Just What Happened to President Obama?

[sonofspy777]

Fired Up! Ready to Go!

Millions thought we had elected a progressive candidate to the presidency.

1) Either you believe that Pres. Obama fully intended to be a populist POTUS.

OR

2) What he said about helping us/working for the disenfranchised during the campaign was mere rhetoric.


If 1) is TRUE, what happened to change his actions/focus? Was it just diminished expectations?
Was it a belief that Republicans would work with him? Why wasn't he more firm when it became
abundantly clear that they would not cooperate under any circumstances? Or was it something else?



If 2) is TRUE, wouldn't that require that we more carefully gauge the veracity of statements
made on the campaign trail by a study of the candidate's previous record, so we would have a
greater assurance that our candidate would follow through on what his/her platform states
is the plan of action to achieve the desired result.

THIS SHOULD BE OUR DEFAULT RESPONSE TO WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR LAST
CANDIDATE...NO MATTER WHAT THE REASON!

[Buzz Clik]

1. ..

[liberal N proud]

17. This ^^^^^^^^^

[sonofspy777]

27. Really?

That's all you got?

-Jon Stewart

[Buzz Clik]

35. Just because you want to reheat this shit over and over....

...doesn't mean everyone does.

[Armstead]

45. On DU everything gets hashed and rehashed

I would think after all these years you would have figured that out.

[Buzz Clik]

52. And that "Oh God, Not This Shit Again" meme has been around the entire time.

[Armstead]

53. Yes that meme gets hashed and rehashed too

[Buzz Clik]

55. It's handy that way

[Armstead]

60. One good meme deserves another I guess

[sabrina 1]

138. What 'shit' are you talking about?

[rjsquirrel]

71. Exactly

Oh so sorry life ain't perfect.

If you have to ask you haven't been involved.

[Broward]

2. To me, it was definitely number two and

we have much less reason to buy into Clinton's occasional progressive rhetoric given her track record.

[840high]

15. yep

[Ferd Berfel]

20. Obama changed his elegance - TPP is selling US out.

Hillary is triangulating

[sonofspy777]

21. Yeperr!

Hillary Clinton the occasional progressive...

[uponit7771]

92. Obama was expected to be an FDR president without an FDR congress...

... that wasn't reality based thinking

[Proserpina]

106. Obama expected to be King (and I don't mean Martin Luther)

Congress, however, worked hard to bust his balloon. And after he threw all his supporters under the bus, the public wasn't willing to support his lukewarm efforts of triangulation.

[uponit7771]

111. How did he throw all his supporters under the bus? This is a direct Sanders meme that isn't supporte

... by concrete facts and one of the reasons I was turned off of Sanders in the first place.

tia

[Proserpina]

112. This was common knowledge from the First Obama term and has nothing to do with Sanders

as he wasn't even thinking of running then.

If you weren't around 8 years ago, how would you know? It was a public scandal on this website.

[uponit7771]

114. Common knowledge is false on its face, I'm not asking this question cause I'm a LIV ... I"m

... not, I'm just asking for facts.

How did Obama throw his supporters under the bus?

tia

[INdemo]

158. Was Obama out of his league?

[uponit7771]

159. Conservatives seem to think so, that's my first hint there's something wrong with that line of...

... logic

Second - like Sanders Moore doesn't mention congress... just minimizes congress's effect; sounds peevish at best

Third - none of these people where anything like they demanded Obama to be... Moore or Sanders, they talk shit from afar but they weren't leading marches, organizing mass registrations in red state areas or recruiting and funding people to run with a message from the left.

They sat and boo'd...

Love them like a play cousin but they TALK a good game

[BlueStateLib]

3. Reality is a bitch

politics isn't make believe

[awake]

4. The POTUS is not a king he has to work with congress

If you look at what he has done with no help from others it is amazing

[narnian60]

18. +1000

[Blanks]

49. This is true...

He has accomplished about as much as I expected he would.

I admire the president's character for how he has stayed positive despite the hateful rhetoric from the right, but the president has less control over the government than a lot of people seem to believe (particularly presidential candidates), and I expect the president learns a lot upon becoming president that changes what they said and believed on the campaign trail.

[RKP5637]

54. Quite true! He has been constantly blocked in about everything he's accomplished. I admire

his stamina and keeping it together despite all of the sh** that was thrown at him. I find him to be an amazing individual. Also, as you say, he is not a king, not a dictator. He can not just wave a magical wand and make things happen. Also, often, many of his critics do not understand how government works. It is a balanced system, one does not rule all just because they are president.

