Is the country better or worse off now than you thought it would be...?

[kentuck]

..When Barack Obama took office in January 2009?

Is the economy doing worse now than you thought it would do? Did you think there would be more jobs?

Or do you believe that the President is only one man going up against an army of special interests and that, under the circumstances, has done an excellent job?

Do you think John McCain and Sarah Palin would have done a better job?

How do we judge a President on such a relative scale? We are not doing great but it could have been a disaster? Is there another way to judge the job this President has done?

It is rather easy to judge from an ideal and say we should have done this or we should have done that but was the ideal realistic?

How do you judge this President??

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Depends on my criteria

Re. the Economy and Progressive Reform: Not where I want it but I also understand how the House and the Senate have made it their mission to prevent any presidential initiative from becoming law.

Re. Healthcare Reform. I appreciate the effort though it isn't Single Payor. I'm not enamoured by the mandatory stipend but I understand it and accept it.

Re. The Attorney General and the Judiciary. He chose well with Soto-Mayer but not so much with Kagan. For one thing, she has to recuse herself for several cases because of her involvement with them as Solicitor General. Next, Eric Holder and the Solicitor General (Kagan and her successor) advocated for the conviction of Governor Don Siegelman to be confirmed by the appellate courts and later, to be denied certoriari by the Supreme Court. I could understand this if this were still the * Administration. But Obama???? I don't understand.

[MrTriumph]

2. Worse. Accountability is dead.

In 2009 & 2010 our Democratic leaders had the opportunity to investigate and, when appropriate, prosecute crimes comitted during the previous 8 years. Instead, they chose to "look forward". The US squandered more blood & treasure in foreign wars where our initial goals were already realized. Our leadership failed.

The result of no accountabilty, prolonged wars and other significant missteps brought on the dismal election results of 2010.

[JoePhilly]

3. I take a multi faceted approach.

Imagine a bar chart.

The Y axis starts at zero and as it rises, that means "better".

The X axis is a list of factors. The first factor being the most important ... each successive factor reducing in importance.

For me, the first item on the x-axis is job security. Back in Jan 2009, everyone I know, and I mean everyone, was afraid that their job might evaporate any second. That is simply not the case today. Today, yes, there are still concerns, but the level of uncertainty is reduced significantly from Jan 2009.

Next, my 401k. I've been managing it for the last 20 years. And while I protected myself some prior to the collapse, my net worth for retirement dropped in the collapse. Its more than recovered.

Next, friends and family. During the collapse, my sister in law lost her (bad) job. She just got a new job that she loves. My sister had to ask me for a few thousand dollars during the collapse. I gave it to her (not a loan, never loan friends or family money, give to to them). Recently, she sent me a check to "give it back" because she no longer needs it. Another friend who wanted to quit his old job but could not, took a new job. Bottom line, the lives of those around me are getting better.

Overall UE. At the bottom of the collapse, it hit about 10.2%. Its now 8.2% in less then 3 years. Which Republican would have done better?

US Auto industry. Obama saved it.

Health care ... my niece who had cancer at 2, and who could only get basic coverage for illness and sports injuries due to that pre-existing condition, is now covered. Her brother, can stay on his parents HC.

Then Foreign policy. Ended Iraq. OBL dead. Effective management of multiple ME dictator removals.

[quinnox]

4. worse off

I thought Obama and the Democrats would do a lot better, and get a hell of a lot more done in terms of progressive policies and accomplishments. The economy has been bad for a long time now, and as the president, Obama has to take responsibility. I know, I know, the GOP hasn't done crap and has opposed stuff at every turn, but that is the way the cookie crumbles, when you are the President of the United States you will get all the blame from most of the people in these matters.

I'm afraid that Obama's vulnerability is of his own making, but because Romney is such a bad candidate, he still has a good chance of winning another term.

[villager]

5. A lot worse off

...than I thought it would be.

or that I thought I would be...!

[woo me with science]

6. Much, much worse. nt

[just1voice]

7. Much worse but not for any of the reasons stated

We should have let our criminal banks fail, we'd all be looking at much lower interest rates, lower gas prices, lower education costs, lower health care costs, much less propaganda and a much better economy built on real supply and demand -- assuming regulations were enforced instead of some BS Dodd-Frank Act.

Then there's universal health care, something 75% of Americans want.

Then there's the war criminals we let go without a trial, so now anyone who thinks the worst criminals the U.S. has ever seen should be held accountable is minimized as some radical progressive.

