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1) Rescued an economy in freefall. DOW was what, 7000 points when he was elected? Now 13,000 plus. Economy is growing jobs. All of this despite absolutely fanatical obstructionism from the GOP in Congress who have seemed time and time again to be happy to wreck the country if that means regaining power.
If you want a contrast, look at the UK with a conservative government and their policy of austerity and deep public sector cuts. Look at the stagnation there.
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It would have taken near active interference not to have the economy start to rebound. Given that budgetary policy is actually controlled by Congress, which I believe is still the least popular Congress in history, and that they appear to be setting records for nothingness, I don't believe too much of that credit should go to the Feds. The States, however, seem to generally be sorting themselves out, although with the very obvious notable exception of the economic powerhouse which is California, but even at that, the local governments are doing OK. I'm hearing in the news every day of actions being conducted by State and local governments, debt restructuring deals, pension reform deals, government cutbacks and hirings, tax deals, corporate incentives... basically things that the Feds are
supposed to be doing as well, but don't seem to be doing a very good job of it.
The US is a union of fifty independent States with their own legislatures. Any comparison between the UK which has very limited fiscal policy abilities below the national government level and the US where things are much more decentralised suffers a major failing.
Hardly a major deal in the grand scheme of things. Especially since DOMA is still in effect so the benefits to the military homosexual community are limited.
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3) Made a big step in fixing the healthcare mire that too many Americans find themselves in. Again against trenchant GOP opposition who seem to be in the pockets of the insurance companies (along with the oil industry, weapon's manufacturers, and any other big corporate cabal you can think of)
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I'll give credit for that (In four years, you'd think he'd manage to push at least one thing through). I'm not sure too many people are entirely pleased with the outcome, though there is always the concept that a good compromise is when nobody is happy. But if nobody's happy, who's going to vote on that grounds? And the long-term viability of the healthcare act is still an open question.
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4) Osama, Zarawi (or however you spell his name). Though personally I'm not happy about his methods.
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Another item of not huge significance in the grand scheme of things. I have no quarrel at all with his methods, and personally believe he made the right call. I also personally believe that any President worth his nuts would have made the same call, so I don't think it's going to be a major vote-influencer. Finally, the killing of Osama has limited effect on the future: Votes aren't about 'what have you done for us in the past', it's 'what are you going to do for us in the future?'
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5) He genuinely tried to be bi-partisan and a uniter. But the GOP haven't been interested in any compromise other than what has been forced out of them by manouvering them into a corner politically.
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Agreed. (But have you heard some of the rhetoric coming out of the Democrats as well? Both sides are pathetic, probably explaining the low Congressional approval rates). To quote the portrayal of Patton, "Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. Now, I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed." It is quite probable that Mahatma Ghandi himself could not get the D and R Congresscritters to unite, but that's not Obama's problem. The problem is that he hasn't done it.
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6) Had the guts to say that any real peace in the middle east between Israel and Palestine can only happen when you start with the 1967 borders with mutually agreed land swaps. Though had to backtrack due to the cluelessness and ignorance of most Americans on the issue and the GOP making hay politically of anyone in power who doesn't think that Israel should be allowed to summarily wipe Palestine off the map.
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Good for his moral character, sure. But you hit the nail on the head with second part, terrible for his re-election chances. Remember, the question before us is not "Is Obama a good president", the question is "will he get re-elected by a landslide" I'm sure you'll have observed by now that the two are not necessarily correlated.
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7) Saved the American auto industry who are now creating jobs and posting profits.
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He merely continued the policy set by his predecessor, but yes, he will be able to take the credit for that one as the person sitting in the seat when the effects hit.
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8) Reintroduced stronger financial regulation to reign in the banking industry. Something the GOP are already arguing against after having been successfully lobbied by wall street.
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Since I'm not actually keeping track of that one, I'll grant it to you.
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I don't think that Obama has let them down, rather, the political system, which is still grossly diseased and rotten has shown us the ugly reality of the American body politic.
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I agree with you to a large extent here, although I think we probably will find we disagree at the lower levels of just where the political system in the US should be changed. But for the purposes of the election, it doesn't matter. Saying "I tried, failed, it's their fault, but vote for me again anyway" is fundamentally not all that appealing, even if it's true.
NTM
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