And our First Lady. !!! K&R

I have to agree!

...President Obama gets things done.

Thank you, Mr. President!

This just adds to it.

I don't remember the quote in your sig line, but it is spot on and I love it!

in getting me to vote and join the party as a young man.

I am surprised that I don't remember that quote.

for a "used car salesman."

He will be a towering figure indeed. K&R

And let's not forget that he didn't exactly fight for marriage equality, or the public option, or...

I'd say that the past years have been VERY consequential. History will judge how much of that may be ascribed to Obama.

is that what you are saying...the one issue YOU have a problem with, apparently a majority of your elected officials don't and it appears that a majority of country didn't have any issue with.

He didn't fight? My god, what planet have you been on? Next you'll be sying the Osama Bin Laden wasn't and shouldn't be part of his legacy either.

such a wet blanket

Last edited Fri Jun 26, 2015, 02:39 PM - Edit history (1)

Especially in his first term, he seemed rather keen to drag his feet on GLBT issues.

But if Obama want to help celebrate this momentous change, he may do so. Equality means that everybody gets to celebrate commitment, even those who were hesitant to commit themselves to equality.

Which is the only way to do things when you have the legislature stacked against you and a country that is still far too conservative.

This is his win. It did not occur without his involvement.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

the rest of your post was just as dismissive .... lets see what the his leagcy really holds? What a bunch of tripe.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/14/politics/obama-gay-marriage/

deeming irrelevant his repealing DADT, refusing to defend DOMA, arguing for marriage equality at the Supreme Court, and his numerous executive orders extending benefits to same sex couples.

during his re-election campaign. That was gutsy.

Obama hedged big time in his first term. We all knew he supported equality, but he never admitted it.

Agreed

civil rights or Medicare. In both cases, like Obama, there are people who took earlier, stronger stands, but like LBJ, Obama put his political capital on the line in both ACA and on Marriage equality.

On ACA, even recently there were Democrats who argued that he made a "mistake" in using his first two years to pass this -- often repeating a Republican lie that he didn't work on jobs or the economy --- ignoring that he passed as big a stimulus bill as could pass Congress. Here, you ignore that he passed a system that helps people afford health insurance by dictating that pre existing conditions can't bar people from insurance and there can be no lifetime limits among other things. It also helps people afford it by first expands Medicaid, then for another range of income,gives subsidies.

It is true that a public option or allowing people 55-65 to buy into Medicare would be excellent ideas, but they absolutely did not have the votes. You might argue that a stronger fight for those things might have changed some minds, but I really don't buy that. Obama knew that he had absolutely no Republican votes. This meant that if ONE Democrat really was absolutely against it -- it would not happen. On the Medicare expansion that Democrat was Lieberman. On the public option there were several - as even Howard Dean's web site list on that showed.

However, what did pass provides an infrastructure where if the Congress moves their position on it, it would be an easy bill to write to allow for the creation of a public option and to make it available for the states to add. It already is possible at some point for a state to create such an option.

The BIG DEAL was getting this massive bill passed and implemented. You might consider that Social Security did not originally include all the people it now includes, that Medicare was more limited than it is now when it passed. Yet NO ONE faults FDR or LBJ for not doing something better. There is no reason to think Obama will not be the same.

On marriage equality, Obama took a very bold, politically consequential step in making the determination that the Justice Department would NOT defend DOMA -- and he took action on Don't ask, don't tell. On both of these those are important steps that helped put us on a path to where we are today for both issues. It was a big deal -- and a more timid President would have avoided both. (Polling changed rapidly both before and even more AFTER these actions.) It took strength of character to fight for these issues.

Then let us hope history will prove me wrong.

perhaps you are mistaken as to whom the "you" refers to in your post.

Was as well as yours. My point could be boiled down to sasaying that most really big things are improved over time. Just as civil rights law, Medicare, Social Security wete. Yet the biggest credit is getting the basic law passed.

My other point, could be better said as big things usually need both elected officials AND activists. Note that both MLK AND LBJ were possibly essential on the civil rights bill. Obama took steps he deserves credit for .... lord knows the Republicans give him the blessing for this.

But you are correct that history really will see this more object than we can now.

He even bumps FDR out of the race for that title.

Are you joking??

to take action against lynchings.

Don't believe me? Believe Jesse Owens.

... them refuge in the US.

300,000 applied for citizens shipping only 100,000 got accepted IIRC.

FDR was great, that doesn't mean he was perfect...

So many expect perfection

When we try and lionize people, to immortalize them, to hold them up above the rest of us, we forget that our heroes are just plain, normal people.

FDR was a racist and Gandhi beat his wife. It doesn't lessen their achievements, but we shouldn't overlook the flaws.

Except for Nixon. Fuck that dead asshole.

FDR he is not. But a good president he is.

FDR he is not. He's a lot more liberal than FDR was. No single race has been rounded up and herded into concentration camps under Obama.