[Maedhros]

56. Except the things he's done that are most egregious have nothing to do with Congress.

Expanding the drone wars and allowing signature strikes and double taps.
Prosecuting whistle blowers acting in the public interest.
Using the Espionage Act more than any other President to criminalize investigative journalism.
Claiming the right to declare citizens to be Enemies of the State and then execute them without due process.
Elective warfare against Libya based upon false claims of genocide.
Expanding the blanket surveillance programs began by Bush.
Increasing military operations in Africa by 217%.

Congress didn't make him do any of that.

[uponit7771]

93. Technically one of the most successful presidents legislatively get ~ 80% of his agenda done

... with only 59 days of majority in both houes

But that doesn't matter, he compromised on 10 out of the 10,000 liberal positions and therefore deserves to be hated


by some

[enid602]

153. bern

But Bernie will be able to miraculously turn us into a Scandinavian socialist paradise all by himself.

[Eric J in MN]

5. Obama has progressive accomplishments.

- More people have health insurance.

- Income taxes are more progressive than under Bush.

- Obama's DOJ allowed marijuana legalization in states such as Colorado (instead of suing to stop it.)

- Obama's DOJ is reducing Civil Asset Forfeitures (the gov't seizing people's property on dubious grounds).

- Obama's Supreme Court nominees gave us nationwide gay-marriage.

[sonofspy777]

28. True this^^^ nt

[AZ Progressive]

67. Not really so progressive

1. Obamacare was actually a plan proposed by the right wing Heritage Foundation and first adopted by Mitt Romney
2. Income taxes just went back to Clinton levels. Nothing as high as it was before Reagan.
3. True, but Obama also hasn't been so kind in terms of deporting immigrants.
4. Natural response from something so obviously outrageous.
5. Obama only replaced liberal judges, Anthony Kennedy was still the deciding vote.

[Eric J in MN]

73. Regarding the Supreme Court, I meant that

...if John McCain had been elected in 2008, then he'd have appointed two conservative justices, and the Supreme Court ruling on gay-marriage this year would have gone the other way. The court would have said that there is no constitutional right to gay-marriage.

We got the pro gay-marriage ruling this year because Obama won in 2008.

[uponit7771]

95. But did he light his hair on fire and make it rain Snickers bars? No?!?!!? Well there it

... is then!!!

/sarcasm <--- cause that is needed around here

[redstateblues]

6. Hmmmm low posts

[-none]

12. So what?

Or is it the Bernie tag line?

[sonofspy777]

22. my original multi-thousand don't exist any more.. nt

[Old Codger]

7. It is a known

Factor that the statement "Political Promise" is a joke and will get you a lot of laughs, and unless my memory is bad a few years ago the Washington state supreme court actually said it was ok to lie in political speeches

[JoePhilly]

8. Bullshit.

[Rose Siding]

41. +1

thank you!

[Scuba]

9. He sabotaged his entire Presidency with three words: "I got this."

[jwirr]

82. Yes. Wouldn't it have been nice if he had asked us to fight

with him and given us issues to fight for.

From "Yes, WE can." to "I got this." was a serious error.

[uponit7771]

96. Someone needs to "ask" people to do what they already should be doing?! No wonder, FDR was expected

... out of Obama without having an FDR congress which was 80% PROGRESSIVE during FDRs 4 terms

[-none]

10. I think Obama was detained between the swearing in ceremony and the Oval Office...

And was given a description of the Horse Head scene from the God Father and what would happen if he did not cooperate with the real rulers on matters of their concern.

[tularetom]

51. Actually it was the unedited version of the Zapruder film that he was shown

[kath]

72. Yep, just like Bill Hicks used to say, in a clip that used to be posted here fairly frequently.

[-none]

86. You could be correct on that.

[Attorney in Texas]

11. I think what Pres. Obama accomplished in the first two years of his presidency is proof he intended

to fulfill his campaign promises.

I think after the 2010 defeat, he lost hope in continuing to fulfill what he promised and switched from offense to defense (he switched from trying to win more victories for America to focus on keeping hold of the victories he won in the first two years of his presidency).

I think Obama wanted too much to work with Congress and mistakenly assumed that Congress would put America's interests above intraparty political interests.

Obama has accomplished much (not a tenth as much progressive domestic legislation as FDR, not a quarter as much as LBJ, and not quite as much as Nixon), but he's played too much defense and not enough offense since 2010. Obama pitched too much of his agenda to Congress and not enough to the electorate.

