I think Obama was not as strong as he should have been in

[Akamai]

Calling out the Republfors for being the evil villains they are.

Any thoughts about this?

[bravenak]

1. I think leftists were not anywhere near strong in their defence of Obama

They never had his back and should try to stfu about how much they hate dems, and next time defend democratic presidents. Had they defended Obama then, we would not have the sherbert Hitler now. Constantly 'holding his feet to the fire' caused the republicans to use their words against all democrats.
Even now they blame him instead of taking their own damn inventory.

[Historic NY]

11. Exactly...they got all in a twist when he said they could lose the house...

guess what they did. The professional left part of the whine division. They attacked and openly revolted. How's that working now, they lost the house and the Senate and now the Presidency....and soon the supreme court.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/gibbs-democrats-could-lose-house/

[orleans]

12. blaming "leftists" for trump? are you fucking kidding me?

[JustAnotherGen]

14. Blaming Obama for Donald?

I'm thinking what you are thinking.

[BainsBane]

24. Kremlin propaganda targeted the left

Dating back to 2015, in order to weaken Clinton's chances. And we Are still seeing that propaganda repeated every day. It was the Kremlin that planted the ida that the DNC stole the primary for a Hillary, and that led to millions of third party votes.

[JustAnotherGen]

30. Yep - The Purists Got Played

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I'm inclined to agree with you.

He wanted to reach out, to get to some level of bipartisanship.

But the R's didn't want that from him. They wanted to level him, to crush him and his programs.

Calling them out might have made a difference, but I'm sure he didn't want to be seen as the Angry Black Man.

[bravenak]

3. This

The second he showed a bit of emotion the news would have done the 'angry black man' thingy nonstop

[uponit7771]

7. +1

[moondust]

4. He probably knew

there would be a racist backlash to his Presidency and he didn't want to make it any worse by being too radical or partisan. I don't blame him for trying to govern in a bipartisan fashion as good government should be. I blame the greedy bigots that hated and opposed his very existence and continue using every dirty trick they can dream up to undermine democracy.

[LuvLoogie]

9. I think he saw his opposition as American citizens. He is an optimist.

But I don't know if he accounted enough for the seething evil and greed lurking, creating and seeking opportunity to dominate. Perhaps he did not recognize the sociopaths in our midst and in the halls of power. He did not believe that they would sell out the nation to gain power, and that is what they did.

Not enough people had his back, not enough people paid attention. But he did leave much of his powder dry, left too many opposition players in place and let Breitbart and O'Keefe besmirch ACORN and others without much objection.

He did not need to become angry, but with ridicule juxtapose the moral superiority of their rhetoric with the moral depravity of their actions.

I am not angry or frustrated or disappointed in the President. He is a great man, and he kept his family well. We need to do more.

[Hoyt]

5. He's damn strong to do what he did in a country where white wing racists just elected Trump.

Christ, 60 million racists just voted in Trump, and Obama stood up to them for 8 years. Only MLK, and those that stood with him or otherwise fought for true civil rights,, are in the same esteemed category. He and his family put their lives on the line every day, and it will be like that forever. That's strong.

[SHRED]

6. Thanks

Agreed.

[Cha]

8. Mahalo, Hoyt... Excellent point!

[JustAnotherGen]

15. Amen!

[Dream Girl]

38. Exactly. It's the easiest thing in the world to criticize. He was extraordinary.

To the poster, what would you have done? It must all seem so easy on the outside looking in. I think he knew the score within a few months of entering office. He did everything he could.

[sheshe2]

44. Thank you Hoyt.

[Hekate]

10. I think Leftists could have had his back for 8 years instead of attacking him at every turn....

....for not being perfect in the face of continual lies and worse from the GOP and the scum of the Far Right.

Thank you for asking.

[blue cat]

19. I have his back.

But he was too nice and trusting when he kept Comey. Otherwise this leftist loves the hell out of this man forever.

[BainsBane]

21. You prefer an FBI director

Chosen by Trump?

[blue cat]

26. Well no

I didn't think about that. Never mind.

[treestar]

37. I agree, that is what the right does

and they get more of what they want that way. People have to support Democrats, not always cut them down for not being pure enough. Nobody is going to agree with me about everything all the time. We have to work together to get a lot of what we want rather than forever complaining about not getting every single thing.

And we have to pay attention to the people in lower offices - write them, show up at their events, etc. The reason the Democrats elected to offices are so "spineless" is they see we do not support them if they are less than perfect, whereas the Republicans in office have total chutzpah because they knew their supporters have their back no matter what they do.

[blue neen]

13. Thoughts?

That maybe you have a laser focus on this subject:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028457058

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12512680069

[betsuni]

16. Ha! Yes, no surprise there.

Not fooling anyone.

[JustAnotherGen]

17. Interesting

[Cha]

22. That second link says it all..

Thank you!

[blue cat]

18. Hell to the yes

Case in point: Comey. Nuff said.

[BainsBane]

20. No, I don't agree

And that you expect the president to denounce half the country as evil is horrifying. The president's job is not to express your hatred for your fellow citizens. Obama is a decent man who understands his role is to be president of all Americans.

That you look at our current political situation and decide it isn't divisive and venomous enough to suit you, and that some here agree, reflects very badly on our future as a country.

I also think you don't have the first idea of what constitutes strength. If strength is name calling and vitriol, Trump fills the bill.

