Barack Obama is an awful president

[jduster]

He is not a muslim and he was born in the United States, BUT he is awful president.

There is a gap between what he said and what he does.  

The voters were fooled by a politician [as usual], feckless, callow, and laden with glib promises.

He tried to distance himself from Bush during the campaign, but he ended up continuing many of Bush's policies, because he realized they were necessary.

He campaigned on an anti-war platform, noting bracelet that a woman gave him after saying "please don't let another mother go through what I am going through".  He said it was stupid to give aid to a country with a $10 billion surplus.  He promised to withdraw the troops in 16 months.

He didn't do that.  He withdrew at a slower rate; the same rate Bush wanted to withdraw at.

There is only two paths of policy to be taken during the war:
keep the troops in long enough to win or don't fight at all.

There is no middle ground.

His withdrawal plan in Afghanistan is unfeasible (General Patraes said it would take years to get out of Afghanistan) and comparable to the failed policy of Vietnamization.

Unless politicians have a crystal ball, if they do let me know, it is impossible to make future decisions based on the conditions of the present.

His stimulus package was too expensive, too slow, and failed to stimulate the economy.

The Obama administration is the most unaccountable administration in history, rife with wasteful spending.  He signed a 2,000 pg health care bill; we all don't know what is hiding in its crevices.  He signed a 2,000 pg wall street reform bill; none of us know exactly what is inside.  He signed a $26 billion dollar bill without a name; we don't know exactly what is in it.  This is the most fiscally irresponsible administration in the nations history, driving the country over $2 trillion in debt in just 16 months.

Voting for Obama seemed like the right thing at the time.  Bush was the devil who single-handedly destroyed the economy, McCain is a war-hawk and a copy of Bush, the War in Iraq is stupid, and we're going to have our first African American president.  But some people only have a history span of 8 years and a vision of the future which doesn't go past 2 1/2 months.

Eventually, he's going to have to stop scapegoating Bush, who was a far better president in my opinion, and take responsibility for his own actions.

[Thumpalumpacus]

The war in Iraq was winding down beforehand, true.  And that's a good thing.  How does that make Obama a bad president?

He has done well in some things, failed miserably in others, but in all cases, he's let reason and not faith do the heavy lifting.  That's enough for me after eight years of a "crusading" Bush who didn't know his ass from third base about the world outside of Texas before he decided to invade Iraq over false pretenses.

Obama thinks.

[humblesmurph]

Things went poorly under Bush.  He showed himself to be somewhat dimwitted.  We thought there may be some connection between the apparent lack of intelligence on the part of our leader and the state of the country.  We chose to elect a man who appears to be smart.  I think McCain would have made a fine president as well, he was likely doomed by the failings of Bush and that nitwit of a running mate.  I digress.

Let's wait a couple years before we determine the success or failure of the Obama administration.

[Will]

There is a gap between what he said and what he does.

Of over 500 campaign promises made, President Obama has kept 121, compromised on 39, has 240 currently in the works, and has had 81 stalled. He's actually only broken 22. So yes, there's a gap, but it's not a big gap. Source

The voters were fooled by a politician [as usual], feckless, callow, and laden with glib promises.

Not really. Statistically speaking, he's actually doing well keeping the tons of promises he made.

He tried to distance himself from Bush during the campaign, but he ended up continuing many of Bush's policies, because he realized they were necessary.

President Obama has continued rendition, secret assassinations, the war with the Taliban, etc., but he's made a 180 on economic issues, and it does seem like he's starting to make inroads on turning around domestic and social issues.

He campaigned on an anti-war platform, noting bracelet that a woman gave him after saying "please don't let another mother go through what I am going through".  He said it was stupid to give aid to a country with a $10 billion surplus.  He promised to withdraw the troops in 16 months.

Senator Obama absolutely did not run on an anti-war platform. He consistantly and repeatedly said he would ramp up the war in Afghanistan, saying it's "The war we need to win." And President Obama promised to withdraw combat troops, not all troops, and that's just happened. He announced the 18 month timetable on February 27 of 2009.

There is only two paths of policy to be taken during the war:
keep the troops in long enough to win or don't fight at all.

There is no middle ground.

This assumes military victory is the goal. It's not. Military contracts and rebuilding are the goal. The neoconservatives engineered both wars, capitalizing on 9/11, and are now raking in insane amounts of money because of it. That money you always hear about that the war is costing? Most of that is ending up with the private corporations and contractors. They have a vested financial interest in drawn-out, no-goal wars.

