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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow America went from Barack Obama to Donald Trump in one head-spinning political decade
Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. ZelizerOpinion contributors
How did we get from Barack Obama to Donald Trump? The two presidents seem so dissimilar that its tempting to conclude they come from separate worlds. But in important ways, Obama set the stage for Trump.
To say the two men brought incredibly different approaches to the presidency is a dramatic understatement. Throughout his two terms, Obama governed with a deep respect for government institutions and overall stability. Although he came into office with a strong mandate from the 2008 election, his political temperament led him to seek out compromise positions with Republicans from the outset. As president-elect, he placed two Republicans in his Cabinet and nearly secured a third, which would have been an unprecedented level of bipartisanship.
Obamas legislative agenda was likewise crafted with an eye to bipartisanship. A third of his economic stimulus package was dedicated totax cut proposals, many of them previously advanced by Republicans, while his plan for health care reform drew in equal parts from Mitt Romneys program in Massachusetts and the Republican alternative to Bill Clintons health care initiative in 1993.
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Turbineguy
(37,345 posts)than extreme left ideology because it would undermine the conservative hate machine and that would undermine Putin's plans for the U.S. and Western democracies.
mdbl
(4,973 posts)All the other stuff is just fodder that tries to legitimize the deplorables.
Girard442
(6,079 posts)Wawannabe
(5,666 posts)And the media calling the ACA Obamacare made people hate affordable healthcare.
underpants
(182,833 posts)They aren't developed enough to handle it. Black President, gay marriage not only became legal but homosexuality itself was being celebrated, rap music on kid TV shows, Civil War statues coming down, BLM, gun grabs, gender identity,....etc.
Anything that got them some sense of "normalcy" was what they craved. Oh they are racists too.
dalton99a
(81,526 posts)Roger Ailes and his ilk
edhopper
(33,590 posts)They cheated.
America never "went for Trump".
2naSalit
(86,650 posts)We can never forget this major fact!
Joe941
(2,848 posts)This whole article is nonsense.