A retrospective on the Obama presidency - half right, half wrong

[BannedFromDU]

T Wolf  (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Fri Mar-27-09 03:07 PM
Original message
The real tragedy of the Obama presidency is "what might have been." Whether liberals were correct
   
or deceived in our appraisal of what he would do, the glow is rapidly coming off the shiny new object in DC politics.

From war to FISA to health care to economics, we are learning that the change we were told was coming is only a minor adjustment to the rightward rush the the rethugs were so very successful in achieving.

Every time that I start to think that Obama will be different, another disappointment comes along to dash those hopes.

Every time I am impressed with his demeanor and intelligence and start to fall for the "he's playing chess" meme, he fails to follow through with any major actions that show any progressive values.

When the (Democratic) Congress undercuts his policies, my sympathies go out to him and my anger at "our" party increases. I have applauded his attempts to bypass the pols and go "directly to the people" because I think that the majority of the population does want peace & freedom & universal health care & economic justice and I naively believe that Obama could achieve real progress by enlisting "our" help.

But now, after only two months of his administration, it is impossible to view things through those rose-colored glasses. The new boss, while not exactly the old boss, is not the answer to the problems facing this country.

What might have been was a nation that embraced liberal values and policies. What we are getting is politics as usual, just presented in a nicer package than Shrub and his cretins.

The armies of supporters and workers and contributors that put Obama into office was made up of many people with varying views on specific issues. A large number were "leftists" who really thought that we were getting something different. We have been fooled.

The midterms are less than 20 months away. The 2012 cycle has already started. What does it matter?

Congressional elections in 2010 will increase or decrease the Democratic majorities. Are we supposed to believe that more than 60 Democratic Senators will magically translate into a liberal paradise? History and the present has shown that even if the Dems had 70 Senate seats, the true progressives would still be insignificant and powerless.

The next Presidential election will bring even a tougher battle for Obama. The media and a lot of his fellow Democrats will not be allies. The rethugs will come after him even harder than in 2008. He will not be able to run as an unknown. The betrayal of Democratic and liberal values will be documented in his first term "accomplishments" - war and health care and the economy being the major issues. Will all of the millions of Obamaites re-enlist to fight for someone who has sold us out? I don't think so.

Obama could have been a great President. He still might, but that hope is rapidly disappearing.

Obama could have utilized his bully pulpit (and few Chief Executives have had his skills in doing so) to lead a populist movement. The county is ripe for that. Instead, we get more political speech, signifying nothing except a business-as-usual approach. If "we the people" are supposed to "help" him convince Congress in any specific direction, Obama needs to tap into the feelings of Americans and take actions that the majority of us support. Corporate give-ways, as an example, are not what Americans want.

The liberal (sucker) inside of me will always have at least a little hope that things will turn out better than the direction in which they appear to be heading. But, once again, that hope is being tested by reality. And reality is winning.

Yeah - what might have been...

Well, he IS a failure...we can agree on that much


     This is yet another example of how stupid liberals liken themselves to political thinkers from the 17th and 18th centuries. The guy has been in office two months, and when they're not calling him the greatest President ever, they're calling him an utter failure.

     Well, I, for one, agree that he's a failure, but not for the reasons listed above.

     Hey, DUmbasses: you got the man you voted for. Sorry you can't smoke dope in the streets and have your own private free health clinic...he never promised you a rose garden.

[USA4ME]

T Wolf

Congressional elections in 2010 will increase or decrease the Democratic majorities. Are we supposed to believe that more than 60 Democratic Senators will magically translate into a liberal paradise?

There's the root of their problem.  The words "liberal" and "paradise" are mutually exclusive, unless you define the word "paradise" as some sort of nanny state where freedom and liberty are cast aside for some sense of (false) security.

.

[The Village Idiot]

They won't admit it but that is exactly what their "paradise" is.

[Lord Undies]

Of course B. Hussein is a failure.  He probably isn't even an American.  He won't show his birth certificate, as if he is too special to be subjected to such a degrading request, so now I am a firm believer there is a reason to question his validity.  The man is a failure in all sorts of ways.

Now, the liberals have a different problem all together.  The small minority of godless liberals (like the DUmp idiots) thought B. Hussein/Pelousy/Can'tReid were going to do a bum's rush on our representative republic.  Such dreams are for idiots.

This is not a liberal nation.  It is based in conservatism.  That's what has kept her great.  It won't be changed at the will of those who hate this nation without a fight just because B. Hussein is here.

Liberalism requires subtracting from liberty, freedom, and greatness.  That means good things must be destroyed.  It isn't an easy task.  It depends on fooling as many people as possible into believing lies are truth, evil is good, crowds are more important than the individual, and society trumps common sense.  It ain't a cakewalk for liberalism.

This great nation, as designed, is hand-in-hand with the intellectualism of conservative principles.  To retain the greatness we know is the USA requires little change.  The principles are ageless.  Liberty, freedom, and greatness, while  always vigilant of domestic and foreign enemies, needs little internal maintenance.  It's the natural order of things.    

Liberals have a problem.  Both liberalism and B. Hussein are failures.

[Karin]

Will all of the millions of Obamaites re-enlist to fight for someone who has sold us out? I don't think so.

By all means, feel free not to!  Also, don't bother going around knocking at our doors in the meantime.

Lord Undies, good post.  If you hop over to Rasmussenreports.com, you'll see a whole smorgasbord of polling questions that bear you out.  Common-sense conservatism has not changed, even with Hopey McChange there.  I won't repeat all the polls, except to say that O didn't get a bounce from Tuesday, he's been stuck at +5 for the last 5 days. 
Pelosi has moved in the numbers.  She is at negative 33 (Strongly app less stngly dis).  Two weeks ago, she was at negative 22.  Oh my. 

[jukin]

Obama is going to go down as the worst president this country has ever seen.  He will set race relations and world peace/prosperity back decades. There will be but one man that is smiling after four years of diplomatic failures, economic misery, and civil unrest and he is Jimmy Carter.