His withdrawal plan in Afghanistan is unfeasible (General Patraes said it would take years to get out of Afghanistan) and comparable to the failed policy of Vietnamization.

Afghanistan is an unwinnable war. The goals are constantly changing when they're even visible, the enemy changes from day to day, and the United States is collapsing under our own incompetence which will eventually mean we'll run out of money to pay for the war regardless of how much we borrow. On top of that, President Obama knows his role as a war-President is the best political defense he has against the right. John McCain, despite being an utter failure during his military career, was portrayed as a war hero. It's a classic Republican strategy to try and push the idea that Democrats are weak on terror (formerly weak on communism). If President Obama pulled out tomorrow, while he'd unite the left for the first time in over 40 years, he'd lose the 2012 election, probably to Sarah Palin with an ex-military VP. I hate the war in Afghanistan, but President Palin is even worse.

Unless politicians have a crystal ball, if they do let me know, it is impossible to make future decisions based on the conditions of the present.

The game is much more controlled than you might assume. We'll end combat missions in Afghanistan probably in 2016 because the money to pay corporations and contractors will run out. We'll have a presence there for decades, though, just like Iraq.

His stimulus package was too expensive, too slow, and failed to stimulate the economy.

Either it was too big or not big enough. You can't have it both ways.

The Obama administration is the most unaccountable administration in history, rife with wasteful spending.  He signed a 2,000 pg health care bill; we all don't know what is hiding in its crevices.  He signed a 2,000 pg wall street reform bill; none of us know exactly what is inside.  He signed a $26 billion dollar bill without a name; we don't know exactly what is in it.  This is the most fiscally irresponsible administration in the nations history, driving the country over $2 trillion in debt in just 16 months.

You can read the healthcare bill online. I've read it. You can read the financial reform bill online. Again, I've read it. And the debt? A lot of it is being paid back. Remember: TARP wasn't spending, it was an investment. It's not like military where it's a black hole sucking in money we'll never see again. We expect to get a lot of our money back, and we have gotten some of it back. The reason we're in such serious trouble now is George W. Bush simultaneously gave us one of the biggest tax cuts in history and started two wars with no method to pay for them. We had a $127 billion budget surplus in 2000. If that had continued, we would have no federal debt as of this year. Instead, as of January of 2009, we had a $1.2 trillion deficit. The deregulation of the financial markets also meant we were put into an economic free fall as bubbles burst left and right. None of that is President Obama's fault.

Let me ask you this: what would you have done?

[jduster]

The war in Iraq was winding down beforehand, true.  And that's a good thing.  How does that make Obama a bad president?

It shows that he is two-faced.

His campaign was based on imagery.  Obama made himself to look like a peacemaker while making McCain look like a warmongerer, when in reality, they both were against a quick withdrawal in Iraq.

Things went poorly under Bush.  He showed himself to be somewhat dimwitted.  We thought there may be some connection between the apparent lack of intelligence on the part of our leader and the state of the country.  We chose to elect a man who appears to be smart.  I think McCain would have made a fine president as well, he was likely doomed by the failings of Bush and that nitwit of a running mate.  I digress.

Let's wait a couple years before we determine the success or failure of the Obama administration.

Yes, it is a shame that the public believes intelligence and elegance are the same thing.

What he has already done has set itself in stone, but you are right about giving it more time to assess Obama's legacy.  It can only get much worse.

[philosoraptor]

Excellent post, Will.  You addressed several of the points that came to my mind-most notably regarding the number of campaign promises Obama has actually acted on, which I think is pretty significant, given he hasn't been in office that long.

[philosoraptor]

The war in Iraq was winding down beforehand, true.  And that's a good thing.  How does that make Obama a bad president?

It shows that he is two-faced.

His campaign was based on imagery.  Obama made himself to look like a peacemaker while making McCain look like a warmongerer, when in reality, they both were against a quick withdrawal in Iraq.

Yeah but being against a quick withdrawal is not the same thing as being a warmonger.  I distinctly remember McCain saying he'd stay in Iraq a 100 more years if he thought he had to.  Which of course was metaphorical, but certainly he had no plans of withdrawal for the near future.  Realistically, it would not have been wise on Obama's part to yank all our troops out without first putting in place a contingency plan-which is what he did.