[virtualobserver]

64. True....Our nominee this time has to hold the Republicans accountable for all that they have done.

Only Bernie can do this. Hillary is too beholden to the interests that must be criticized.

[uponit7771]

97. Lost hope or Saw reality?! Without a congress to help him how was his agenda supposed to be complete

[Attorney in Texas]

141. He did not work as hard as he could have or should have to campaign for a better congress in 2010 or

2014, and he didn't push (and isn't pushing) change hard enough in 2010, 2012, 2014, or now.

[uponit7771]

148. What specific actions should he have taken? "push" is nebulous at best, there's a congress to deal

...with that doesn't give a damn what people who vote for them think... what "push" or actions would've made them act?

tia

[Attorney in Texas]

156. The executive actions Obama is taking now should have been taken in 2011. From the 2010 cycle to now

he should have campaigned (and should now be campaigning) for candidates who support his agenda.

[uponit7771]

157. EOs would not have given the left the agenda it wanted, there's no reasonable argument...

... that EOs would've guaranteed zero compromise which is what Sanders is intimating he'll give.

Other than the TPP and 1 or 2 other things Obama has kicked ass, and for the most part most of the SBS folk loath Obama (or at the least that's what they sound like)...

There's no reason to believe SBS is going to go into office like gangbusters and do too much different than what Obama has done in trying to move the country foward

[Juicy_Bellows]

13. I was miffed at his appointments right after getting into office.

Then he couldn't find his comfortable shoes and I knew it was more of the same. I think he has done a fine job otherwise. I think his legacy will largely be positive and go down among one of the better presidents of recent times.

[sonofspy777]

24. I agree.

I don't think he had thought out what the likely backlash would be...

[DemocratSinceBirth]

14. Most consequential and transformational president in my lifetime.

[cali]

30. In what ways?

[Juicy_Bellows]

46. Most consequential and transformational has got to go to GW Bush.

Not the kind of consequences and transformation we would like but he takes the cake by those standards.

[kath]

74. What about St. Ronnie of Rayguns? He did a lot of awful shit, which this country has still not

Recovered from.

Both were soooooo fucking awful.

[Juicy_Bellows]

76. Yeah, can't argue with that - we've had some real shitty ones. nt.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

117. He had a rubberstamping Congress too

For 6 out of his 8 years in office too. Obama had 2 years with a solid Democratic majority in both houses. For the last 4 years he's had to deal with Republicans in one and/or both chambers in Congress. SCOTUS has overturned some of his administrative actions too.

[brush]

128. Try 2 months with a dem majority in both houses

[Proud Liberal Dem]

140. He had a supermajority for a couple of months

Dems controlled the House and Senate from 2009-2011

[brush]

142. Super-majority is the key word

Without that it was not filibuster proof which means the obstructionist repugs actually controlled/control the senate for all but 2 months of the Obama administration, which is the reality, and despite that this administration accomplished quite a bit.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

150. I agree, which is the same point I was trying to make

His accomplishment s during his first two years were impressive but he clearly did not enjoy the same relationship with Congress that GWB did.

[brush]

151. Yes.

[uponit7771]

98. +1, ~80% of his promises done with only 59 days of congressional majority and a congress

... that actually caused 24 billion in cost because of a useless shut down

[Skidmore]

16. The voters on the left failed.

The election of 2008 ended and people went home and left it to one person to lift the nation out of a financial pit and to repair the world. And when it didn't happen post haste, they punished him by handing him a congress rife with Teabaggers through sitting on votes and then punished him more by denigrating every step he took. To add insult to injury, he was constantly dogged for being a dictator while being expected to act like one since he wound up relying on executive orders to carry policies forward. I think he has done the very best he could to be a president for the whole nation and the limits of of the powers of the office. Who the hell needs Republicans to kneecap a Democratic Party president when the left will do the work for them?

The government is made of of many moving parts beyond the office of the President. It is grossly unrealistic to expect one person in one elected office to supplant all branches of government. It is grossly negligent to excuse the inactions of the do-nothing, obstructionist Congress and to not work hard to replace them with responsive legislators or to show up at the polls to vote.

[narnian60]

19. Well said.

[Romulox]

25. The Goldman Sachs style cabinet appointments were Obama's first move as President.

You're re-writing history.

[Skidmore]

29. Yeah, part of a grand conspiracy on his part.

I get it the need to scapegoat further. I'm not sure who you appoint to clean up a complicated mess other than having to tap into the assistance of some of those who might know where the bodies are buried. I don't think anything is that simple.


