with no credible response from the Democrats. It only grew more and more hateful.

Here in the South, some people were freaking out that Obama had a chance at the White House. During the 2008 election it got really ugly down here but the MSM ignored most of the racist aspects of the campaigns.

The day after the election it got pretty ugly - since I was a team leader and my name and number was out there, I got some nasty calls and some that were just pathetic. The saddest was the man I spent an hour talking down. He was paranoid because one of the volunteers had stopped at his house the night before, encouraging him to vote. The worker was out there late - maybe 5:30 - and after he left the man's door, sat in his car for a few minutes.

The caller was sure the worker was adding his name to a database so that Obama could come get his guns. Seriously, that is what this guy was telling me and he wanted me to remove his name. I explained that the lists the volunteers were working from were voter registration lists and the only way to remove his name was if he actively asked to have his voter registration revoked. I wasn't about to tell him that would not actually remove his name, just take it off lists generated to encourage active voters from voting.

And most of the time he wouldn't even LOOK at his rival. He did not treat then Senator Obama as am equal, IMO.

His choice of Palin was part of his distaste for Obama - McCain is just too old school to allow himself to bring his racism out in the open.

As you said, McCain did not engage in hateful rhetoric himself, but some of the people at GOP campaign rallies did. I recall very well that one man shouted, "He's a terrorist!" and someone else -- possibly at the same rally, possibly at a different one -- yelled out, "Kill him!"

That scene was recreated in 'Game Change' and it was truly revolting.

Palin started all the hate. JMO

I can't believe that people don't remember that. His only shining moment came when he called that one lady out. Other than that, he allowed Palin and the hatemongers to shout racial epithets at their rallies. Kill him! Terrorist! Communist! Even during the debates, McCain himself participated in the lie that Obama hosted Bill Ayers in his house.

Again, I can't believe that you don't remember these things.

As a result, I think that's why Obama was so popular in his first 6 months to a year. It was only after the surge in Afghanistan, not holding Wall Street responsible, bailing out the American Auto Industry, and the success of his passing the ACA over cries of "Death Panels!", that things went terribly south. The Tea Party arrived with guns and ammo which unleashed a perfect storm of fervid hatred.

I'm afraid I wasn't clear in my original post--what I meant was the use of the word 'hate' in conjunction with Obama--just out loud, upfront, in-your-face-- blows me away. And I wanted to express my bewilderment and outrage. I was expecting a certain amount of anger that we Dems won, but I did not know the anger was also because he was black. I had thought racism was diminishing. (But then, I live in California.) Sadly, I see that it still poisons this country.

on the west side of Los Angeles. Although at our local anti-war vigil, some neighborhood toughs drove by in a pickup festooned with a Confederate flag and tried to hit one of my fellow vigillers. But we are not confronting that level of insanity here for the most part. Maybe in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, but not LA County.

And the birthers took that and ran with it.

they lamented that voters "“still aren’t ready to hate this president"

They were trying to get $10 million from Joe Ricketts to execute their plan to use Jeremiah Wright but I think their strategy is wider than that:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/17/1092403/-Voters-who-aren-t-ready-to-hate-Obama-yet-may-get-help-from-billionaire-s-Super-PAC-in-doing-so

Hate is a hyperbolic word but I think if you flip this over and look at like-ability then Obama is way above Romney. They can't get Romney up so they are trying to tear Obama down. In the strategy implied by the white paper in that article, it would seem they intend to try and move more people into a state of feeling pity, distrust and fear of Obama. That is sneakier because it doesn't feel like hate. They will sell this as a kind of concern or worry but they may be trying to get the haters to push the boundary of discourse so that this safer feeling faux-concern thing can gain ground.

It is kind of like the way they are using Trump to make Romney seem like less of an asshole. Romney gets to have a position like "well I don't want to see his birth certificate but let's just say I have some concerns about him' and because Trump is to the Right of him, he seems less extreme.

When he won.

I agree.

Sid

and when he did, their heads literally exploded, and we have all been suffering from their rotten guts ever since.