Oh well, we're told to go vote for the lesser of 2 evils as if that's a choice between anything but evil. Regardless of Obama or any repuke candidates, the U.S. needs a democratic president that won't sell out to any big bank that comes along.

[CJCRANE]

8. I was expecting the Trillion Dollar "Big Bang" stimulus

that was mentioned during the transition...but the Repubs watered it down.

But we knew we were in uncharted territory and things could get worse before they got better so I'm not that surprised by the ups and downs of the economy.

Plus a lot of DUers warned that there was still another shoe to drop in the financial crisis because there were still a lot of toxic debts out there...
and now that shoe is finally dropping in Europe.

So, overall I think things turned out okay relatively speaking, but there are still plenty more bumps in the road ahead.

[DCKit]

9. You lost me at McCain/Palin. Bwahahahahahahahahahahahaha!1!111!11!!!!!

[kentuck]

10. I must admit, I am a little surprised by some of the responses...

Under the circumstances, could he have gotten more in healthcare reform? Could he have broken up the banks or have let them go under? Would his own Party have broken from him if he had tried? I truly don't know but I believe Democrats' expectations were much higher than the realistic chances for reform. Just my opinion.

[SlimJimmy]

17. Part of it is we were told by the President and his team that he would have it fixed by now.

I think a lot of us were expecting that to happen. It didn't, and now it looks like it will a damn long time before we see a significant turn around.

[kentuck]

19. I don't recall anyone saying it would be "fixed" by now...

Although Christine Romer, an economic adviser, did predict that the stimulus would keep the unemployment rate below 8%. It went above that number almost by the time she finished her sentence...

[CJCRANE]

20. Economists also said a second stimulus would be needed

but it never happened because the Repubs took over the House in 2010 and put the brakes on.

[SlimJimmy]

41. One example: The President said that he would cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term.

[girl gone mad]

28. Start with TARP.

That was really the beginning of the end, imo.

Remember that the vote initially failed. The public was overwhelmingly opposed to Paulson's scheme. Democrats voted against it. People wanted to see justice and they wanted the banks to pay a price. I have no doubt that the public would have supported pre-privatization and a break up of the casino, so long as justice was served. I believe that Obama always had a choice, just like FDR did.

[Capn Sunshine]

33. What could Obama have done before the election in 2008?

TARP was signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush on October 3, 2008.

How does this have anything to do with a choice by Obama?

[kentuck]

35. A lot of the polls showed McCain ahead until the crash and TARP bailout...

During this timeframe, Barack Obama looked more presidential and in charge than did McCain, who stopped his campaign to rush back to Washington, while the debate was going on...

[girl gone mad]

40. Obama famously whipped for TARP.

It would not have passed without his direct involvement, including personal phone calls late into the night.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2009/12/08/obama_supporting_tarp_in_2008_step_up_and_do_whats_right.html

[lunatica]

11. I thought we would be going strongly in the right direction by now

I never anticipated the fucking screeching brakes would be applied so thoroughly by the Republicans.

I really thought we would be making major inroads into alternate and renewable energy sources at the very least. And it took me by surprise to see the teabaggers get their hooks so thoroughly into our political lives.

It certainly never occurred to me that women would be fighting for their civil rights all over gain.

Our government structure is meant to work through co-operation of the different branches as well as checks and balances. Without co-operation nothing gets done. The President and Congress need to work together. And now the Republicans in Congress basically sits on their hands no matter what the issue is. All just to get rid of Obama. And that's disgusting because it's hurting the world, not just the US.

[Capn Sunshine]

34. I never thought the Republicans would choose politics over helping Americans

no one did.

It's still mind boggling that they did, and are doing this. Screwing Americans to try to defeat the President.

Truly the members of Obama's administration did not believe this would be possible. That any public servant would be so crass.

In that, they failed to account for just how evil these guys are, and this is a source of much of our problems.

[Puzzledtraveller]

12. Don't know the difference

I have been struggling since I started working at 16 years old. I will be 40 next year.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

13. Pretty much as I expected. "Change" was a nice slogan, though.

[stevenleser]

14. Much better off than I thought we would be.

1. I thought there was a real chance of the economy collapsing to the point where we have 30-40% unemployment, employers unable to meet payroll, mass starvation, etc. Just having an economy that is relatively stable is a huge deal.

Just that is a significant improvement of where I thought we might be.