Bottom line is that the left failed miserably.

[Romulox]

32. No conspiracy. He campaigned from the Left, governed from the Right. nt

[Skidmore]

33. Whatever.

[Romulox]

36. What a *devastating* come back. But then, facts just aren't on your side, so...

[Skidmore]

38. No. Just sick of hearing how all of what ills this nation

is the President's fault and no one else has responsibility for actions or inactions, starting with the voter. Whatever floats your boat. He's done a damned fine job in spite of ideologues of all stripes.

[Romulox]

39. This is a political message board, not a Skidmore echo chamber.

Get used to people pointing out uncomfortable facts.

[uponit7771]

100. Those aren't facts they're half truths and sophistry, Obama didn't do anything any other progressive

... president didn't do and they're Lionized among progressives.

[GeorgeGist]

154. Barack failed first ...

[sonofspy777]

26. We did. We failed.

but he abandoned the bully pulpit.

[MineralMan]

40. No, he didn't. You just weren't listening.

He made pretty amazing use of the bully pulpit. You did have to be paying attention, though. Sadly few were.

[Romulox]

48. He famously took Single Payer "off-the-table" before negotiations began. nt

[area51]

88. +1 n/t

[uponit7771]

102. Right, proffering useless suggestions somehow progresses conversations!?!?! So somehow

...Sanders will be better in some eyes if he puts on the table things he already knows is a no go?!!

Really!?

[1StrongBlackMan]

118. Don't you know ... a "moral victory", i.e., a righteous loss ...

is far more important, than actually accomplishing, imperfect, stuff.

[uponit7771]

119. +1, it's like they're repeating the same things different days and expecting different results...

... I posted to DSB that they think most Obama supporters are LIVs...

Another reality no doubt

[1StrongBlackMan]

123. They do ...

they think most Obama supporters are LIVs...

But it doesn't stop there ... I think the think they are possessed of some special wisdom/know how ... when, the only thing "special" is their ability to ignore what life has taught them; be it, in politics, government, the importance of relationships, and really, life, itself.

We see this is all the "all we have/had to do is {insert series of politically unlikely events here}" statements and all the statements that "employment = a political statement."

[1StrongBlackMan]

116. Perhaps, that's because President Obama, Nancy and Reed ...

can count ... particularly, the latter two, who have spent their careers counting votes.

Unlike, their keyboard critics.

[1StrongBlackMan]

115. Oh, you remember all the "that was a pretty speech" comments from the ...

"supportive left" (as represented on DU), during/immediately after his every speech addressing the concerns of the left, saying exactly what they called for him to say ... except of course, he indicated that the left had a hand in accomplishing their own aims ... while wailing that he wasn't using the B/P, too?

[treestar]

122. Yes! And when the bully pulpit is all they have as an argument

for why Congress should do what the POTUS wants!

It's their fault we didn't get more progress as they helped bring about the R Congress. Which they still demanded the bully pulpit control!

[uponit7771]

101. This is false on its face

[progressoid]

50. Yeaaaah, I'm gonna have go ahead and disagree.

Nationwide, 21% are either consistently liberal or consistently conservative in their political values. But these people make up a larger share of the electorate – 28% of people who say they always vote and 34% of those who always vote in primaries.

This pattern is even stronger at higher levels of activism. Consistent liberals and conservatives make up 41% of the people who have made a campaign donation over the past two years – double their presence in the public at large.



http://www.people-press.org/2014/06/12/section-5-political-engagement-and-activism/

[Armstead]

59. All true....But he didn't help when he supported bad stuff and/or failed to push for real change

Why is he so bent on inflicting that awful TPP on us, when it is clear that most people (other than the corporate beneficiaries) are against it?

Why did he throw real universal health care under the bus by failing to support even a mild first step in that direction (public option) while forcing Americans to buy health insurance they can't afford?

And when Democratic congressional candidates sound like moderate Republicans in mid terms, do you blame people for sitting it out?

[uponit7771]

103. Which heralded president hasn't done exactly what Obama has done? tia

[noiretextatique]

63. only voters the left did that?

and it had nothing at all to do with HIM, or the right? got it.

[Scootaloo]

78. The left is Always Wrong™

When Democrats lose, it's ALWAYS because of the left. We need to punish them and their wrong ideas by moving further to the right!

When Democrats win, it just proves we don't need the left! Let's go ahead and move further to the right! There's a mandate for it!

[beltanefauve]

124. The hippie-punching

around here gets pretty tiresome, doesn't it.

