How is Obama doing do far?

karlog

I haven't been keeping track of world affairs(if that's what you call it) lately. Mainly because it doesn't interest me but i'd like to know how the new president of the U.S is doing. Has Obama brought change to the world or does it look like hes going to?

I couldn't of picked a worse forum to ask this question but i'm sure someone will give a serious answer.......................I hope so anyway.

biko

After Hours -> US Politics forum

Mark200

Plenty of people are now saying "Ah he's just another Bush blah blah blah" but in my opinion he's trying his best to bring about the key changes he campaigned on, and is doing a very good job given the circumstances. There's a handful of things I disagree with him on, but overall I'm a huge supporter of his.

Links234

I really like Obama

biko

Has Obama kept his campaign promises?
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/01/20/campaign.promises/index.html

Mark200

http://www.politifact.com/

That's a good site too. It has an 'obamameter' on the right. Although occasionally some of their ratings are questionable.

DOC09UNAM

I think Kanye is doing a fine job.

Denerick

Considering the mass idiocy he has to deal with, pretty good given the circumstances.

mgmt

He's obeying his SEIU overlords just fine and doing a good job of following Bush's necon agenda.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAYb0fTZsVw

kev9100

Pretty damn good imho. He has passed HCR after years of trying, passed a Wall Street bill that will hopefully worsen the impact of the next "great" recession, is ending the Iraq War responsibly and averted a depression through the stimulus. That's not too shabby in my book.

Overheal

Not the Messiah that most of his voters appeared to expect. Just another politician. But, as far as presidents go, we've had far worse.

coonecb1

Firstly, I think it's important to remember the circumstances he inherited:

1) A systemic banking crisis and related economic "Great Recession"
2) 2 wars in the middle east, a no-win situation in either case
3) A massive deficit due to Bush's fiscal irresponsibility

(Remember what Bush inherited? Unprecedented peace, prosperity and a $300 billion SURPLUS!)

Given that, I think he's done as follows:

Positive:
1) Passed a healthcare bill, albeit a flawed one, allowing Americans a chance at healthcare even if born into unfortunate circumstances
2) Pulled out of Iraq (effectively) without loss of too much face
3) Prevented another Depression (thus far)

Negative:
1) Guantanamo is still open
2) He has shown excessive bipartisanship in the face of bitter and unrelenting obstruction by the GOP
3) Refusal to implement another stimulus due to Republican pressure, resulting in still high unemployment

Overall, I think he's done a 70% good job. The problem is, he's trying too hard to reach compromise with the GOP, who are only interested in blocking everything he does.

metrovelvet

His health plan is a disaster and the dumbest idea ever that is going to completely financially destroy the country. It is financial jihad suicide.

Idiot.

Denerick

His health plan is a messy compromise. Considering the previous system was plagued by duplication, price gouging and downright exploitation, I think it was a noble attempt to achieve universal healthcare. A public option clearly would have been the most logical policy, but what can you do when the opposition accuse you of being Stalin and Hitler in the same breath? The man operates in a political system dominated by fools and imbeciles, I'm amazed he managed to pass anything at all.

mgmt

Denerick wrote: »

His health plan is a messy compromise. Considering the previous system was plagued by duplication, price gouging and downright exploitation, I think it was a noble attempt to achieve universal healthcare. A public option clearly would have been the most logical policy, but what can you do when the opposition accuse you of being Stalin and Hitler in the same breath? The man operates in a political system dominated by fools and imbeciles, I'm amazed he managed to pass anything at all.

Your only contribution to this thread is calling Americans idiots.

Denerick

mgmt wrote: »

Your only contribution to this thread is calling Americans idiots.

Ah, but no-one ever seems to ask why so many people outside the US accuse American politics of being idiotic.

20Cent

Denerick wrote: »

Ah, but no-one ever seems to ask why so many people outside the US accuse American politics of being idiotic.

Sarah Palin, Christine O'Donnell, assorted nutty Republicans, Fox news etc etc .............

Regarding the op I think Obama is doing ok. To make real change he needs two terms so going gung ho in the first would mess up his second. The health care bill, financial regulation bill, getting out of Iraq are all major achievements. Disappointed at how much he is pandering to the Republicans but thats a strategy to stay in power.

metrovelvet

Obama is an orator. That is all he is.

Denerick

metrovelvet wrote: »

Obama is an orator. That is all he is.