I.e., their racism has spilled forth in a twisted and ugly blood-curdling scream representing their perceived loss of their inherent paternalistic hegemony.

and actually be President. And their nearly four years of birtherism and other stupidity has not worked. They are really getting fed up with their fellow white Americans tolerating this! At least, that's how desperate they are getting and would explain it being worse now than in 2008.

A second term is a type of validation they are desperate to avoid. They want to at least be able to say "one-term President' which has an aura of fail about it.

As ugly as it's been, it's been an eye-opening shot of awareness for some who don't think racial issues are a big problem in this country, and more so for people who live and work side by side with those who harbor this deep-seated hatred.

A black man in the highest office in the land has finally caused many people to tip their hand.

Heightened awareness is always a good thing.

their children. That's one of the reasons why they push for private education and homeschooling. They don't want their kids around "those people."

the Right. Many Democrats participated in the hate.

I remember some jackass showing up with a monkey doll at a local rally.

Maybe they can cloak their racism with other "issues" now, but bigotry and ignorance are what lies beneath.

What can you expect from some soured old bigot?? It's pathetic.

then Palin set it off. Now,they supposedly love Hillary and are TRYING to use her against him.

The other thing they are TRYING is to pretend their is no racism involved and don't want anyone to mention it when it is clearly there for all the world to see.

Like Obama, they'll go down in history. Unlike Obama, it will be with an endless litany of horror stories. It must be worth it to them, though I always thought they cared about posterity.

Lately, the fun thing is that I am on a break from grad school and I have some time so I call them on their bullshit. When gently confronted with their hate of O, they deny their hatred and shift to, "well, we do not agree with his policies" although they cannot name one, or stay stuff like, "well, we just don't trust the guy".


It is so tranparent.

They did not feel the need to go this deep into the vein of ignorance and prejudice because they were banking on the folks to do what they THOUGHT they should do. Vote in an African American? Please. It would never happen. They actually thought America would prefer an old man who couldn't keep his stories straight and a woman who didn't know much of anything to an African American scholar. I mean, come on, this is America.

This time they are not so sure and they are pulling out all of the stops, bleaching those sheets and hitting the road hard. They will lie, cheat and steal to keep this from happening again.

The racial thing does kick it up a notch or two, but it would still be bad even if he were entirely white. They'd still call him a marxist, socialist, communist, fascist, anti-american, Godless liberal who wants to kill grandma. It's just that they probably wouldn't question whether or not he was born in this country. (And they probably wouldn't call him a secret Muslim)

Obama is guilty of "Winning while being a Democrat", and for that he has earned their hatred.

I went back to visit after Obama was elected and saw the same hatred.

I was immediately reminded why I quit working there.

Hillary and Obama have both been guilty of challenging white men's conviction that they and only they have a right to seek and wield power. They hated Hillary for being an "uppity" woman--and they hate Obama for being "uppity," too. Only women and minorities who "know their place" are acceptable to such people.

is due to the fact that he's a Democrat. It would have been nearly as bad for any Democrat who won the White House in this political climate.

First: Their guy fucked things up royally, so they are projecting their shame and embarrassment on the Democrat. This is something they would do regardless of which Democrat won. I think it's one of the reasons they hated Clinton so much, too.

Second: Obama has managed to find ways around their unprecedented obstructionism, and a good part of that is his usurping their policies. And, that rubs salt into the wound of him beating them in the first place. He is beating them at their own game in many regards.

And, I am sure that it just galls them that both Clinton and Obama are popular and well-liked despite everything these turds have heaved at them over their tenures. Good. I hope they choke on their bile.

Pure and simple.

Seriously?

What I meant, though, is that it seems the racists have REALLY cranked up the hatred in the last while and it's just disgusting.

The blatant hatred was only shown by the extreme RW. Now it's settled into the mainstream of the party.

Their hatred is all they have left.

There are conversations in restaurants and bars that make you check your calendar to see what year it is.
On a major highway is a monkey hanging from a rope. No sign, just that.
I get a real bad feeling whenever I hear that he is coming to this swamp of hatred.