[uponit7771]

99. People expected and FDR president without and FDR congress and that's my thorn with Sanders...

... he's claiming he'll get all this shit down without an FDR congress.

Its silly

[treestar]

120. +1 they needed to support him

so that the bully pulpit they are always touting would have had effect. They needed to overlook any flaws they found. Instead they sought out flaws and wailed away at them, exaggerating and making it look like the President no longer had support of those who voted for him. That trashed the "bully pulpit" that is supposed to be so miraculous. Though it would have been short of miraculous, it might have had some effects if everyone knew he had solid backing from voters.

[stevenleser]

133. It's disappointing how many DUers don't seem to understand we have three branches of government

If one of the parties is in charge of the Presidency or one of the Houses of congress and is determined to obstruct passage of bills, they can and often with just short of 100% effectiveness.

The fact that this needs to be mentioned or argued here is very disappointing.

[SMC22307]

162. LOL, wrong. 31% Hispanic & Asian / 44% Black / 49% White

Those are the percentages of eligible voters who turned out in the 2010 midterms. Why so low for Hispanics?

A record 14.7 million Latino voters sat out the 2010 midterm elections, according to a report by the Pew Hispanic Center that shows the nation’s fastest-growing minorities are largely failing to exercise their right to vote.

...

“You can’t say during a campaign, ‘A child should not be taken from her mother’s arms’ and ‘Children should not come home to find their parents have been taken away by immigration officials,’ and then conduct one of the most massive deportations of immigrants in the history of the country,” said Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.), who blamed Obama’s immigration stance for lackluster turnout among Latinos.

The administration is on track to deport more undocumented immigrants than any previous administration — Republican or Democrat — in history.

....

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/latino-and-asian-voters-mostly-sat-out-2010-election-report-says/2011/04/26/AFr6X6qE_story.html

Even Obama attributes midterm losses to young'uns, single women, blacks and Latinos.

And lily white *leftists* aren't to blame.

Poor Obama, not culpable for *anything* in some minds.

[Romulox]

23. Obama wasn't what he pretended to be. It's that simple. nt

[kath]

80. Absofuckinlutely. We were HAD. Big time.

[randys1]

31. Other than TPP Obama has been Superman. His accomplishments in the face of

unprecedented hatred and obstruction are monumental and will likely go down in history as the hardest working and one of the most accomplished president of all times.

[Skidmore]

34. This. nt

[handmade34]

37. yes

[mcar]

47. Yes

[uponit7771]

104. +1 !!! I don't know how in the hell Sanders would do any better other than proffer useless legislati

... legilsation that he knows isn't going to go anywhere

[JI7]

42. Obama is the same as he has always been. there is a lot of revisionism of what happened

Obama was never popular on DU. He was never liked by a certain crowd which mostly battles on the internet.

He is still popular and lived by the democratic party and that has not changed.

After Obama won many wanted to claim it as their own even if they did not support him.

Obama had very little support on du compared to kucinich and even edwards.

[1StrongBlackMan]

121. +1 ... Exactly! n/t

[DisgustipatedinCA]

125. Obama was EXTREMELY popular here in the run-up to the election. I was here.

Your statement is false.

[JI7]

126. i was here also. kucinich and edwards had more support

Obama and Clinton were about the same.

[randys1]

129. I was not active here then but I have NO problem believing you..

[DisgustipatedinCA]

130. Once Obama was declared the nominee, he had huge support here.

Don't rewrite that history.

[JI7]

131. there are limits about what people can post once there is a nominee

The fact that kucinich and edwards had more support is true.

Many do end up getting behind the nominee because they are the nominee.

But it's rewriting history to try to claim he was seen by others as something when that was not true.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

132. With the exception of the PUMAs (of course), people here were largely behind Obama.

I was here, and you're not going to change that reality. Sure, there are exceptions to the rule (see PUMA, above), but they're just that--exceptions.

[JI7]

134. fact is he had little support compared to kucinich and edwards

[DisgustipatedinCA]

135. I already specified AFTER the primary was decided.

After the primary was decided, both Kuch and Edwards were nonentities--and in the case of Edwards, a disgraced nonentity. You can keep pretending we're talking about a different timeframe, but we're not, and no sleight of hand on your part is going to change that. Again, I was here.

[Number23]

160. You are absolutely right. The man has never enjoyed huge support on DU

and has been called every idiotic "insult" that the 2nd grader that apparently lurks in the heart of large swaths of DU could come up with.

