what do you think of Obama?
No President ever admits to a serious failure, and all Presidents inherit positives and negatives from their predecessors, but because Obama campaigned as the Light Bringer who would save America, heal the planet and stop the rising of the Oceans, it is necessary to retroactively heap more condemnation on the past the worse the present gets. (dpmonahan)
I don’t live in the USA, but I do occasionally take a passing interest in its politics. Like most people I know viewing from abroad, I felt slightly anxious about the world when George W Bush had the reigns of power, and breathed a sigh of relief when Obama became president.
Because this blog has evolved to become quite anti-religious in theme, I find I tend to read the blogs of religious people for inspiration. And that quite frequently means exposure to the opinions of US Republican Christians. I think it’s fair to characterise this section of American society as rather anti-Obama.
I tend not to take the political criticisms of this section of American society too seriously, given that the two areas I’ve happened to hear them moan about are two areas I think are key in reducing inequalities within American society.
1. Healthcare. I think it’s amazing Obama has managed to get anything changed against the financial interests of a powerful healthcare insurance industry that annually nets $1 trillion. I expect the changes he implemented are only a small step on the marathon to healthcare equality, but I’m impressed he’s managed to get over the start line. The Republican Christians I read seem to think private medical insurance is the only and best way to provide healthcare for a nation, and seem amazingly ignorant of the huge benefits of universal healthcare in the rest of the developed world.
2. Pre-school education. A huge factor in eliminating educational inequalities could well be the introduction of pre-school education. The Republican Christians I read seem to think pre-school education is an attempt to politically brainwash 4 year-olds (through finger painting and a basic introduction to numbers?) and destroy a woman’s role as home-maker.
But I do wonder if I’m suffering from confirmation bias on this matter. Perhaps I’m only listening to the stories that confirm to me that he’s making positive changes. I know he hasn’t closed down Guantanamo and he’s still using drone strikes – if he was a Republican president I’d most likely be horrified. Instead I wonder if there’s a good reason he’s been unable to effect change in these areas.
What do people who pay closer attention to events in the USA, and especially those live there, make of Obama? Is he laying the foundations for lasting changes to base inequalities in American society, or has he been ineffective and disappointing?
I had high hopes for Obama back in 2008, but I can’t help but feel a little disappointed. I think his heart is in the right place, and, for the most part, I support his ideology. But he has been unpersuasive with the American people and has let the Republicans and conservatives control the narrative. His health care reform initiative got terribly watered down in the interest of political expediency and now it faces a challenge might lead to its demise if the conservative-led Supreme Court rules against it. And I think that the blatant obstructionism of the GOP has diluted his overall effectiveness as president. Unfortunately, I believe that this is the general direction of politics in this country — fractured, divisive, and irreconcilable.
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Obama doesn’t deserve all the blame for his ineffectiveness, but I think he should have played hardball a lot more.
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I agree, but I just don’t think that’s in his nature.
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That certainly seems to be the case.
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That’s a shame that even people who supported him are feeling disappointed in him. Is there no chance that he’s laid the groundwork for greater change? It’ll be interesting to see how his presidency is viewed in 30 years time.
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If the Republicans recapture the White House in 2016, maintain control of Congress, and stack the SCOTUS with conservative justices, I’m afraid that whatever groundwork Obama has laid will be dismantled.
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Oh well, maybe just the ‘what could have been’ …
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Reblogged this on Breaking Political News.
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I’m American, and hold a similar position to Doobster. I had high, high hopes for Obama, but in the end he was a disappointment. His heart was in the right place and he had awesome ideas, but in the end could not implement them for various reasons (not communicating policies well to the people, not able to overcome GOP resistance, not able to negotiate with the GOP, etc). The healthcare reform initiatives could have been absolutely life-changing for so many americans, but it’s been watered down to almost nothing. In my opinion, it fixed about 5% of what’s wrong with our healthcare system…not really enough to matter in the big picture. Some say it’s a step…I say it’s not nearly a big enough step, as the american middle class is falling into poverty over medical bills. To give you a concrete example Violet: you’ve read the story about the birth of my son, and how I spent a week in the hospital on life support. The bill for that was $278,000. My insurance covers 80%…the 20% that is left is enough to bankrupt most regular working people.
