My thoughts on the Obama era

[Chris Wallace]

Today I was thinking about how excited we were 3 years ago to see a black man run for President-we saw a world full of promise and possibilities. Promises that remain unfulfilled.

I don't say this because he has failed us thus far. I don't fully blame him for this country's sorry state of affairs. But many of us celebrated his victory on November 4, 2008 and seemed to believe that the world had miraculously changed. But what changed? Prejudice and ignorance are just as prominent as ever. The people who went to sleep the night before with hate and distrust in their hearts woke up the same way. Black people are still not getting a fair shake in the workplace or the legal system. But worst of all, we haven't changed. I heard a few people say, that if a man of Obama's humble background can make it to the White House, then the rest of us have no excuse. But excuses are rampant. We are still doing nothing. Not only did we abandon the man almost immediately after his inauguration, we turned our backs on his message. Did we band together to work toward a brighter future or did we continue to rob and kill each other for stupid reasons? Did we speak from our hearts with pride or did we continue to call ourselves n*****s? Did we start to treat the ladies in our community with love or did we continue calling them b*****s and h*'s? Did we collectively put down the joint/crackpipe and pick up a book? Did we put down the guns and look for jobs? Did our kids turn away from the rappers and athletes and look to Obama for inspiration and motivation? Did the rappers and athletes clean up their act, knowing that so many young, impressionable people consider them role models? Did we stop supporting the movies that cast us in a negative light? These are all rhetorical questions, mind you. We know the answers.

50 years from now, when our descendents read about the first time one of us was actually elected President, it should matter.

 

[Excel]

The big O is having to learn how to walk with broken legs...it's easy to hate, but that is ignoring the fact that nobody else has any sort of other ideas. This is what the US gets for lagging behind in education for so long...

 

[Chris Wallace]

Ignorance and apathy have a symbiotic relationship.

 

[runawayboulder]

What people failed to realize is that s**t isn't going to happen overnight. This country was f-ed up for 8 consecutive years and it's going to take 8 more to unf**k. Nobody wants to show patience and it's understandable. That's why choosing the man to lead us is a huge responsibility.

I admit I voted for Bush in 2000 and realized it was a mistake 4 years later. He should have never been re-elected but there was no solid opponent from the Democrat side. We were also in the middle of a type of war we have never been in as a nation so many people were afraid to change administrations in the thick of it all. Looking back, we just made it even worse. I remember feeling so bleak because our president was looked at like a complete joke.

Things seem so hopeless right now but reading about American history it's always looked like that at some point or another hasn't it....?

 

[Chris Wallace]

I never voted for anyone named Bush.

 

[Kelly]

I haven't abadoned his message, he did....his 3 main focuses of his campaign?

Transparency -- Where? If anything there is less transparency than before...
Hope -- I still have that, and always will.....but his hope was for a far different America than I know...one where people are not taught to hold a hammer in their hand, but are taught to hold their hand out for a free ride.
Change -- I HONESTLY THOUGHT, that this would be the thing that I would see...I REALLY DID, a Washington where rhetoric would turn into working together.

I knew that would not happen over night, and honestly, didn't even need for it to be totally changed even by now...BUT I THOUGHT I voted for a President that would not fall into the trap of rhetoric. I thought I voted for someone that would be President of all, whether they were registered with an I, an R or a D. But, every single speech that he has made since becoming President, has has snide remarks (and I'm not saying those have not been thrown at him, they certainly have...) but where will the change begin if not with the person that brought the word to the forefront in the first place? Change begins with him, but certainly not with comments like...You had the keys before, now you can sit in the back...OR You bring a knife? We'll bring a gun......THAT IS NOT change, at least not the change I voted for...

I am angry, because I did vote for this man, not necessarily against something, but for something......he has not been ther "leader" that I thought he would be. Even if I don't agree with all of his policy, I at least thought I was voting for a leader.

I was wrong...

 

[chaseter]

I think a lot of the people that voted for Obama because of his skin color and his message of change are now coming to terms that he isn't a revolutionary black figure that brought a new error to this country. He is just another hollow politician that lied to get elected and help out his politician buddies.

When you vote someone in because of their skin color and not because of their policies and background then I would say that is also racist. 95% of the black vote went to Obama. What does that say?