[Cha]

23. Right, B.. just because trump does it. Well Done!

[sheshe2]

45. Excellent post Bains.

[jalan48]

25. Appointing Republican Comey as head of the FBI after years of Republican obstruction was a bad idea.

That single decision probably cost Clinton the Presidency and was totally within his control.

[randr]

27. He spoke softly

Last edited Mon Jan 16, 2017, 10:21 AM - Edit history (1)

Yet, did not carry a big stick.
Please excuse typo before edit

[sinkingfeeling]

29. Really? Obama was a president for all and understood the

protocols and dignity of the office, not a WWF member.

[TomCADem]

31. Perhaps He Should Have Been More Trump-Like...

...in attacking folks? Perhaps target folks individually?

[Akamai]

34. No -- but I do think he should have labeled the Republicans for the menace they are.

[Blue_Warrior]

32. Obama was a great president.

He will go down in history as the best in most of our lifetimes. He was better than either Bernie or Hillary could have been, and far far far far better than any of his republican challengers could have been.

Please stop dissing on President Obama.

[Akamai]

33. This was from the 60 Minutes show last night:

From http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-public-opinion_us_587bd478e4b09281d0eb7453?zpw8kqu5x9q55ewmi

*************

"President Barack Obama has long said that perhaps the biggest and most unexpected obstacle of his presidency was the partisan gridlock and obstructionism imposed by Republicans in Congress.

"But in his final network television interview that aired Sunday on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Obama was candid about his own shortcomings, acknowledging that while he was effective at campaigning, he was not always a good messenger for his policies.

"“This is on me. Part of the job description is also shaping public opinion. And we were very effective, and I was very effective, in shaping public opinion around my campaigns,” he said. “But there were big stretches, while governing, where even though we were doing the right thing, we weren’t able to mobilize public opinion firmly enough behind us to weaken the resolve of the Republicans to stop opposing us or to cooperate with us. And there were times during my presidency where I lost the PR battle.”"

[Coventina]

35. He was trying to take the high road, and the long view. I can't fault him for that.

As others have said, he wasn't DEFENDED adequately.

[yardwork]

36. Maybe more Democrats should have voted for Democrats. /nt

[Tatiana]

39. That's his character. I love him, but it definitely has its downside.

I think he's an idealist at heart. He didn't want to accept that the Republicans refused to work with him simply because of his race. He bent over backwards trying to come up with ways to change his policies to make Republicans happy (see the ACA), only to have them reject his ideas anyway.

The moment he found out about Russian interference in the election, he should have worked with his team to get the word out to the public. He should have given Traitor McConnell the finger if he did not want to participate in a joint effort to push back against Russian interference. I feel as though Hillary was blindsided by issues that Obama had the power to influence (such as his appointment of Comey).

I wish he would have been a more partisan President. I really didn't vote for a post-partisan President. I voted for a Democrat. The only thing Republicans respond to is power. That is why they are a hot mess over John Lewis saying he won't attend the inauguration. They met someone they couldn't bully.

[Akamai]

43. I sure agree with you on this. I didn't vote for him twice so he could compromise with the

evil Republicans ("evil is as evil does&quot .

Yes about what you wrote:

"The moment he found out about Russian interference in the election, he should have worked with his team to get the word out to the public. He should have given Traitor McConnell the finger if he did not want to participate in a joint effort to push back against Russian interference. I feel as though Hillary was blindsided by issues that Obama had the power to influence (such as his appointment of Comey).

"I wish he would have been a more partisan President. I really didn't vote for a post-partisan President. I voted for a Democrat. The only thing Republicans respond to is power...."

[JHan]

40. Disagree, incivility is the problem in our politics and Obama was the antithesis of that.

There were times I felt he could have been more aggressive policy wise but his tone and manner was always correct. There were only a few instances where I was disappointed in that area.

[dalton99a]

41. Perhaps he'll speak out more often - and more directly - after Friday's formalities

especially concerning Obamacare. But I have doubts.

[Akamai]

42. I think a little more channeling of the "Ragin' Cajun", James Carville, might have been useful.

If Obama could not have said the following, then I wish some of his spokespeople could have done so:

"We're Still Right and They're Still Wrong" by Carville.

This is from the Amazon site describing that book: https://www.amazon.com/Were-Still-Right-Theyre-Wrong/dp/0399576223/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484583762&sr=8-1&keywords=james+carville+still+right

“"He straddled the punch bowl, dropped his pants, and whipped out his member, which, he assured everyone, was very large. Then Donald Trump pissed right into the punch of the Republican Party.”

"So begins We’re Still Right, They’re Still Wrong– with that image of Donald Trump defiling the celebration that should’ve been the GOP Establishment’s easy march to the White House.

"In We’re Still Right, They’re Still Wrong, Carville updates his #1 New York Times bestseller from 1996, the campaign tract that Bill Clinton once credited for his re-election. Carville skewers the GOP’s dumpster fire of a record over the past twenty years, and argues that Trump is the living manifestation of a failed party. From income inequality to race relations, Carville believes that Democratic Party is not only the dominant party of the past, but of America’s future, too – and he makes the case in his uncensored and earthy style.

"Among other things, We’re Still Right, They’re Still Wrong features a hot take on the Clinton e-mail “scandal,” a story about Carville’s momma’ schooling a pair of crawfish mongers, a lecture on political panics called “The Anatomy of Bullshit,” and a recipe for how to grill your (non-existent) Trump Steak.

"And wit and sharp tongue aside, Carville turns it all into the most cogent and thoughtful analysis of the 2016 and how the Democrats can—and must—be victorious."