Last edited Fri Jul 13, 2012, 10:54 PM - Edit history (1)

It's downright frightening but I try not to think about it because the possibilities are too awful to contemplate.

For some it is a race thing, but not all.

For many it is a political party thing. Some people would never ever vote for a Democrat.

Not because they have some noble or legitimate claim not to trust him. They started this shit way back in 2007 when he had the nerve to announce his candidacy.

I mean it makes no sense to me. The repukes have shown themselves over and over and over and over again how devious, draconian, sleazy, stop-at-nothing, flip-off-the-Constitution, bigoted, lying, thieves they really are.

Yet they don't trust Obama?? This is bizarre and utterly nonsensical.

They must be insane.

of black people as non human or aliens or something. They also have a problem with Chicago they think of him as a ganster ie,chicago politics their favorite line..

It's such a tragedy that they have incited (indeed, encouraged) so many susceptible and ignorant people to hate.
Frightening.

of hatred hidden under the carpet, so to say. Having a black guy in the White House has pulled the carpet back, and now all the world is seeing how much hatred and bigotry there is in the US.

In many ways it reminds me of all of the hatred and bigotry we have always had in this country toward minorities. And now radio/tv/religion profit greatly from all of the hatred. America is really a hateful place to many if one digs around the edges some.

and there were people from ALL OVER the world on that campus. As far as I can recall, we all mixed together-- there was no finger-pointing or hate looks. I do remember, come to think of it, being in Sacramento one day. I was walking down the street with a female friend who happened to be black. And the angry LOOKS we got from people were amazing. I was absolutely blown away!! I felt like shouting to them, "WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?" when, of course, their problem was good ol' racism. Whites shouldn't consort with blacks. That was a real eye-opener to me. But such things rarely happened in the town I lived.

of bigotry and racism where I was, particularly on campus, but when I traveled to other parts of the country and to small towns I was amazed. I think it's all over the country.

"I want my cunt-ry back"

You're using a gender slur to convey disgust with

a racist thing?. It's offensive, not to mention

more a tad clueless.

so me and the women on DU would like you to "stifle" that repressed

Repuke when you talk about us, okay?

As for being willing to "stifle" my "inability to recognize racism"...Good try, bro

but unless you can actually EXPLAIN how being someone's "bitch"

is "racist", I think I'll continue as before.

Yes like most here, I'm aware the Repukes are both

racist and sexist, but, in themselves, sexism and racism are still not synonymous.

That would be like saying Republicans are greedy, so "being someone's bitch"

must be "greedy" too...I think you can see it doesn't make much sense.


That being said, I do appreciate the deletion.

isn't that a good reason not to indulge in either,

instead of decrying the first and expressing the latter?

If you can, you might want to explain the difference,

but until that unlikely time, I'll just say it's good that the post is gone.

Indulging "in secret"?...Well, those people probably "indulge" in secret racism

too, so they probably don't merit much thought

YOU do, so I will "leave it at that"

become a minority in this country will expect to be treated as nicely as they have treated others in this country starting with native Indians.

Personal hatred is the preferred vector of right-wing political propaganda.

nearly 10 million more vote for "that guy" then get off my lawn.

I know my hatred of Bush definitely increased when a second term for him started becoming more likely rather than less.

But since you don't mention which rhetoric, I don't have the ability to really determine if anyone is rhetorically hating him. Are you discussing comments on DU or Sunday morning shows? What?

if the worse you called Bush was a war criminal, then you were way kinder than I was, and I started the day he won the Repub Primary in 2000

they perpetuate the same old lies they hear on FOX, Drudge, etal.
Only this president has been called a "dick" by a Time magazine writer on the tube.

didn't win the election..

Now try to think of an example that has not been used, probably right here on DU against Romney or Bush.