 

[SuperFerret]

Change -- I HONESTLY THOUGHT, that this would be the thing that I would see...I REALLY DID, a Washington where rhetoric would turn into working together.

Nothing will change unless the system changes, and it's too big to change easily.

 

[runawayboulder]

The political divide is so huge in this country right now it's scary. The 2 parties don't agree on anything at all anymore. It's like the 2nd Civil War without the guns......just taking shots at each other on Twitter. I don't think they are going to make the Aug debt deadline.

 

[The Batman]

When you vote someone in because of their skin color and not because of their policies and background then I would say that is also racist. 95% of the black vote went to Obama. What does that say?

....that black people still have the voting patterns theyve had for years?

Democrats usually get most of the black vote anyway, black candidate or not

 

[Thundercrack85]

Please don't compare people taking potshots at each other on Twitter to the bloodiest war in American history.

America has always had two political parties that don't agree on anything. It's tradition.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

I dunno, it seems you are suggesting most blacks are criminals holding the country back.

I don't think that is the case.

If you look at statistics, the majority of blacks have jobs without any criminal offenses.

 

[Kelly]

Nothing will change unless the system changes, and it's too big to change easily.

I understand that....but when you decree yourself as the catalyst of change, and run on that, you should at least show that change in how you govern, in your own rhetoric, in your own leadership...

He has not...in fact, his speeches have been the most hyper partisan of any President I have seen...

 

[SuperFerret]

Yes, but Obama was working within the system, and being a politician among politicians, he could never be the catalyst of change.

 

[Kelly]

I don't believe that....

It is "very simple" to, at the least, temper your speeches to show bipartisanship, to not put down a Senator on national television by reminding him that you won...it has to start somewhere, and I believe it "could have" started with him, if he truely desire to do so. I have come to realize that he did not...

 

[Matt]

"Politican among politicians." Well said. I think that is why so many feel jaded by this presidency. His entire political career has been little more than a coreographed performance scripted by some of the best political handlers in the world. More people are starting to see that. He may come from a very different background, but he was groomed for the office much in the same way that Dubya was. Its disheartening.

 

[DACrowe]

It's far too early to tell what his legacy will be. Whether he's reelected in 2012 or not, it will be a number of years before we have a good grasp and perspective on the policies of his first term--which will be largely impacted by if a number of them are repealed or not in the next five years, where the economy is in the next few years and how the draw down in Afghanistan occurred over the next three years.

As for his social impact on the nation, I think it is one of those special elections where a politician was elected on inspirational rhetoric and then voters were brought down to the realities of government, politics and corporate business with how he actually led. Those who hated him or distrusted him before have unsurprisingly grown in that when they felt vindicated that he wasn't a savior and those who did think he was a savior were shocked that he was in fact an intelligent, pragmatic and very human politician with a number of his own weaknesses. I don't know how this will effect his legacy as FDR, JFK and Reagan all had disgruntled bases in their first terms and are now treated like Jesus by members of their respective parties.

As for the question of race, I'm not surprised it wasn't "the end" many hoped for. There were racially tinged backlashes when he was running ("he's a terrorist," "he pals around with terrorists," "He's an A-rab," "He was raised a Muslim in Indonesia," "He wasn't born here," "he's a 'community organizer,'" etc. etc.) and that didn't go away overnight. There is still that rhetoric whether it be politicians calling him a "Mau Mau" or a "post-colonial Kenyan," B-list media celebrities leading a crusade about "how he was not born here" or the immediate uprising of a hugely white movement that has carried signs depicting him a witch doctor, Hitler, a watermelon eater, buck-toothed and not to mention the vitriol literally spat at black Congressmen in March 2010.

...With all that said, I don't think race is the defining feature of this presidency. Neither in his agenda, goals and achievements nor in the majority of his opposition. He has not been the transformative president I had hoped for, but I personally don't think he's been a bad president. He actually has taken the reigns at the hardest time in our nation's history in at least 40 years (you could argue 60-70). I think he has done an admirable job, many disagree. It's too early to tell who will be viewed as "right" in history as the first term (with policies not yet fully in place/completed) is not even done, and there may be a second. The truth is I or StorminNormin' don't know and can't accurately judge yet. Nor can Glenn Beck, Ed Schulz, Michelle Bachmann or Keith Olbermann.