[kentuck]

18. I tend to agree ...

I thought the economy was in danger of collapsing. Although I thought many community banks and credit unions were still in solid condition and most of most of the financial problems were with the big banks that were into the credit default swaps. I had no idea they were so ingrained into the economies of every country in Europe and elsewhere, and still are, and will be looking for another bailout any day now.

Although we experienced a lot of unemployment and loss of wealth on Wall Street, many of them were able to get some relief from unemployment payments and the bounceback by Wall St.

I knew it was not a "normal" recession and I believed it would take quite a while longer to recover from it. I thought the Administration was under-selling the seriousness of the crisis but could understand why they did not want to dwell on the negative aspects of the collapse.

However, if most of America thinks similarly to the intelligent folks here on DU, then it would appear the President may be in trouble for re-election?

[On the Road]

15. Responses are Kind of Strange

At the time, there was widespread gloom and doom and predictions of economic catastrophe. Now people seem to be saying it's worse than expected.

Personally, I though the recovery would be a little faster. But overleveraging does take time to work off, and government cost-cutting is not helping.

[stevenleser]

16. I think we are seeing stark evidence of the short memory of most Americans.

People don't remember how bad it was and how real the danger was of something much, MUCH worse.

[deutsey]

21. I think Obama's done some good

About as much good as I thought he would (but he's done nowhere near what I hoped he would).

I think overall, however, that it's a moot point. The wealthy elites in this country that solidified their power under Bush have only gone on to strengthen that power with Obama in office.

Do I think Obama is their puppet like Bush was? I don't go that far, but I do believe these elites have amassed so much power through things like Citizens United and the Bush tax cuts that they've rendered the office of President and the Congress little more than their wholly owned subsidiaries.

[Thegonagle]

22. It's about where I expected. Honestly. Stuff takes years to turn around,

and often gets worse overall as small battles begin to be won, but larger ones rage on.

Progress does not preclude patience.

Plus, the US government is designed to work slowly. The president can only do so much in the first 4 years, especially if he wants to win the next 4.

[AverageJoe90]

23. Things are actually a lot better than I anticipated.....

For now, at least. Though there remains a chance that things could begin to implode again within another year or two......and of course, the Republicraps( ) will blame Obama for something that was actually Bush's(and Wall Street's) fault.

[hrmjustin]

24. Obama can do better, but the presidents enemies will not give him an inch.n/t

[ThomThom]

25. I was hoping it would be better

but McCain/ Palin would be worse I'm sure
How do judge this Pres is a very hard question. History will speak and you must judge for yourself.

[emilyg]

26. Much worse.

[taught_me_patience]

27. Way better off

Considering the depths of hell we were in in 2008... it's an absolute miracle that we didn't enter a multi-decade depression.

[girl gone mad]

30. It isn't a miracle.

We avoided all out depression thanks to the last remaining vestiges of our safety net. When the economy sank, our automatic stabilizers kicked in. The small stimulus and payroll tax cut weren't enough, but they helped. That's it.

[sadbear]

29. In 2008, I didn't think the winner would have a chance of being reelected in 2012

That's how bad I thought it was. So I guess the country is better off if anyone thinks President Obama has a chance in the fall.

[coalition_unwilling]

31. Good Christ, under a President McCrazy we would have easily had 20-25% unemployment, no

question about it. There would have been suffering on a scale not seen since the late 20s and early 30s.

I think my wife and I were both expecting a second 'New Deal,' including universal health care and maybe even real income security. Instead what we got was a tepid 'muddle through and hope things turn out for the best' approach. (I borrowed the 'muddle through' verbiage from Joseph Stiglitz' "Freefall.&quot

I would thus give his first administration a passing grade, sort of a 'gentleman's C'. Obama did enough to get by but not enough to make his presidency extraordinary.

[Egalitarian Thug]

32. Much worse. His actions have not even approximated his rhetoric. n/t

[FarLeftFist]

36. Are you people serious?! We were losing 850,000 jobs a month! There's no magic wand.

Any pragmatic person would realize that it will take longer than even a 2nd Obama term to crawl out of this mess.

[kentuck]

37. Do you think the President realized that?

And could he have done a better job communicating the depth of our challenge?

[Dawson Leery]

38. McCain and the white separatist would have slashed every dollar given to working people

and passed another round of tax cuts for corporations.
Insane McCain may have started a war with Iran (which would send oil prices to $7 a gallon, furthering the crisis)

[NNN0LHI]

39. I survived the Reagan years so this recession was like a little kids game to me

I am dead serious.

Don