Hate and ugly rhetoric are par for the course in American politics. The internet, especially allows it to be spread. Especially since one of the favorite games of each side is to search it out and expose it. If something hateful gets posted on FR, then it will likely be found and cross posted on DU or DKos as an example of "look how hateful (and evil) the other side is" and presumably the same thing happens to hateful stuff on DU. It gets cross posted on FR so they can say "look how hateful (and evil) the other side is".

One of the other bad aspects of the hate is that haters will usually be cheered on by many others. Just way another couple weeks and the "this senior citizen really tells it like it is" hateful rant will once again make the greatest page on DU. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1057937

You mean that a sitting U.S. Congressman actually DID yell out "You lie!" in the middle of a State of Union speech that Clinton or Bush or every other President before them gave? Really?

You mean that a sitting U.S. Congressman actually called Bush or Romney a "Tar Baby"? Really?

and would a sitting US Congressman actually call the President a liar?

Perhaps not in so many words. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_McDermott

"In the fall of 2002, McDermott and fellow Representatives David Bonior of Michigan, Nick Rahall of West Virginia and Mike Thompson of California visited Iraq; in Baghdad they met with members of parliament and the Iraqi Foreign Minister, and in Basra they met with residents who talked about the effect on them of the Iraq sanctions. American conservatives sharply criticised McDermott for this trip, and for his predictions that President George W. Bush would "mislead the American public" to justify military action and that no WMD would be found in Iraq.[8]"

"You lie" is not really the height of ugly, hateful rhetoric. And if somebody had shouted that at a Bush SOTU, I probably would have cheered.

Somebody did throw a couple of shoes at him, and our main complaint was that Bush was too darned good at ducking.

But presumably some of the hateful rhetoric is not coming from Congresspeople.

and in this age of mass media, that rhetoric gets amplified around the world. Whatever the hell the populace says is irrelevant. Elected officials on the other hand, usually have a code of conduct like Congress and have the power of legislation, which puts them a level above John Q. Public.

The "both sides do it" argument is truly asinine, particularly when decorum by elected officials has been jettisoned.

Someone in Iraq (wasn't it Iraq?) throws a shoe at Bush. A Congressman yells "You lie" at the President during an address to a joint session of Congress.

Yes, perfectly equal events, a very fair and honest comparison.

No wait, I meant to say "fair and balanced".

Thanks for playing, you play the game rather poorly I'm sorry to say.

Julie

following a red herring

because what I originally said was "you will see the same level of hate ON DU".

Of course, that has been amply proven for me since some racist posted

"Fuck Michelle Obama, and the horse she rode in on"

and it's being KNRed all over the place with nary an objections, except for mock concern about the horse.

A fair and balanced comparison, because if we saw such a thread about my belle, that would be irrefutable evidence of their racism and lack of class or decency.

As for the shoe, my point was that we cheered the shoe thrower and would have cheered even louder if the SOB had been hit by the shoe. After I got done protesting Bush's visit to Manhattan, I complained on DU that our Democratic Governor was inside saying what an honor it was to have the piece of excrement visit our state.

One of the things we usually bash Democrats for is - "failure to fight the other party like the working class matters". We'd love to see more passion, and hate, from our side. It would match our own.

I don't want to see the crap that comes from the GOP to be what the Dems become. Never.

Sure, be aggressive but there is no need to stoop to their level.

Julie

aimed at Obama, and there are no equivalents aimed at Bush or Romney. racist america has awakened and reared its ugly, empty head towards the Obamas because of their skin color.

and yet you cite no examples.

Is anyone, for example, selling a DVD that details all the people Obama has murdered? See, for example, the Clinton Chronicles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Falwell#The_Clinton_Chronicles

Here's Politico talking about how Harry Reid said Bush had "betrayed the country" Okay, maybe not. My computer sorta seized up on my downloading some ad for Frontline plus and I never got the link. But "betraying the country" is a pretty strong attack is it not?

and bush did betray the country. you must live in a self-imposed bubble if you've missed all the racist bullshit about the obamas on the 'net.

It did get noticeably worse when that horrible BLACK man dirtied up the WHITE House with his presence, however.