You know that line: I'm sick of old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in?  That's kind of how I feel about McCain.

[i_am_i]

Well he sure as hell isn't a great president, but the American people really need to grow up and get over the idea that presidents have to be great men.

Is Obama an awful president? Maybe, but first you're going to have to define "awful" as you're using it in this context.

[humblesmurph]

The war in Iraq was winding down beforehand, true.  And that's a good thing.  How does that make Obama a bad president?

It shows that he is two-faced.

His campaign was based on imagery.  Obama made himself to look like a peacemaker while making McCain look like a warmongerer, when in reality, they both were against a quick withdrawal in Iraq.

Things went poorly under Bush.  He showed himself to be somewhat dimwitted.  We thought there may be some connection between the apparent lack of intelligence on the part of our leader and the state of the country.  We chose to elect a man who appears to be smart.  I think McCain would have made a fine president as well, he was likely doomed by the failings of Bush and that nitwit of a running mate.  I digress.

Let's wait a couple years before we determine the success or failure of the Obama administration.

Yes, it is a shame that the public believes intelligence and elegance are the same thing.

What he has already done has set itself in stone, but you are right about giving it more time to assess Obama's legacy.  It can only get much worse.

If you'd like to actually make a point, you'd be better served addressing Will's post than mine.  Click on the little blue source button.  It certainly elevated my opinion of Obama, if you can be honest with yourself, maybe it will do the same for you.  

Btw, thanks for the post Will.  You've opened up a whole new source of info for me.  I shouldn't have my head in the sand on political issues.  Gotta stop watching so much South Park and learn what is really going on in the world.

[Sophus]

I'll agree that the man is overrated. Or at least he was. Obama has yet to demonstrate the backbone I think a true outstanding leader needs to have. This may change if he is re-elected thus no longer has to worry about what the people think of him.

That being said, here's a bikini graph:



For this reason I don't think we should return to Republican leadership whose economic policy drove us into this rut in the first place. In some cases, it is possible that his spending isn't the most helpful (things like the super duper train in Florida?). In other cases it's completely necessary because it saves jobs.

I also think Obama is very good at helping our relations with the world. He's not perfect, but in comparison to other Presidents, especially recent ones, I think he stands out as looking pretty decent.

(Edited to restore image. --Recusant)

[humblesmurph]

Well he sure as hell isn't a great president, but the American people really need to grow up and get over the idea that presidents have to be great men.

Is Obama an awful president? Maybe, but first you're going to have to define "awful" as you're using it in this context.

What are some of the common criticisms of Obama?  Where has he zigged where he should have zagged?

[Whitney]

I tend not to like politicians anyway which makes it easy for me to want to revoke my support but I've found that Obama has had a bit of a two faced approach trying to make both the republicans and democrats happy....he should have just did what he thinks is right and not worried about further upsetting the repubs since they'll by the whole hate him no matter what he does (because he's a liberal black muslim without a birth record    )

But awful president....I'd just say disappointing but at least we aren't in a depression or being invaded or under a theocracy; 3 things that were much more likely to happen if Bush were still the decider.

[parrotpirate]

slight derail, but ass from a hole in the ground I've heard of, and ass from page five. But this:ass from third base I have never heard of before.

[Thumpalumpacus]

The reason we're in such serious trouble now is George W. Bush simultaneously gave us one of the biggest tax cuts in history and started two wars with no method to pay for them.

Out of a post I generally agree with, this really bears repeating; it is the salient, if unspoken, fact of American domestic politics and economics from the last seven years, and likely for the next twenty, at least.

[Thumpalumpacus]

The war in Iraq was winding down beforehand, true.  And that's a good thing.  How does that make Obama a bad president?

It shows that he is two-faced.

His campaign was based on imagery.  Obama made himself to look like a peacemaker while making McCain look like a warmongerer, when in reality, they both were against a quick withdrawal in Iraq.

Will has already pointed out that Obama committed to the Afghani war prior to the election.  And before the election, Obama made plain his objection to Iraq -- indeed, he did so in 2004.

Also, you ought to understand that all politicians sell an image -- Republicans included.  Another thing you should dig into is the idea of compromise; it greases the wheels of government, for better or worse.  "You can't always get what you want."  Both parties are flawed.  I'm happy with Obama because he's rational.