype, it seemed a safe bet that he would not live up to it.

[Edi]

Much the same as Chris O'Farrel. I expected him to be able to do something, but I didn't expect that something to be the breaking of nearly all the important promises he made.

The Right wing was calling him Zerobama from day one. They certainly got that right.

[JME2]

Much the same as Chris O'Farrel. I expected him to be able to do something, but I didn't expect that something to be the breaking of nearly all the important promises he made.

Same here. I'm not voting for the GOP candidate in 2012 (I will never, ever trust the Republicans again) but I'm not sure I would vote for Obama either. -- which granted, in a two party system/race doesn't leave me with much choice.

[Mayabird]

I was expecting him to be a letdown, but I had no idea how much of one he would be.

This, though with two notes:

1) I half expected that by now some kook would have assassinated him, and

2) Sarah Palin is not one death away from the presidency. That has absolutely nothing to do with Obama as a person, politician, president, or whatever, but it's worth it to me.

[Jaevric]

I knew he'd have a hard time accomplishing everything on his agenda due to Republican obstructionism, but I'd honestly expected him to be able to use the opportunity to punish the obstructionists in the media while pushing his agenda. He's done that to an extent, but it doesn't seem to have helped much. For all the Republican claims he's forced his agenda on America, from my standpoint, he's half-assed everything in an attempt to compromise with the Republicans -- and the results have been less satisfactory than if he had railroaded his agenda through Congress.

I don't know if the ultimate problem is Obama, the Democrats as a party, the uselessness of the American media or the American people's inability to deal with reality outside of TV shows.

[Skgoa]

I think many on the left put more guilt on him for the policy/legislative standstill than is really his fault. Yes, Guantanamo, freedom of press, pornscaners etc. ... there are many things he could and should have done differently. But "his" big failures were things that died in the senate. There seem to be more and more senators who are in favor of abolishing (or altering) the filibuster, many of the hundreds of bills that the house already passed might actually get through in the next two years.
To be honest: I did slightly prefer Obama over Hillary back in the primary season and now wish she had gotten the nomination. But its not the end of the world and the dissatisfaction on the left could lead to a more to the left leaning democratic party in the next electon. (We have seen the blue dogs almost wiped out in the last election, whle the progressive caucus survived almost without a scratch.)

[Ritterin Sophia]

Eh, I didn't expect him to get voted in to begin with. I expected that when he did get voted in he would focus on matters he had jurisdiction over like press freedom and closing Guantanamo or drawing down on Iraq and Afghanistan, then start pushing the Senate and making press releases and statements on Bills at least more progressive than what we're getting now. But I'm glad that due to a Pentagon snafu where I and my unit didn't get our absentee ballots, I'm not responsible for voting him in. He's also the primary reason I'm never voting Democrat if I have a Socialist, Green, or Mountain alternative.

[Alferd Packer]

We needed a Lyndon Johnson, and we didn't get him. LBJ know how to bully senators in his own party into getting in line; he threatened to go after their pet projects. Ben Nelson could've been shut up by threatening to end extremely unpopular farm subsidies. Similarly, Mary Landrieu would have fallen right in if he'd threatened to remove protective import tariffs on cheap Brazilian sugar. Every senator has an exploitable weakness, and if Obama was willing to be a hardcase, he never would have needed to go across the aisle to accomplish what he wanted to accomplish.

So yeah, I am disappoint. I'd hoped for an LBJ and didn't get him. I'll still vote for him on 2012, though it will be with greater reluctance or because of my disdain for the other guy--essentially, a Kerry vote.

[muse]

I thought he was a screwup and I was right, but I didn't think he'd screw up quite this badly. When you go back and listen to his speeches on education, the economy, energy, healthcare and so forth during his campaign then run the numbers to see if the claims are actually plausible, more often than not they aren't. The other thing that annoyed me, though I guess it's common to politicians, is that he never gave a straight answer to questions and always went back to his talking points. Ask him about the deficit and he goes on & on about the sanctity of education and the importance of healthcare, he never answers the question.

Overall he's about what I expected, in some areas he screwed up worse than I expected and the rest is about what I thought.

[Stravo]

In the end, as crazy as he was, McCain was proven right - Obama did not have the experience to do the job. The American people picked a guy who barely did his senate job and made him president and his utter lack of experience shows so badly right now. I think people wanted so badly to believe that he could be different than the shit show we had for the last 8 years that they invested too much hope and aspirations into a guy who was essentially a city politician. If Obama were mayor of Chicago I'm sure he would be great. He could make rousing speeches, bask in the glow of a city where his party uttelry dominates and not half to worry about being gang raped by the opposition party.