Living in California and not watching MSM, I was not aware of any stark hatred for Obama. I knew there were bigots, of course, but never have I seen anything like this. From my perspective, people loved him and not just here-- as I recall, he blew everyone away in Germany as well.

And Barack Obama didn't get Osama bin Laden?

And who's worshipping here? Are you saying you would worship someone who lived within your definition of Universal Law?

And what's this "his behavior" you mention?

Did you really vote for him before?

which kill civilians. He shouldn't have killed OSB (well, that is a steaming pile of bovine excrement anyhow. Was there a phonier pic than that Situation Room one?), and Ghadaffi's assasaination was so wrong. But who better to order it than a man of African descent? It takes the sting out of it, doncha know. If Dubya had done it, you'd be frothing at the mouth.

I think the better question is to ask why O'Bomba's allowed to get away with shit that Dubya, Daddy Dubya, Ronnie Raygun would have been reamed up the poop chute for.

all about bigotry and racism. Also, hate radio/tv/religion feeds the hatred in this country 7x24. It's horrible, and the reputation of the US across the world sinks lower and lower with all of this hatred.

There are more reasons: he's doing a great job, despite all the roadblocks that have been thrown his way. He's also kind, personable, extremely bright, honest, sincere, and humble--also fiery and passionate. And he loves our country. But he never, ever stoops to their sickening level. He wouldn't know how, even if he wanted to. It's deeply painful to realize there is so much racism and stark hatred in our country. I naively thought that was mostly behind us. I still have to believe that the majority of Americans are good, decent people who disapprove of these toxic, insane charlatans who consider the cornerstone, "All men are created equal" as meaningless tripe.

stunned at all of the hatred toward many minorities in this country.

These people weren't born racist-- obviously it was indoctrinated into them from Day One sickening as that is. And many of them claim to be "Christian." Yeah, right.

in Christian values. It's learned behavior, and sadly there is no shortage of ones wanting to indoctrinate others into bigotry and racism.

They have no place in today's world.

just go by other names, still same stuff.

The fact that he actually DID get elected means that we HAVE come a long way. I don't have a link to actual statistics but in the past, in general, a black candidate could get maybe 20% -30% max of the white vote. The key breakthrough was Deval Patrick in 2006, who managed to get > 50% of the white vote statewide in MA... and of course Barack Obama in 2008, who got some 43% of the white vote - nationally.

This is truly extraordinary.

It will basically take more time and more generations to see that what some may perceive as "the other", really isn't that different from everyone else. Case in point is for those who travel abroad, one often finds that no matter what race, color, creed, denomination, orientation - "Americans" who stumble upon each other tend to gravitate to each other and stick together because of a certain commonality established in the U.S. vs wherever they may be outside of the U.S. It's remarkable.

Well-put. I needed to hear that. There has been progress made, though I wish it didn't take so darn long.

I can't say I buy the assertion that the repukes didn't think Obama would win. I was surprised he won, not because he didn't deserve to but because I thought the repukes would have rigged the election, "just in case."

Obama will go down in history, not only because he is our first black President, but because he is an exceptional human being who has fought against extraordinary odds-- and won!!

the issue of racism, don't just write off the charge. (I'm speaking in general.) This has happened many times here on DU when something that is either implicitly or explicitly racist is written off as people "being too sensitive" or denying that racism exists.

Actually, as a person of color, I was shocked by the amount of latent racism that came to the surface during the 2008 primaries. The hate didn't just come from Republicans or the right. There was extreme hatred from Democrats themselves. And as long as we continue to wrongly believe that we live in a post-racial society, we will never see TRUE progress.

The good news is that the bigots are getting older and will eventually die off. Our responsibility is not to pass the hatred down to future generations. The young people will show us the way; they are much smarter than we or our parents are.

american racism is on display for those who choose to see it.

The difference was made up by the rest of the populace.