He has been castigated, not just criticized, since before he took office. Every damn step he took here was wrong according to some here. And yet like you said, the folks who have done nothing but carp and criticize are also the first ones claiming his victories and successes as their own. It is astonishing.

[handmade34]

43. "Just What Happened to President Obama?"

seriously? seriously??? President Obama has been the best President of my lifetime despite the fact that he was opposed at every turn by the Republicans, and all us passionate people that voted for him and then didn't keep up the fight...

the real question is "Just what happened to Democratic voters" civil responsibility does not end at the voting booth and that is exactly why it will take a lot of convincing for me to back Bernie considering how so many abandoned Obama when the going got difficult...

[Skidmore]

44. Thank you! So much this.

[uponit7771]

105. +1, "He didn't ask us to fight" is the height of laziness

[elehhhhna]

57. Rahm Emmanuel s bff tell a you all you need to know.

Don't forget arne Duncan either.

[still_one]

58. He accomplished a significant amount. From the ACA, Lilly ledbetter act,

Supreme Court justices that did not subscribe to the Scalia policy of justice, Iran nuclear agreement, major environmental accord with the international community, and so many other things that I won't name since the OP is just trying to create an Obama bashing thread.

By a wide margin the vast majority of Democrats appreciate and approve of most of what the president has done or tried to do

[Romulox]

61. Continued war, increased inequality, bankers bailed out, mainstreet left out, etc. nt

[still_one]

89. Not going to waste my time in a dialog with you explaining how a Great Depression was

Prevented, the auto industry saved, and thousands of jobs were saved. There is no point

Happy new year

[uponit7771]

107. Yeap, he was imperfect just like all the other heralded presidents of the left but lets leave

... that out in critques of Obama

[Maedhros]

62. Nothing 'happened' to Obama.

This whole kabuki theater event played out exactly as planned. Democratic Party leaders know that all one need do is make promises to the rank-and-file - following through is not necessary, because the rank-and-file has no interest in holding candidates accountable. They will rationalize any bad policy in order to feel like their side is winning against the other side.

[randome]

65. Only the narrow-minded and perpetually unhappy can't see his accomplishments.

It's always easier to go negative, isn't it?

[hr][font color="blue"][center]"Everybody is just on their feet screaming 'Kill Kill Kill'! This is -hockey- Conservative values!"[/center][/font][hr]

[lovemydog]

66. Here's fifty accomplishments of the Obama Administration

according to a writer for Washington Monthly:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/march_april_2012/features/obamas_top_50_accomplishments035755.php?page=all

[pansypoo53219]

68. obama NEVER EVER HAD A FILBUSTER PROOF MAJORITY. he tried to play w/ the GOP too long tho.

[Todays_Illusion]

69. Obama has not changed however his voters let the MSM turn their view and I

am ashamed that you all made it so easy and OP, do you really think Obama changed?
Did you ever go to the whitehouse.gov page and tell him you supported him, did you ever contact your federal legislators and ask them to support the President's agenda?

On several occasions the President said he can't do it without you. The President didn't change, his voters allowed themselves to be turned against him. Why?

Because if you are that easy to turn it won't matter who is elected.

[bvar22]

70. "Hope & Change" was just another clever campaign slogan.....nothing more.

ALL of the "populist" issues he ran on hit the trash can on Day 1.

*Make EFCA (Card Check) the Law of he Land

*Immediately renegotiate NAFTA to protect American jobs

*Label all GMOs with content and Country of Origin Labels

*Close GITMO

*Raise taxes on the rich

*Lift the CAP on FISA deductions

*The Public Option

[kath]

81. THIS!

[uponit7771]

109. So how is any other president going to be different without congress?!??! tia

[bvar22]

137. You make them a deal they can't refuse.

Other Presidents have done it that way, and even Obama himself took Kucinich For-a Ride alone on AF1 because Kucinich wouldn't support Health Care Plan without a Public Option.
BY the time AF1 landed, Kucinch has seen the light.


--------------------------------------------------
Read Up on "The Johnson Treatment".
http://thejohnsonpost.blogspot.com/2009/08/johnson-treatment.html

"Johnson was the catalyst, the cajoler in chief. History records him as the nation's greatest legislative politician. In a great piece on the Daily Beast website, LBJ aide Tom Johnson, writes about how his old boss would have gotten a health care reform bill through the current congress. It's worth reading to understand the full impact of the "Johnson treatment" and how effective LBJ could be in winning votes for his legislation."

http://thejohnsonpost.blogspot.com/2009/08/johnson-treatment.html

If LBJ didn't "have the votes", he didn't throw his hands up and sulk in the Oval Office.
He went out and GOT those votes. All 535 Congressmen and Senators WANT something.
LBJ knew how to cut a DEAL to gt what he wanted.