As for the preschool issue, there has been some improvement. Public preschool is now free for all special needs or delayed children, and my autistic son benefits from this. There has been some arguments over whether or not public preschool would benefit healthy children, and I’m not sure if that’s going to go through or not in the future.
As for the super right wing GOP, they’re Absolutely. Insane. They are most certainly anti-obama. I feel they’ve fallen completely off the scale as far as reasonable politics go, and have tipped over into such zealousy that it borders on mental illness. I would like to see our country come together in the middle, implementing both left-wing social securities and right wing fiscal responsibility, but I fear it is not meant to be. As the Doobster says, our country is “fractured, divisive, and irreconcilable.”
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Don’t the max OOP (out-of pocket) limits resolve that issue? It seems to me that that that’s at least one thing the reform got right. But I don’t know all the details, so feel free to let me know if you think I’m missing something.
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The max out of pocket does not apply to childbirth for some insurance policies (including mine)…insurance companies started doing this about a decade ago because childbirth is too risky and are known to wrack up large bills.
My friend’s medical insurance makes her pay $100 extra per month to get insurance that specifically covers childbirth…AND she has to have it for two years before she gets pregnant or she gets no coverage, period. After age 30 they refuse to cover her at all.
If insurance companies have their way, there will be no coverage for childbirth. It’s highly risky and it’s the #1 source of medical lawsuits.
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Does not apply – WTF?!? 😦 😦
Is that still allowed under the new rules? And expected to remain allowed?
I personally haven’t read and thought through the issue enough to take a moral stand on whether or not I feel it’s right to charge extra for childbirth coverage. But two year minimum…ick, that just feels wrong, too. 😦
Thanks for the info.
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Well I had my son in 2011, so Obama’s Affordable Care Act had not yet come into play. As far as I know though, my coverage hasn’t changed for the better. Lots of things don’t go toward my max out-of-pocket: non-generic drugs, dental work, eyeglasses, psych appointments, autism therapy (for my son), medical equipment like wheelchairs, etc. Obama’s act didn’t fix any of that crap. However, I’m particularly offended by the childbirth stuff, because it unfairly targets women. F’ing insurance companies.
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As you say, childbirth is considered highly risky. Yet the anti-abortion people are so blinded to their “cause” they can’t even recognize this fact. Better to save the (human?) fetus than the mother …
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So you come home to a flooded house and a bill for tens of thousands of dollars? Yikes. I just don’t get how so many people can be opposed to healthcare reform – it’s like they enjoy playing lottery with their health, their lives. I think it all went wrong when the brainwashing factory went into action against communism, and all the good aspects of socialism have been tainted by association. It’s like people can’t see straight.
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I think it’s because when you’re healthy, you can’t imagine you’re ever going to get sick…thus playing the lottery seems like a good risk. It’s an extremely short-sighted view of life. If you do have the misfortune of getting sick, you’re guaranteed to be in poverty until you die. American’s are known optimists though and tend to feel feel rather invincible….until they’re not.
I think you might be right about the communism theory.
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Forgot to say, that’s another fantastic eclipse pic. I absolutely love the dark, foreboding quality of it. Reminds me of my avatar pic in some ways, which people seem to think is “far too depressing.” But hey, I love my dead tree!
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Thank you! Your dead tree is very cool – gorgeous shape and nice things going on with the lighting.
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Obama inherited a quagmire, originated by Little George W, who believed that his god spoke through him. Obama was the historical first Black man in the White House, and I’m sure, felt that he had to create an impression that served all African-Americans, and as such, tried to gentlemanly decline to play the Blame Game. He had it within his power to charge “W” with War Crimes, but chose to take the high road and not do that. Republicans confused kindness with weakness and have been on the attack ever since.