My two cents on the thought.

 

[DACrowe]

I don't believe that....

It is "very simple" to, at the least, temper your speeches to show bipartisanship, to not put down a Senator on national television by reminding him that you won...it has to start somewhere, and I believe it "could have" started with him, if he truely desire to do so. I have come to realize that he did not...

I know we've never agreed upon this, so I will not make a long post, but I do think that he tried sincerely for the first year of his presidency to make overtures to Republicans in an attempt to create real bipartisanship of the kind that pre-dated the baby boomer generation (Nancy Pelosi underminded this, I will not deny it). But McConell said in the first few months that his primary goal was to ensure that Obama was a one-term president. Boehner intentionally pulled out of negotiations on the stimulus in February 2010. Grassley and the other three Republicans in the "gang of six" after negotiating a non-public option and non-employer mandate HCR bill in the Baucus Committee pulled out at the last minute in fear of Tea Partiers and said it would "pull the plug on grandma."

In 2010, to accomplish what Obama personally considered important bills--which I know you disagree with--he became more traditionally partisan. I know the right feels aggrieved for that first year and in some cases (like Pelosi shutting them out of writing HCR) they have legitimate arguments. But this WH did try to live up to that promise and was met with an opposition that would never seriously sit at the table. Kind of like Cantor's temper tantrum two weeks ago which is far more cynical than anything the WH, or even Pelosi and House Dems, have done.

 

[Schlosser85]

I proudly voted for Obama, went to see Joe Biden speak in my area, and bought (and wore) ObamaBiden and LGBT for Obama campaign pins. When he won, I blogged about how it was a new day for America and basically rambled excitedly about it all over the internet.

In retrospect, I feel a little silly.

I do not by any means hold Obama anything close to singlehandedly responsible for the state of the economy. But I am disappointed in his presidency. I have seen someone who promoted himself as a uniter spend an inordinate amount of time making snide remarks about Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and Sarah Palin when they should be beneath his attention, and be wishy-washy on the deplorable policy of DADT when he swore up and down his whole campaign to repeal as one of his first official acts of business. I don't agree with his government bailouts, or "spreading the wealth", or raising the debt ceiling. How are we going to learn fiscal discipline and responsibility if we can just raise the debt ceiling every time we hit it?

I'm also really sick of him bragging about how we have avoided a depression and came out of a recession when I see no evidence of it.

And what the hell are we doing in Libya??

He came into a terrible state of affairs, but I don't think he knows how to fix it.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I think the biggest problem with Obama is that he really wasn't experienced with national politics for that long before the media essentially crowned him to be Presidential material. I do think that he came in with these high hopes of himself actually delivering change the way FDR and LBJ delivered change but reality just slapped him in the face. He was elected by a clear majority and yet, his policies are unpopular. He reached out to the opposition, but they turned him away because his ideals are incompatible with their ideology. Certain policies such as the stimulus are perceived as failures and voters punished him. I think that's why he's been kinda bitter lately.

 

[Schlosser85]

I don't think Obama is an ill-intentioned President. I agree with hippie hunter. I think he really did believe his own hype and think he was gonna come in and change things, but then when he was actually in Washington and in the political quagmire, he got hit in the head with the brick of reality. I do think he thought he'd have more things done at this point than he actually does. And I do think initially he made an attempt to work with Republicans until they opposed him at every turn, and then he got bitter and disappointed and his snide side came out.

But about some of the things he's doing, like going into Libya for who knows what reason, and raising the debt ceiling....what is he thinking?

 

[Paradoxium]

POTUS is a ceremonial position in practice. I think it is silly to think the president (whoever the hell it is) has much leeway in enacting actual change that matters.

 

[Thundercrack85]

POTUS is a ceremonial position in practice. I think it is silly to think the president (whoever the hell it is) has much leeway in enacting actual change that matters.

If you think that, you need to take American history and a class about government.

 

[Schlosser85]

JFK, Johnson, Lincoln, FDR

All enacted huge changes to America. I'm not saying their changes were good or bad, just that it's possible.

 

[Paradoxium]

The real power and decision making lies in the civil service bureaucracy, universities and media. A self sustaining system. I personally see America of two major ages. Its finding and post-FDR. My belief of this is most true post-FDR.