[uponit7771]

149. So the people who literally spend 24 billion in a government shut down can be dealt with by offering

... them something they can't refuse?

The GOP in congress should be in jail not be dealt with, they admitted on TV that they went after Clinton to persuade her ratings...

These people can not be given a deal that's legal...

this has been obvious from 2010

[bvar22]

155. The problem with say...HealthCare was not the Republicans,

it was the 3rd Way Conservative Democrats. Instead, he rewards them for their obstruction:

(Arkansas Democratic Primary, 2010)

What happened in this race also gives the lie to the insufferable excuse we’ve been hearing for the last 18 months from countless Obama defenders: namely, if the Senate doesn’t have 60 votes to pass good legislation, it’s not Obama’s fault because he has no leverage over these conservative Senators. It was always obvious what an absurd joke that claim was; the very idea of The Impotent, Helpless President, presiding over a vast government and party apparatus, was laughable. But now, in light of Arkansas, nobody should ever be willing to utter that again with a straight face.

Back when Lincoln was threatening to filibuster health care if it included a public option, the White House could obviously have said to her: if you don’t support a public option, not only will we not support your re-election bid, but we’ll support a primary challenger against you. Obama’s support for Lincoln did not merely help; it was arguably decisive, as The Washington Post documented today:"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024586209

[Historic NY]

75. Where have you been hiding since 2008 in some cave...

here try this...

http://wtfhasobamadonesofar.com/1/

[Scootaloo]

77. I think he wanted to

But you know what? I didn't expect him to. Seemed pretty obvious that America's reaction to his election would be "OMFG A BLACK GUY!" and then they'd throw every republican they had at congress. aaaaand yup.

S'okay. I voted for the 'hope" part, not the "change" part. The way I saw it, Barack Obama is a foot in the door. he can wedge it open, but not quite push all the way through. That would be the job of the next two terms.

This is why I support sanders over Clinton. Sanders will shove the hell out of that door. Clinton will let it slam shut, and then spend the next four - not eight, just four - years knocking politely and asking it to open itself.

[senz]

84. Agree with everything you say

except the part about Clinton knocking on the door. If she makes it to the presidency, she will continue to be uninterested in the welfare of the American people. Our only hope would be her interest in leaving a fabulous, wasn't-she-wonderful legacy.

[Paper Roses]

79. Geeze folks, give the new member a chance to get used to this place!

Sometimes we forget that DU is for everyone, not just those who have a large number of posts. Everyone needs time to get used to things here. Agree with this post or not, the member has a right to express an opinion.

[comradebillyboy]

83. I had very low expectations for Obama and was plesantly surprised

by his relatively successful presidency. But I understand that people are quite fallible and rarely attain perfection. Few human beings can attain the level of purity demanded by some here at DU.

[senz]

85. I think Obama meant (and means) well.

He is a pragmatist and peacemaker by nature (I know this from an extensive 2008 New Yorker piece that relied on interviews and quotes from his Chicago associates) and a decent humanitarian who had something very precious (first AA president) to protect. I don't think he expected either the hatred from rightwing scumballs nor the resolve-crushing power of transnational corporations.

He was caught between a rock and a hard place and did what he could.

I still consider him a good guy and love his family, too.

[joshcryer]

87. Obama ran as an uber-bipartisan.

He literally ran on a campaign where he said he'd put Republicans in his cabinet.

And he did.

People just had thick, really thick, rose colored glasses, and couldn't see through the rhetoric.

[loyalsister]

90. We failed him and ourselves

We weren’t ready for a black president: Race, hate, Donald Trump, guns, Fox News, terror and our tragic American condition
Right-wing pseudo-statesmen haven't changed, grown up or dropped the race-baiting, even as Obama has delivered

When the question is asked near the beginning—”Is America ready for its first black president?”— it needs to be answered near the end. And as Barack Obama comes into the homestretch of his term in 2016 the answer, sadly, is no.

If nothing else, 2015 offered a rolling reminder of the first year of Barack Obama’s presidency with its numerous parallel events and template-setting episodes that have now come to a full head of hateful steam in the emergent American Serbia of the mind, if not deed. The embodiment is Donald Trump, presidential candidate, notorious birther, resident American fascist and bomb-thrower.