Interesting stats -

Thanks for the info--that clears things up a bit. All I can remember election night are the huge HUGE crowds cheering his victory. I don't recall anything like that in my whole life. It was electrifying!! So that may be why I find it so difficult to reconcile that pure excitement and adulation with the ugly word "hate."
I feel deeply ashamed and saddened that the President has to endure these horrid attacks and hope he realizes most of us (not all, I know) are truly grateful for all he's done.

if I recall correctly. I expect similar also with JFK. I think some of the adulation was because all of those men were very affable and even a bit "flirtatious" with crowds - in a genuine sense vs Bush, Jr., who was sortof goofy and I won't even mention how people think of Romney. Also the fact that they were "youngish" (JFK was 43 and Clinton/Obama were 46/47 when elected) and that seems to enhance the excitement as they appealed across a broad demographic. And similarly, as has been noted in the thread, Clinton had endured some vicious attacks and sadly, JFK paid an ultimate price for his ascendancy to the President.

But with the proliferation of 24/7 media, including the post-Clinton internet, the vileness has been amplified many times over with blogs, twitter, facebook, youtube, and other social media, in addition to what is left of the traditional brick and mortar media, and much of the criticism lacks objectivity by including an overlay of racism. So sad.

You are quite perceptive and articulate and I appreciate your taking the time to explain things I might have missed. With JFK, my family was out of the country, so we weren't really familiar with him. We were back by the time he was murdered and it was clear most people (ourselves included) were devastated--and not just in our country. Successive presidents left me pretty cold until Clinton was elected. So JFK, Clinton, and Obama have what you mentioned, plus that rare ability to really connect with people. Perfect? Of course not. But I have found that my quality of life has always been better when a Dem is in the White House. And I DON'T think it's coincidental!

But as others have noted upthread, it broke some of these racists' brains for real to see that he could, and then DID, actually win.

-Being president while Black, and also well-educated.
-The fact that he is a Democrat.
-Conservative media spreading myths about him, such as him being racist against Whites and wanting to punish success.
-Conservative media lying that he has not accomplished anything since taking office, and that he likes to play the "blame game."
-His popularity outside of the U.S.

The venom out of the Ron Paul and conspiracy (alex jones, et.al) crowd has been unreal.

Republicans believe they have a God-given right to the Presidency. I really don't think they believe in representative democracy. They do not embrace the idea that people don't share the same views or even visions for the nation. They believe if anyone doesn't share their vision, as Bush said, "either you are with us or you are against us".

I was a bit too young to appreciate the hatred they had for Carter but felt it with Clinton. They looked for every possible reason to oppose and go after him. While Clinton did himself no favor with his Lewinsky affair, including his hair splitting statement that he "did not have sexual relations with that woman", his actions would hardly arise to a high crime or misdemeanor.

The rhetoric really picked up in 2008. They realized their team had fucked up royally, bringing our nation to its knees. But they saw a silver lining - this guy is BLACK. We can attempt to defeat him simply because he is black. I have no doubt that Senator McConnell's view of the President is not related to his policies but due to his race. He is clearly a racist and speaks in racial overtones.

The best thing for this nation will be to re-elect Obama. Unfortunately while one might hope that that would mean an end to obstructionism because he cannot run again, that will not be the case. They will continue to obstruct any of his policies even if that means destroying the country.

The Republicans hate this country. They love power and money. That is their GOD. They talk about "God" but we know who their real god it - money and power. It nourishes them. It sustains them. It will be their ultimate demise but it is their God.

That pretty much sums it up. Lots of projection going on, too. Dumbya was stupid and incompetent, so they claim Obama is stupid and incompetent. And, notice how they ignored the mandate of the people who elected President Obama, yet insist that they have some sort of huge mandate because they took control House. Somehow, there's only a "mandate" when they win, and screw the voters whenever they chose otherwise. "The Republicans hate this country", indeed.

You hear it time and time again in documentaries about the Tea Party. Some suburban housewife who never voted before woke up one morning to discover there was a black man in the White House and they freaked out. Then they discovered Glenn Beck and learned from his blackboard that Obama didn't really win after all. It was a combination of fake votes from ACORN and blocking white people from voting with thugs standing out in front of the polling place. Then there were all the connections,....Beck obviously knew what he was talking about....