But on the national stage he has absolutely failed. A country can't be run like a city nor can you sit back and hope for the better nature in people, especially your opposition to come through. I also think he wildly underestimated how hated he is by the right. The last time I saw this kind of rabid hate was during the Clinton administration when they were openly accussing him of covering up the murder of one of his advisors and made a circus of impeachment proceedings. This time the hate has a more disturbing undercurrent because the racism is on the tip of their tongues, That N-Word is just hanging there ready to drop at a moment's notice. He has completely miscalculated that hate thinking this was going to be like any other political process with a give and take and I think he is at a loss how to handle an opposition that absolutely refuses to cooperate or negotiate.

Someone else here mentioned LBJ. Yes, we need someone like that, the problem is that LBJ was the consumate insider and being a Washington Insider is a kiss of death right now. The ironic thing about that is that the only one who could get anything done right now is an Insider and not a fresh face or maverick.

He is eloquent and charismatic but leadership wise he has nothing. The disappointment is pretty deep for me and I don't want to reward shitty leadership with my vote. I know we're two years out and predictions mean shit right now but if the elections were held today this would be the first presidential election since I could vote that I would sit out - I would rather die than vote Republican after what they've pulled over the last 8 years and I can't in good consiceince vote for such an obvious out of his depth leader.

[Mr Bean]

Very disappointed. I can look back on a few things and say good job Obama for getting these things done. But from the instant it sank in exactly who his economic team he hired (Hint all the people who fucked the economy were put in charge of fixing it) my expectations were falling. If it's not Sara Palin VS Obama I will vote Republican. I am convinced a John McCain heathcare bill would have been better than the existing Obama Heathcare bill. Because McCain would have not needed to compromise time and time again in order to get zero Republican votes.

I've taken my lesson from the Tea Party, the Democrats don't fear their base. The Republicans do because Republicans will throw the bums out of office unlike Democrats who will always defend a politician no matter how hideous they are least that seat is not held by a Republican. Scott Brown has demonstrated that Republicans in Democratic districts tend to be the only sane Republicans we have. He talked big but he's crossed the aisle several times and he's not been the one leading the filibusters.

[Akhlut]

He is eloquent and charismatic but leadership wise he has nothing. The disappointment is pretty deep for me and I don't want to reward shitty leadership with my vote. I know we're two years out and predictions mean shit right now but if the elections were held today this would be the first presidential election since I could vote that I would sit out - I would rather die than vote Republican after what they've pulled over the last 8 years and I can't in good consiceince vote for such an obvious out of his depth leader.

There's third parties, you know.


Anyway, in a similar thread to this one, I stated that I'm not pleased at all with the president. He has no stomach for a fight and is about as useful as tits on a boar, as far as I'm concerned. He could have done a hell of a lot more if he was was more inclined and if he weren't willing to compromise everything away.

[Guardsman Bass]

I'm not particularly disappointed. I remember thinking of him as basically a secure sign-off for some types of progressive reform (health care, financial sector, etc) back in 2008, and otherwise a President who wouldn't deviate much from the foreign policy in Bush's second term. I didn't really think he would "change Washington" or what not, since that goes beyond the efforts of one man (even if he's President).

I still do. I'm slightly disappointed that we didn't get the public option in health care reform, but Obama didn't really have any control over that.

[General Zod]

I'm disappointed that he hasn't turned out much better than the alternatives, but the main reason to root for him in 2008 is that he didn't have Sarah Palin as his VP, which would have been nothing short of a disaster. I think that's really the biggest thing that cost McCain the election.

[Pint0 Xtreme]

While disappointing in most areas, he's shown himself to be a lukewarm to friendly advocate for LGBT rights, which I have a personal stake in. With a GOP president, you can forget about LGBT rights. Pragmatically, there's no reason for me not to vote for him again in 2012.

[Knife]

I voted for Obama so he could start to drag this country, kicking and screaming if necessary, back towards the middle. I'm disappointed in him because, as I see it, he hasn't moved us any where near the middle, the best that could be said is he's slowed the head long decent to the right. We're moving to the right, just not as fast, and that's just not good enough for me. Most of his 'victories' are hallow and empty, like Health Care, and the fucker will not fight for anything.

I think he's a decent fellow, and at another time he very well could be a great president, just not now.

[Pint0 Xtreme]

So many here are disappointed with the guy. But what really needs to be done to change this? I really don't think voting GOP or abstaining from voting really helps the situation, to be honest.