No, I do not believe that Obama acted with all of the power that he had behind him – had I been in his Oval Office, I would have charged like a wounded lion and nailed W to the wall – but that’s just me.
In the 2012 elections, I read that Rove commissioned computer hackers to change the voting count in Ohio as they had in Arizona in 2008, but Obama’s people flipped the vote back to where it actually was – this would certainly explain why Romney was so surprised that he had lost an election he had been assured he would win, and thus had not prepared a concession speech.
Obama has had to fight the Republican Right for a full eight years, and the only thing for which I fault him – and in hindsight, I suspect he faults himself – is that during his first two years in office, he had a fully Democratic Congress, and yet did not use that fact to the country’s advantage. I credit that to the likelihood that – being a man of high standards himself – he greatly underestimated the vindictive nature of the Republican Religious Right.
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Maybe he’ll go down in history as the nicest president ever?
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Not in the way they hope, I’m sure! 😉
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Not so far, but maybe in some sleep deprived moment someone will say the right thing and I’ll know it’s the god God calling his lost sheep back. Then I’ll be able to tell everyone why absolute morality exists. Could be fun!
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Nice post, thanks Violetwisp. My opinion of Mr. Obama is influenced by a rather cynical opinion of what it requires to reach the Office of President and the limited scope of that office. The demonizing by Republican Christians seems to me simple xenophobia and closet racism. As well as idolizing some Norman Rockwell version of bygone ‘American glory’. Barack seems like the psychologically healthiest, most grounded, president we’ve had in a while. Perhaps his best achievement has been as a living symbol of calm rationality. I’d buy him lunch and probably enjoy the conversation.
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“Barack seems like the psychologically healthiest, most grounded, president we’ve had in a while”
I agree, he just seems like a thoroughly decent guy who has the best interests of everyone at heart. I don’t see many politicians (or any?) every pulling that off, and I don’t think it’s because he’s a better actor.
Thank you for a comment I understand. Your conversation with Clare baffles me.
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How so?
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History will duly note that no previous US President encountered as much as a hundredth of the atrocious, literally insane obstructionism as that has been delivered to Obama. Against his rather pragmatic presidency (fixing what the republicans had broken), is superimposed the commentary of Glenn Beck, $arah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Ted Nugent, and Limbaugh (among a host others), and the lies of Fox News.
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You mean Faux News, don’t you John?
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I usually write it, Fox (cough) News
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I was joking when I said the other side is ‘rather’ anti-Obama. I’ve seen some of the emails and posts that circulate about him from the crazy Christian right – it is sheer insanity.
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Don’t worry, your subtlety is never missed 😉
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1) I am not a Republican. I have no political affiliation.
2) Obama’s politics are predictably those of a left-wing statist, and I don’t see any point in repeating arguments for or against left-wing statism. He may be right, he is more likely wrong, but there are blogs other than mine that deal with that.
3) My complaint against Obama is purely one of character: he is a self-inflated yet utterly ineffectual scold.
4) It is cute how some of your readers defend Obama by saying “He is an ineffectual dweeb because he has opposition! The evil Republicans!” As if Presidents never have opposition. To preserve the narrative and prove my point they exaggerate the opposition to say IT IS THE MOST EVER!
But it isn’t. It is not the most opposition in my generation. George W. Bush had fanatical opponents calling for his incarceration. Bill Clinton had a Congress further to the right than the current one, which impeached him. I remember the visceral hatred Republican congressmen had for Clinton, and we will probably see more of it if his wife runs. Obama has it easier, yet he is a failure, so people make bigger excuses.
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Sorry I keep misrepresenting you. I didn’t like that post of yours but you had a couple of paragraphs that set me off on slightly tangential thinking based around your kind of person. The squirrel killers of the world, if you will. 😉
I take it you’re not an Obama fan.