If hope and change were the Obama buzzwords in 2009, the lesson of 2015 is that a bunch of overstimulated, hopelessly right-wing pseudo statesmen haven’t changed, grown up, dropped the sub rosa race-bait narrative—even as Obama delivered on his fair share of what he promised way back when.

http://www.salon.com/2015/12/31/we_werent_ready_for_a_black_president_race_hate_donald_trump_guns_fox_news_terror_and_our_tragic_american_condition/

The article documents a timeline of the evolution of increasing acceptance of the hate directed towards Obama. It was that trend that opened the door for Trump redirect the hate towards fellow citizens.

Republicans did everything they good to thwart Obama's efforts at every turn. We watched someone say "you lie" during the SOTU address. And we did not mobilize in elections or activism.

When it became clear that we are not as advanced as we thought we were in terms of race relations, we threw up our hands and gave up rather than mobilize knowing we took a step and that we have so many more to go.

[uponit7771]

110. This is the root of their campaign, they loath the guy but herald someone who's pretty much saying

... the same thing on a different day and they're expecting different results

[Motown_Johnny]

94. #1), and the Republican's strategy of wanting him to fail is what happened.

He has been a good President. He has gotten a lot done and would have gotten more done if the (R)s were not abusing their power to block everything he tries to do.

[guillaumeb]

108. The GOP has demonstrated no interest in actually working with Democrats.

The obstruction that they gave to William Clinton, a white Southerner, was much less than the obstruction that they have practiced for 7 years with a Northern, black President. But that aside, President Obama had distinguished himself more by his rhetoric than by his actual positions. He could easily have run for office as a Republican in the 1960s.

And there is the unavoidable, but often ignored, fact that even though the majority of his donors were small contribution people, the majority of Obama's money came from the 1% in the FIRE sector of the economy. The push for the TPP that the President is making is the quo in the quid pro quo. The FIRE sector expected things from the President. He has not disappointed, and neither have the Democrats in Congress. Whether dealing with health care, trade, or union/workers rights, the Democrats have delivered, and not for the bottom 99%.

[CJCRANE]

113. There are different Obamas.

There is Campaign Obama, First Term Obama and Second Term Obama.

I liked Campaign Obama. First Term Obama was pretty good too.

But Second Term Obama seems like a different person.

Which is the real one? You tell me.

[Skidmore]

139. Oh, would that life would just give us all

an unchanging world. That we would not have to rise to meet differing sets of circumstances or actors. We have seen the results of those in positions of power striking postures which they refuse to budge as we have watched the Teabagger congress trash every effort made to legislate over the past seven years. That is reality. I don't see the value of electing someone who is inflexible nor do I care to see a bastardized form of the disaster of the Teabagger experiment created on the left. We need to get down to business and get some work done.

[brush]

127. Ahhh . . . he's not running.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

136. He wanted ACA to be his legacy, so he...

gave up WS, TPP, and BushCo.

He was playing 3-D chess the whole time, but with liberals, not Republican pols.

[brush]

143. "Gave up" what?

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

144. I have no idea what your questioning...

are you trying to say he got everything he wanted (playing 3-D chess with the Rs [snicker snicker])?

Like, he really wanted ACA and got it, he really wanted TPP and got it, he really wanted to bailout WS and let them all walk and got it (bonus: he really didn't want to prosecute BushCo, and got it).

We're trying to rationalize why he let us down time and again and gave away so much. No way he would have beaten Hillary in 2008 if he hadn't convinced us he was going to change Washington. That's when he started playing the 3-D chess (with Liberals).

That's pretty straight forward. What's your question?

[brush]

145. Check you post. Seems there's a typo.

You wrote he "gave up". Did you mean "gave us"?

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

146. Ah, spotted the typo...

I meant *you're* not your

[brush]

147. No, the typo in your original ACA legacy post

Did you mean "he gave us WS, TPP, and BushCo" instead of "he gave up" WS, TPP, and BushCo?

[anigbrowl]

161. Did something happen? I always thought he was a slightly hawkish moderate

I felt he was quite clear about this during both the priamry and general election seasons. Some people chose to ignore it, telling themselves if he made some sort of hawkish comment on military affairs that he 'didn't really mean it' or somesuch, and those people have been very very disappointed by the collision of their illusions with reality.

I, on the other hand, am very satisfied with his presidency because he has governed much as I expected him to do. He has policies that I don't agree with and has fallen short on some issues I care about, but I don't feel like he's sold me out or anything.