Have we held Obama's feet to the fire?

[DerekG]

I understand the logic of voting for the lesser evil, particularly in presidential elections, where the sphere is comprised of nothing less than war and peace. There is something to be said for pulling the lever for the one who refrains from glib jokes about saturation bombings and nuclear Armageddon. A choice such as this could save or destroy the lives of millions. (Of course, in some cases, it turns out the "dove" is lying through his teeth, e.g., LBJ.)

Thing is, the lesser-evil strategy is contingent on the promise of holding the more reality-pliable winner to account. That s/he be persuaded, cajoled, shamed, even threatened into doing the right thing, lest s/he be ousted. (Our two truly great presidents, Lincoln and FDR, found themselves besieged by the abolitionists and socialists/unionists, respectively.) In a functioning democracy, it makes for a fairly healthy relationship. They are, after all, our public SERVANTS.

My question: Through the duration of the Obama presidency, have we made good on our promise?

[Scuba]

1. No.

[daleanime]

2. ........

[JoePhilly]

3. There's been lots of whining since the day he took office, that count?

Lots of failed predictions about how he'd never end DADT, how he'd make all of the Bush tax cuts permanent, how he'd cut/gut/slash Social Security, how he was never going to get us out of Iraq or Afganistan, how he was definitely going to invade and occupy Syria, Libya, Egypt, and Iran.

Any of that count?

[geek tragedy]

4. The GLBTQ community certainly did.

We also don't have Larry Summers as chair of the Fed.

[JaneyVee]

5. He's made good on plenty of promises.

And still has 2 years left. He's accomplished more than any prez of my lifetime so far.

[Cha]

9. "And still has 2 years left. He's accomplished more than any prez of my lifetime so far."

Yes, he has, Janey.. an amazing amount of great accomplishments while bringing us way back from the brink of the bush years, in spite of unprecedented Obstruction from day one.

It's too funny how the cheap pot shots won't recognize anything.. just taking the low road..

[merrily]

6. I never promised to hold his feet to the fire. However, I did try.

I made lots of calls to the WH and sent lots of emails there. Ditto to my Democratic Senators and Rep. If there was a demonstration in or near Boston, I did my best to get there. Physically, I could not camp out for weeks on median on a main road with lots of exhaust, which is where Mayor Menino allowed Occupy Boston to demonstrate, but I contributed to that and other things I could not support with my presence.

Others tried as well.

However, I share the view of those who say actions like that don't change anything significant, at least not anymore. (I don't think it ended the draft, either, but I honestly see no point in re-litigating that in 2015. We have much bigger and still relevant fish to fry.)

If a man makes certain promises and leaves certain impressions, and I donate to his campaign and phone bank and vote for him, holding his feet to the fire should not be my day job or even my hobby, especially if nothing I say or do is going to move the needle anyway.

And we were not offered a primary field in 2012. Hell, if Trumka couldn't hold his feet to the fire, how can I?

So, I am not about to blame "us" for everything.

[uponit7771]

7. 85% of Obama's first term agenda was completed... so yes... I think so

[leftofcool]

8. No, everyone is too busy holding HRC's feet to the fire over a manufactured email outrage.

[Bluenorthwest]

10. LGBT people sure did, as per his request. It was rough going on DU because the group that insists

the are THE Obama supporters favor a constant stream of endorsement for whatever Obama is saying or doing in the moment. This means they were opposed to equality and favored the 'pragmatic compromise' of civil unions when Obama did, and on the day he 'evolved' they all evolved as well, got rainbow avatars and stopped saying 'you people just want a pony' and that sort of thing.
So the Straight Folks saw the required politics to be unsavory, they wanted to cheer for Obama, not assist him by created the social set and setting within which great change could take place. Most of them still don't get it. Most of them will never make use of this President to advance their own political objectives because they are too busy doing their version of being boosters. They will at times claim to care about a specific issue, but they never ever approach the President or the administration with their issues. They wait to be told, but that's just not how it works.
So some of us did, the rest of you yelled at us for it.