Was Obama actually that bad of a president?

Discussion in 'United States' started by mackenzie22, Apr 17, 2016.

  1. mackenzie22

    mackenzie22 New Member

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    I'm just wondering why so many Republicans hate Obama. Yes, he's a democrat, and he did a lot of stuff that I don't like, but was he really bad enough that many conservatives think he's the worst president ever.

    If you think he was terrible, please say why. I'm just curious. I'm more educated in modern politics compared to from 2008 to now.
     
  2. longknife

    longknife New Member

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  3. gamewell45

    gamewell45 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    When compared to Richard M. Nixon or Dubya, Obama is a shining star. Nixon managed to reflect extreme discredit upon the Executive Office and the government in General and Dubya has the blood of hundreds of thousands on his hands; something that many conservatives are unwilling to recognize to date.
     
  4. Mr_Truth

    Mr_Truth Well-Known Member

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    Obama = simply the BEST!
     
  5. Phoebe Bump

    Phoebe Bump New Member

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    When I look at the hate and obstruction Obama has had to contend with coming from McConnell, Cruz, Boehner and their ilk, I think he has done a remarkable job. In fact, I think a large part of the Trump phenomena is Republican reaction to McConnell, Cruz, Boehner, et al. The Republican motto has been "as long as we're not getting anything done, we're making progress."
     
  6. ARDY

    ARDY Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Current candidates make me appreciate him
     
  7. Iriemon

    Iriemon Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    o Economy that was tanking at a -9% rate and shedding 700,000+ jobs a month turned around
    o a record 72 straight months of private sector employment growth.
    o 125% increase in the stock markets since taking office
    o More than halved the deficit in 4 years.
    o Initial unemployment claims drop to lowest level since 1973
    o Got Osama bin Laden.
    o Saved 2-3 million jobs with stimulus package
    o First decrease in spending in a year in decades - 3 times.
    o Stock markets up 175% since bottom of the recession in 2009
    o Over 14 million additional private sector jobs created since Jan 2010
    o Oil production increasing for the first time in decades.
    o Ousted Muamar Kadaffi at 1/1000 the cost of the Iraq war
    o Deficit reduced by a then record $212 billion, down 16%, in 2012.
    o Deficit reduced by a new record $408 billion, down 37%, in 2013
    o Record corporate profits
    o Passed health care reform that is providing coverage to tens of millions of Americans
    o 6 straight years of GDP growth
    o Unemployment rate dropped from 10% to 4.9%
    o U.S. becomes world's top petroleum and energy producer
    o Passed financial regulation reform to prevent another housing bubble fiasco.
    o Diplomatically coerced Syria to give up WMD without war or loss of single American life.
    o Recovered all jobs lost in the worst recession in 80 years
    o Lowest rate of spending increases of any president in modern history
    o On-budget deficit has decreased every full fiscal year he's been in office.
    o Average initial jobless claims drops to levels last seen when Nixon was president.
    o US domestic oil use decreasing
    o Net creation of millions of people employed despite inheriting a economy losing 700,000+ jobs a month
    o Student loan reform passed making college loans available at reasonable rates.
    o Gas prices drop to below $2.00/gallon
    o Initial unemployment claims below 300,000 for a 48 straight weeks.

    If Obama were a white Republican, conservatives would be hailing him as a savior.
     
  8. cerberus

    cerberus Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    From what I saw of his spoof 'retirement' video yesterday he'd certainly have been more successful as a comedian than a POTUS. He's hilarious.
     
  9. Fallen

    Fallen Well-Known Member

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    Praising our leaders, stepping in tune, the music's played by the mad man.
     
  10. ViljenFjerstad

    ViljenFjerstad New Member

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    Obama is not the worst president of US. He may not be the best president of US but I believe that he is one of them.
     
  11. AlNewman

    AlNewman Well-Known Member

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    When you consider all those yahoos that went before him, to be able to capture that illusive title of the "worse" of the worse has been a major accomplishment. But then there is always tomorrow wherein he stands a good chance of losing that title. But throughout eternity, he will stand forever as being one of the largest puppet of all those little minded puppets that support him.
     