Glued to FOX "News" they got angrier and angrier and joined the Tea Party promoted by the "news" to express their outrage.

Kill him?!? All the racist innuendos?

Where were you, my friend?

But that kind of crap was so ludicrous and laughable, I couldn't take it seriously (and neither did most sane people). And it wasn't some overwhelming wave of hatred as we see now. At least, not from my perch. As I said, I listened to MSNBC and ignored the MSM and hung out with people who are also Dems, and there are many of them where I live.

It's since he's been elected-- this last year especially-- that I've heard words like "hate." It's appalling.

Ah, the memories...

They hated Bill Clinton because he was a Democrat. Obama is both a Democrat and visibly black, so add a pound of racism.

White guys used to own and run virtually everything, as if they were Gods...

(Less prejudiced) youth vote.
Historic precedent of electing the "first black President."
John McCain was well known and fairly moderate so he didn't stir up rabid hatred and even discouraged it at times.
The Tea Party got started soon after Obama was elected and that DID get the rabid hatred stirred up.

the GOP congress has 8% approval ratings, and everyone hates their nominee. The GOP just doesnt have anything positive to motivate people with. But hatred of Obama, like hatred of Clinton did, can motivate people.

And he won.

That's the difference between 2008 and now.

Pssst...the Civil War never ended.

Fact.

...and I proudly caucused for him and gave a speech at our caucus about how promising Obama would be for the country. Newsweek even reported on our caucus and mentioned my speech. I have to say that I am greatly disappointed in Obama. I am mostly disappointed that corporations continue to have enormous
power in our government--and I don't believe that Obama has done enough to break the corporate power/political corruption cycle from hell.

I don't believe we have a democracy. I think Obama should have tried harder to do the things he said that he would do--like reinstate Habeas Corpus, close Guantanamo and return power to the people and kick out the corporate squatters who want to use our government as their personal profit-enriching playground.

I don't hate Obama. It's not personal. I'm greatly disappointed that his Presidency couldn't seem to break the sickness that has infiltrated OUR government.

I believe Obama is a decent man; a good man. I also believe that the corporate corruption and the politicians who are cemented to their corporate slave masters--are bigger than the Presidency and bigger than one politician. I believe that these influences have been gaining power for decades and breaking their little games will take more than a generation. I know it's not all Obama's fault, but I'd just like to see some progress in restoring our democracy.

I'm not an Obama hater. I hope that disagreeing with what is happening in this country--does not automatically categorize one as an "Obama hater." I listen to right-wing talk radio and I hear those haters. They are blind with white-hot rage based on disinformation. It hurts to listen to it. Glenn Beck, Hannity and Limbaugh do so much to hurt this country--with their lies and riot-inciting idiocy. If those
are the "Obama haters" to whom you are referring--I agree. The hatred is manufactured by talk radio and is reinforced. Listeners are told how smart and "in the know" they are, if they hate Obama and liberals.

I certainly don't identify with those talk-show lemmings, but I was definitely hoping for more meaningful change out of Obama's presidency. I sure as hell won't vote for Romney. I am hoping that Obama will be more bold in a second term and that he (together with the american people) can make meaningful change that dissolves the unholy alliance between the corporations and our democracy.

the true power brokers are in this country. Perhaps he convinced even himself that he could truly change things, as in restore a genuine democracy, as you say.

I think instead of changing the system to favor the people, he's instead using the system to help the people... not the true change this country needs, but still better than the alternative. I agree, any true progress could take an entire generation.

up to his inauguration along with Hank Paulson on every media
outlet predicting the end of the world unless the banks were bailed
out was the beginning of the slide. The repukes propaganda
machine and the media made it all about Obama and gave Bush et.al
a huge pass. No president, could have fixed this mess in the time
Obama has had given the complexity of today's global financial
system. People expecting a "New Deal" were foolish or naive.