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MrScorpio

(73,626 posts)
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 07:41 PM Mar 2013

It amazes me every single day…

From the time that I've been politically aware, since the early 1970's up to the election of Barack Obama, I've witnessed a cavalcade of political scandals that have plagued a succession of administrations.

With the current president, we've had no real scandals for more than four years straight. Look at the fact that the wingers have had to manufacture false and outrageous scandals in order to accuse President Obama of doing something wrong. I'm not saying that he does everything right, the mere fact that one sits in the Oval Office means that the occupant frequently has to choose from a list of ALL bad decisions. I also know that no president can rule by fiat, there are things that happen that have been out of ones hand.

So, I'm willing to give Barack Obama a lot of leeway. I give him that leeway based on his past performance and the potential of his future performance. I don't expect to be happy with every decision that he makes, but I don't have to be happy.

We've had decades of fuck ups by one president after the other, piling all of our problems miles high.

It's naive to think that Obama can fix them all and fix them all by himself.

There are times when I wonder when people who should be backing him up are going to do their part too.

The Republicans won't stay broken forever.

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yourout

(7,521 posts)
2. I blame a great deal of what went wrong in his 1st term on Rahm Emanuel. I trust that snake....
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 07:45 PM
Mar 2013

about as much as I do Boehner.

The single biggest mistake Obama made was him.

Deep13

(39,154 posts)
3. In his personal life, he appears to be a paragon of virtue.
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 07:46 PM
Mar 2013

There are policies of his that I oppose, but all in all he is reasonable, responsive, and doing a pretty good job. He would do better, of course, if teabaggers did not automatically oppose in Congress every reform he proposes.

formercia

(18,479 posts)
4. "The Republicans won't stay broken forever."
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 07:57 PM
Mar 2013

Throw them another Anvil.

Just like Republicans: Stealing more Anvils than they can swim with.

 

graham4anything

(11,464 posts)
5. President Obama is the single best longest running President since LBJ...wish he could serve 10terms
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 07:58 PM
Mar 2013

as President, but his agenda will live on in the next President's after he retires in 2017,
and his own achievements will continue as US Supreme Court judge in 2018 and someday
as Chief Justice.

It will take a few election cycles to rid the stinks out, possibly a decade or more but it will happen.

Democrats should have had 53 straight years as president. Except for fracture in fighting,
bad events, and stupid protests, they would have.

uponit7771

(90,225 posts)
7. I still feel Obama is the "damn good" president right now and will be great if ACA works out but...
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 09:59 PM
Mar 2013

...he can be the great president if he puts Cheney et al in jail
..

Watching Hubris again

 

Zax2me

(2,515 posts)
8. You are looking through rose colored glasses.
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 11:50 PM
Mar 2013

Come on.
Van Jones.
Debt up to 16 trillion (inherited at 10, was promised to be cut in half).
Lisa Jackson EPA - those emails
Hundreds of million dollars in green energy loans to now bankrupt companies - that were big donors.
Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Tony Rezko.
Drones.
Fast and Furious....
Look, none of these things alone or grouped together by right-wing assassins of character add up to massive scandals. But they are real and tangible. Not simple 'mistakes' or mis-steps.
He's not juggling all of this because all who preceded him in office fucked up.
I want to see his LEADERSHIP.
Fuck all the things I listed above.
All would be forgotten if some hope and change would develop from his tenure. Not Rome in a day, but stand out front, open the windows to the office as promised instead of closing them tighter.
We are in year five now and the best thing to come from his tenure is we don't have little bush or romney in there. So, yea, things could be worse.
But they aren't any better.
You say no scandals?
Even if I cede that claim - big whoop.

tblue

(16,350 posts)
12. Drones kinda did it for me.
Sat Mar 23, 2013, 12:41 PM
Mar 2013

Shirley Sherrod
Bradley Manning
Compromise

Stick in my craw. But drones are a bridge too far. Oh and letting the guilty off the hook. Missing that singular opportunity to right this ship and heal the wounds those war criminals caused. Tragic.

 

Bradical79

(4,490 posts)
14. Most of those wouldn't even be classified as minor scandals, and your debt comment is not true.
Sat Mar 23, 2013, 07:30 PM
Mar 2013

Like Rev. Jeremiah Wright for instance. Other than a small number of racist tea party nuts, most people could care less about the Rev.

Also, like most of the rank and file tea party you don't know the difference between debt and deficit. He vowed to cut the deficit in half, not the debt. I think he inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit, raised it to $1.4 trillion, then had cut it down to $1.1 trillion. Republican mouth pieces liked to switch debt and deficit around though, because a broken promise resulting in an $11 trillion swing sounds much worse than "he only lowered the annual deficits by 15% when promising 50%".

Even if what you said was true, that's hardly a scandal considering anyone with half a brain knows there's two houses of Congress and they are actually directly responsible for passing the budget. A presidential candidate making promises about the economy is more akin to a coach promising to bring a championship to his team's city. It's a goal statement, but requires work from a lot of other people too to make reality.

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