  12. Mr_Truth

    Mr_Truth Well-Known Member

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    [​IMG]




    America haters deny that truth but that's their problem, not anyone else's.
     
  13. reallybigjohnson

    reallybigjohnson Banned

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    Maybe you should read your memes before you post them.

    Libya is NOT a success by any stretch of the imagination.

    No one was imprisoned and instead the Goldman Sachs of the world just paid a fine and the (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)s who were responsible for much of the mess in 2008 get to laugh it up on the golf course.

    Guess you missed the increase in troops in Afghanistan when he got into office and now we are increasing troops in the ME again because if ISIS. We lost large chuncks of Iraq because this idiot couldn't renegotiate with a hammy president of a country that WE rebuilt.

    Obamacare? Seriously you consider that a success?

    We are now officially at well under 2% growth for 7 years. That is HORRIBLE. Normal growth should be around 4%.

    Is he the worst.........no Ulysses Grant will probably hold that distinction nor is he the best as Nixon simply cannot be competed with by mere mortals. He is definitely in the third though. As creepy and slimy as Bill Clinton was he was still a far better President than Obama.
     
  14. Mr_Truth

    Mr_Truth Well-Known Member

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    More people died in foreign embassies under the GOP as everyone knows.

    We had a Great Recession under your hero Bush.

    Obamacare works unlike Republicandeath "care"
     
  15. Lil Mike

    Lil Mike Well-Known Member

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    Hate seems to be too strong a word, and in fact I don't think that's a fair characterization to say that Republicans "hate" Obama, or at least more than they "hated" Clinton. The key difference is that Clinton actually moved and shifted in office and met the Republicans half way, on at least a few occasions. Obama has done none of that. I definitely think domestically, that his biggest legacy will be Obamacare, which is imploding as we speak, and in foreign policy, it will be ISIS.

    You'll judge his Presidency by the legacy that survives and eventually achieves bipartisan approval. Given that, I'm not sure if a decade from now, we'll all be looking back praising Obamacare, or his retreat from Iraq, and sitting idly by while ISIS grew from a few Al-Qaeda in Iraq stragglers into an actual territory controlling state capable of sponsoring terrorist attacks world wide and taking on several different armies on the battlefield.
     
  16. Mr_Truth

    Mr_Truth Well-Known Member

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    It is clear that Republicans hate President Obama because his agenda works unlike theirs under traitor Bush.
     
  17. Matt84

    Matt84 Well-Known Member

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    He turned around the atrocities left by Bush. That's all I ever required of him.
     
  18. Maleficus

    Maleficus New Member

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    Personally I think Obama has done a good job with the economy, I don't think anyone could keep a straight face and say otherwise. The rebound from the recession and the unemployment rate have been outstanding. On the other hand, Obamacare has, IMO, been a failure. I had it for a year and then my insurance rate doubled for the second year, so I had to drop it despite not using it at all. Others I have spoken with have had the same result.

    His handling of ISIS has been abysmal. ISIS is not a well-trained army: they are a rag-tag group of social outcasts with poor organization whose only real strength is their propaganda wing and the fact that they are able to ravage areas already stricken by the Iraq War and the civil war in Syria. The atrocities they have committed (and are still committing) should never have been allowed to occur. Obama's refusal to carry out airstrikes and put even a small number of boots on the ground to supplement the drone strikes truly makes me angry. I understand he does not want to become entangled in another debacle like the Iraq War, but if he let the military masterminds devise a plan to excise this cancer from the region I seriously doubt it would come to that. ISIS could be dealt with swiftly and we could get out directly afterwards. It is reprehensible to allow this madness to continue, and I believe it is Obama's gravest failing.

    Overall I would give Obama a C+ for his administration as a whole.
     
  19. Mr_Truth

    Mr_Truth Well-Known Member

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    C+ ??