And he handled everything like a boss (with the exeception of the Japanese round up).

BTW Guantanamo is still open and Obama said something about closing it as a campaign promise. He could have closed it with a stroke of the pen. But that's none of my business...

It costs money to shut down a base, and Congress precluded Obama from spending a dime on closing that base with a veto proof majority.

The very least he could do is send the detainees loose who have not been charged with anything other than being of arabs.

Please get your facts straight and let this zombie lie die once and for all time.

... and his over reaches that the USSC realed him back off of.

I don't expect perfection out of anyone of the great ones

I love Barrack for some of the things he's done and condemn him for some of the things he's also done. He's a good president but he's got his own albatrosses like his drone assasination unit (no more boots on the ground).

But history will ignore them. And on this site they will be relegated to footnotes in DU history.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

Last edited Fri Jun 26, 2015, 01:27 PM - Edit history (1)

VP Biden and Pres O helped in a huge way to bring this issue into infusion.

Its been a good two days concerning the "right" decisions.

In the last 100 years, I'd rate FDR as clearly more consequential, and LBJ, Reagan and George W. Bush as probably more consequential.

One could make a strong case that he's changed America more than Coolidge*, Hoover*, Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, Nixon, Ford, Carter, or H.W. Bush, though.


on
* Possibly less than one of these two if you attribute the Great Depression to e of them. But I don't know if that's reasonable or not.

The best President since at least LBJ and probably since FDR.

291 accomplishments, now 292

find his face on some money... That would be cool.

will come from the administration over the next 1 1/2 years, sans the TTP.

fought it every step of the way until he found it politically compelling to switch his position.

Giving credit to President Obama for bringing about marriage equality, instead of the people who marched, protested and when necessary brought suit, is insulting.

do some real homework that doesn't involve World Net Daily or Fox News and you'd realize what an idiotic response this was.

In fact, let me get you started on your path to being educated on this matter: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6907379

And DOMA had to be shot down before this decision could come about.

What exactly did Obama do to advance marriage equality? He jumped on board after most of the fight was over.

And Obama. I'm simply going to let you think of why that might be. It's amazingly obvious.

and he has openly embraced the LGBT community so in his role as PResident he has been positive .

We must win the Presidency.


My appreciation and respect for the person Obama is grows every day.

Sid

But we don't know, one way or the other, do we? ... because we are not ALLOWED to. We are left to speculate. Below are some of my speculations.

The ACA was supposed to be a stepping stone to single-payer. Now, Insurance companies can sue to prevent single-payer, which will CERTAINLY hurt their profits, so fuggedabowdit.

Net Neutrality? KISS IT GOODBYE, here and abroad, as it will cause a "loss of potential profits" (just like Australian & Uruguayan cigarette labeling) to ISPs, and is therefore grounds to sue at the WTO under TPP.

I hope we're all prepared for everything you put in your mouths to be genetically modified, because Monsanto has NEVER LOST a WTO lawsuit.

Yeah, President Obama has accomplished some VERY FINE things - BUT there's this other thing he's trying REALLY HARD to do, that could negate all or most of it down the road, so I hope you'll all forgive me if I wait a decade or so to proclaim him one of the best ever.

used car salesman right here on DU by the same poster who insisted he was that term originally. He is hated here, quite vehemently, can do nothing worth praising, and is poo on our shoes.

rofl

cspan probably cnn

Obamacare is good and saves him from being near the bottom. The NSA spying, droning innocent people, sleeping on ISIS, TPP, prosecution of journalists and whistleblowers, banks before people policies, needless conflict with China and Russia, all put him nearer the bottom than the top.

When considering his original mandate for change and what he's done, it's truly mind-boggling that Obamacare is his only landmark accomplishments. Mediocre at best. He just might ultimately be judged among the worst as an enabler of our ultimate fall into totalitarianism, assuming nobody steps up to stop domestic spying, secret courts and prosecution of the press.

You are so wrong. Pathetically wrong.

Lots of editorial and prophecy, little objective measure,.

That would require one to quantify all accomplishments and be able to compare. How would you quantify Lincoln's preservation of the union and compare it to FDR's New Deal? Which consequence is objectively greater?

Your reply is like saying "that's just your opinion". Of course it is.

Yet FDR, according to presidential scholars is #1.

Firebombing Dresden.

Promising to push a ban on lynching and going back on his word to win Southern Democratic votes.

Having half his New Deal thrown out by a liberal Supreme Court for being unconstitutional.

And yet, FDR is still the greatest president in American history.

You'll find no perfect president. Even Lincoln suspended habeas corpus.

I don't argue with consequential. But the results are mixed. He oversaw an expansion of fracking, and extraction of tar sand, and coal. Opened the Arctic to drilling. Dragged his feet on Keystone.

Some policies, though expansive, never seem to step on the toes of the plutocrats. He'll go along with social progress, because it's good for business.