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You do get those of us who are neither Republican or Democrat, and certainly not Christian. Mr. Obama got caught up in a tide and swept into the Presidency way too soon in his career. If Obamacare has problems, they are mostly the result of the Republicans trying to salvage as much of the privilege of their big company insurance friends as possible. The response of the insurance companies is not because of the regulations in the act, but rather in their vindictiveness against it’s having been passed in the first place. For all the people whose privately paid health insurance when through the roof, thank the insurance companies not Obamacare. That being said, somewhere in this country the idea had taken hold that health insurance was some kind of prepaid doctor bill paying system. It’s not. It’s Las Vegas style gambling and always has been. And they never make a bad bet. Most health problems, especially pregnancy and chronic problems are a bad bet. Do you want major health care delivery reform? Get rid of health insurance. As for Mr. Obama, the worst thing that his presidency has brought us is that it will make the next Black American who decides to run face even more problems. Yes, the majority of the objection to our current President is related to the fact that he’s Black. In fact, he is actually a real African American! Oh, and for those who may not know it, his African American roots come not from his Kenyan father but rather from his mother. You know, the white one who has Black ancestors. For all the “birthers” out there, I wonder what you would have done with Senator McCain and what you will do about that Cruz character for whom there is no doubt that he is foreign born.
It will take a conservative Republican Black American to become president and finally lay all the racist bullstuff to rest. As for most of the rest of our commentators, have you forgotten the extremely intelligent and very nice Mr. Carter? Talk about lack of insider knowledge. Same problem as Mr. Obama.
do i like President Obama? sometimes. Do i resent being called a racist when I disagree with something of his? you better believe it. I cringe at the thought of a Republican being elected to follow him, but unfortunately, I think we’re going to be stuck with one. Hopefully if we can get a big enough campaign going to indicate that a Republican will take us back to the horror days of heavy handed Federal prosecution of marijuana “crimes”, it will get the laid back types out of the wood work and voting, to stop such a thing.
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Nice to see you here Mariah. I don’t know much about people who call themselves witches – do you have a label for the over-arching belief system?
“You do get those of us who are neither Republican or Democrat”
Actually I didn’t, which is probably a bit blinkered of me. What are the other options? We had an interesting debate for the British election last night between seven party leaders, and it was so refreshing to get past just focusing on our two main parties – especially has three were women.
“Do i resent being called a racist when I disagree with something of his? you better believe it.”
That must be annoying. I can see why it happens though because I’ve seen lots of posts from Republicans going on and on and on about how they’re not racist in any way, and then posting really questionable stuff on race issues.
I still think Obama seems like a thoroughly decent guy, which is such a rare thing in politics. It’s such a disappointment he’s disappointed those who had high hopes for him.
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This is almost an age-old question by now, but I still find myself pondering it:
Who is the more ridiculous? An Obama supporter who thinks Obama is trying to represent the people, or an Obama detractor who thinks Obama is trying to represent the people?
The sky is filled with bombs…brutalized prisoners scream their last in cruel dungeons…death squads roam the world, shooting darkies with impunity…laborers pay trillions in taxes to corrupt bankers…and still, somehow, the teevee has convinced millions of fools that some of the people in the nice suits are “on their side.”
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Okay, this almost makes sense. I particularly like the use of ‘teevee’.
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You condemn the Christian God for collective punishment, but Obama has burned far more cities than merely Sodom and Gomorrah.
At how many wedding parties has he murdered scores of children because he believed they were inhabited by demons?
It’s all very well and good to mock snake oil salesmen who charge people for showy rituals. Now that you’ve all done that, though, why don’t you become more sophisticated, and focus less on religion charlatans who merely make a few bucks by pandering to people’s spiritual needs, and focus more on people who make trillions of dollars by actually killing thousands of people for far more insane reasons?
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