    It would have been considerably higher for you if the Republican obstructionists had not done all they could to destroy his administration. He succeeded despite their hate and treason.
     
  20. Hoosier8

    Hoosier8 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I followed him from before he was in the Senate and predicted he was up and coming and high hopes for him until I heard him unscripted in a TV interview (before he was in the Senate) and realized he was just another empty suit. Turns out he really does not like the limits of the constitution and is just another angry at America left winger.

    I think his presidency has been terrible for America from apologizing to dictators to pissing off our allies to resorting to illegal force with the ACA mandate (something government is supposed to protect us from) and demonizing 1/2 of the America he doesn't understand to jumping to conclusions on racism before all the facts are in.

    People on the left don't understand so call it hate or racism but they haven't a clue why people dislike Obama's mentality and policies.
     
  21. Mr_Truth

    Mr_Truth Well-Known Member

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    compare the approval ratings of traitor Bush with those of patriotic Obama at this point in their years in the White House - the patriotic Obama has a vastly superior approval rating owing to his greater success while traitor Bush was nothing more than a dismal failure
     
  22. LiveUninhibited

    LiveUninhibited Well-Known Member

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    Obamacare won't be his legacy because it wasn't something that had much of a positive or negative impact. Ultimately, history will blame Bush for ISIS because it was the power vacuum that he created by going into Iraq without sufficient cause and not having an exit strategy. It is unlikely that staying longer would have prevented it.

    As for not meeting with republicans, that is total BS. It was always their way or no way. They were completely unwilling to compromise with Obama. Whether that makes it okay for Obama to try to go around them to get anything done, that part I am not sure how history will judge but I don't think it will be a major issue.
     
  23. Daniel Light

    Daniel Light Well-Known Member

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    I really don't think you can consider his presidency without taking a very hard look at where the economy and world situation was
    the day before he stepped into the oval office.

    Had things been wonderful, then his presidency would be of little note, but the day he took office, we were loosing thousands
    of jobs per day, most of America had lost about 30% of their retirement funds and equity in their homes. We were waging not one, but TWO wars and the outgoing president had an approval rating of 28% and Congress had an approval in the low teens.

    THAT is not a starting position many Presidents have had to face. That's just a fact. Whether you like him or not.

    Today the average retirement accounts of Americans has returned to positive numbers. The stock market is at all time highs. The housing
    market is mostly recovered.

    The wars are not grand successes. And international relations are not great. So I would give him a C- on that front.

    But domestic violence is far below the rates that Reagan had. Fewer cops have been killed on duty than when Reagan was in office.
    Given that and the very poor starting position that he had economy wise when he stepped into office, I would give him a solid B on
    the domestic front. With a 50% approval rating, looks like I'm not the only one.

    Is he a great President - no. But he is a good way from being the worst.
     
  24. Lil Mike

    Lil Mike Well-Known Member

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    So you think Obama will have no domestic or foreign policy legacy?

    Obamacare, as it currently is, isn't going to survive no matter who's the next President. It's financially unsustainable, as shown by the pull out of the exchanges by several healthcare companies in several states.

    As for ISIS, yeah blame Bush all you want, but there was no ISIS when Obama assumed the Presidency. So that will be a hard case to make.
     
  25. Zorroaster

    Zorroaster Well-Known Member

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    Obama is a standard issue neoliberal of the type which is nearly universal in Europe: Merkel, Blair, Cameron, etc. His stance on actual issues is virtually identical with that of most modern centralist Republicans. Mitt Romney being the perfect example - Obama's main skill was in projecting an illusion of sympathy for the masses, for which Romney was congenitally incapable.

    As a President, he will be recognized as a transitional figure. His main failure was an inability to confront issues head on, and an unwillingness to expend political capital.

    The overheated rhetoric about presidential 'overreach' is incredibly stupid. Obama was far less imperial that LBJ or Nixon.

    Overall, Obama gets a C+.
     

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