Good on style points.


--imm

I had never heard the term derangement syndrome before Bush. It was an obvious tactic to avoid acknowledging his failures as a president.

How does it feel to use a tactic invented to deflect criticism from Bushco?

Last edited Fri Jun 26, 2015, 11:34 PM - Edit history (1)

Most people don't care about the NSA, drones, whistleblowers, etc. People care about jobs, safety, health. When history judges Obama, the prosecution of Manning won't be there. The massive improvement in employment, increased standing in the world, improved healthcare, and equality will be there.

Shirtless pic of him bodysurfing in Hawaii.

But this one is pretty good too.

He'll go down in history like a Bill Clinton, a moderate that tried to triangulate with the best of them.

In terms of gay civil rights, well, he changed his position from being for them to appeal to bigots in the Democratic Party as president, and then stood out of the way when popular opinion shifted. Not much of a great figure there.

I'm glad we have Obama over the Republican alternatives, but he's no progressive. If progressive means being quite a bit better than the crazy right, then the metrics are off.

And all without any help from Congress or the SCOTUS. He is an amazing person.

A year ago I listened to a panel of presidential historians predicting this ... well before this week's SCOTUS decisions.

If he does nothing else (and he will), he will go down as a president of great consequence. After today's speech in Charleston, he will also go down as one of the greatest orators of our history.

Says Michael white liberal Moore.

What do Moore and that other guy have in common?

Couldn't believe people agreeing with Moore, it was such a weak argument.

Were Pitts actual words.

Why is the guy that called him that treated with such reverence on DU?

Goes back forever. There was a longtime poster that got wronged in ways that were truly terrible. Pitt made a big ta-doo about it on DU, how he was going to make it right etc.

It was just another pant load.

He did nothing.

So basically he's just a guy who likes to talk.

So far in my lifetime. Which seems particularly fitting since he followed the worst president of my lifetime...so far.

My only two complaints about President Obama are that he:

Has never held anyone accountable for the financial disaster created by the banks nor anyone accountable for lies that took the U.S. to war or the torture that followed. At some point in the future there will be a repeat of these things because of that lack of accountability.

He is a class act as president. I'm not sure how he could have held banks accountable but I agree it should have been done.

People will view his speeches forever. Keynote at the DNC. Berlin. First and second inaugurals. Most recent State of the Union. Yesterday and today. He has helped reignite progressivism into being even more inclusive. Those who love him, we've seen this over and over. I'm glad others are recognizing his importance to the history or progressivism.

...OF basically SELLING OUT the 99% with Fast Track TPP & TTIP then President Obama! He will never live down this part of his legacy!

He easily defended himself on NAFTA claims. Obama will too.

But the media will paint him as one of the worst.

The ruling is awesome and it comes on his watch. But - on non social issues he has hardly been progressive - as with the TPP.

Then there is this - it's over, marriage equality and pot legalization has been only a matter of time for awhile, the public has moved solidly to support both.

Comparing him to FDR is ludicrous. FDR went against his patrician background to go all socialist and bring us out of a horrible depression. He welcomed the hatred of Wall Street - and he's on tape saying just that. Obama bailed out Wall Street and let them keep all their ill gotten gains as well. Not one big banker has gone to jail for obvious and blatant fraud that ruined everyday lives.

He didn't evolve on LGBT rights until his second term. He threw Reverend Wright under the bus before he was even elected. He has continued the war on drug started by Reagan and expanded upon by Clinton & GW Bush which continues to greatly harm the AA and hispanic communities.

He gives great speeches though!!

And he's not done. He was not my 1st choice in 08 but by the time he got elected, I changed my mind and thought he was the best president for what was ahead of us. I still didn't think he'd be able to get much done but he surprised me. He's been a much better president than I expected. I have great respect for him. I'm glad I was alive to witness it.

An admitted Reagan Republican (I would call him a Rockefeller Republican) who gives stirring speeches but had to evolve on LGBT civil rights, gave us a mediocre health insurance mandate plan (no different than HeritageCare), and fought his own party to provide we the people with NAFTA on steroids, the TPP, is now one of 'the most consequential presidents in American history!?'

Better than FDR even, we are now being told?



The take-over of the Democratic Party by the neo-liberal New Dems is now complete.

All hail the New Democratic Party!!!!

Hyperbolic ranting. Reagan Republican! What a pant load that is.

Doesn't mean it isn't applied by some posters on DU. If all Democrats who ran for the Senate toed the DU purity test line we would have 15-20 on the blue side. I think Obama has accomplished a lot considering the fact that our base handed control of congress to the Rs by not voting. Certainly more than Nader.

The only ones who use Nader and the purity test meme are New Dems. They are NOT traditional Democrats. Sorry to burst your bubble.

Get credit for those decisions?

What about Citizen's United? Heller? Plessy v Fergusen?