I always felt his oratory was over-rated. He is a cold, distant, analytical soul, I believe many Americans got carried away by the romance of his race and eloquence.

Obama is an intellectual. That is where his comfort zone is. Politics is not always the best place for an intellectual, but I for one am glad that the most powerful man in the world is at least competant.

Overheal

Denerick wrote: »

Ah, but no-one ever seems to ask why so many people outside the US accuse American politics of being idiotic.

mgmt wrote: »

Your only contribution to this thread is calling Americans idiots.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcCPlkw6dO0

mgmt

• He left Iraq without a government in charge:rolleyes: (He should have withdrawn, but what was the point of the occupation if there is no stable government)
• He put 30,000 extra troops into Afganistan. (Why??? Get the fock out!)
• Renewed the patriot act.
• Closed Gitmo, but introducing internment without trial aka 'prolonged detention'.
• Got a noble peace prize for absolutly nothing and then goes on to sell $60billion of arms to Saudi Arabia
• Stimulas bill a failure

metrovelvet

Denerick wrote: »

I always felt his oratory was over-rated. He a cold, distant, analytical soul, I believe many Americans got carried away by the romance of his race and eloquence.

Obama is an intellectual. That is where his comfort zone is. Politics is not always the best place for an intellectual, but I for one am glad that the most powerful man in the world is at least competant.

I would tend to agree with you about his oratory, and also very typical of a Harvard and Columbia background. He has that polished northeastern patina of young men who spent a lot of time on speech and debate teams. And lawyer training is always good for this.

He is the crowned prince of the Northeastern liberal aristocracy.

America voted for Hamlet. You know what happens at the end of that.

metrovelvet

mgmt wrote: »

• He left Iraq without a government in charge:rolleyes: (He should have withdrawn, but what was the point of the occupation if there is no stable government)
• He put 30,000 extra troops into Afganistan. (Why??? Get the fock out!)
• Renewed the patriot act.
• Closed Gitmo, but introducing internment without trial aka 'prolonged detention'.
• Got a noble peace prize for absolutly nothing and then goes on to sell $60billion of arms to Saudi Arabia
• Stimulas bill a failure

You forgot the disastrous health care bill.

ANd here's the cherry on the sundae. Asking private citizens to report "unacceptable private conversations.'

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/

Overheal

metrovelvet wrote: »

You forgot the disastrous health care bill.

ANd here's the cherry on the sundae. Asking private citizens to report "unacceptable private conversations.'

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/

youll have to help me there: you've linked to over an hour of footage.

Manic Moran

According to the Politifact Obameter,

122 promises kept
39 compromised upon
22 broken
82 stalled
238 in the works
3 other.

About what you'd expect. Nothing fantastic, especially considering his party's total control of Congress, but then again, not too bad either considering his party isn't exactly a monolithic block.

NTM

metrovelvet

Overheal wrote: »

youll have to help me there: you've linked to over an hour of footage.

Skip the footage, just keep reading.

These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

simplistic2

Denerick wrote: »

I always felt his oratory was over-rated. He is a cold, distant, analytical soul, I believe many Americans got carried away by the romance of his race and eloquence.

Obama is an intellectual. That is where his comfort zone is. Politics is not always the best place for an intellectual, but I for one am glad that the most powerful man in the world is at least competant.

Hahha yeah an intellectual! The man is a bimbo!

Heres a video that will clear up some of his drivel...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI-O8hLef7Y

Mjollnir

simplistic2 wrote: »

Hahha yeah an intellectual! The man is a bimbo!

Heres a video that will clear up some of his drivel...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI-O8hLef7Y

Golly, that's astounding. A video that simply contradicts everything he says, and in subtitles.

I'm going to live my life now in a completely different manner now that I've seen that.

FreudianSlippers

Ending the Bush tax cuts is what is on the news a lot right now and here's what I don't understand / am confused that more people haven't questioned.

Obama gets up and says this tax increase will only effect "millionaires" in the US. Then he says that the tax increases will be in effect for everyone that makes over $200,000.
Since when did $200,000 become more than a million

eoinbn

OisinT wrote: »

Ending the Bush tax cuts is what is on the news a lot right now and here's what I don't understand / am confused that more people haven't questioned.

Obama gets up and says this tax increase will only effect "millionaires" in the US. Then he says that the tax increases will be in effect for everyone that makes over $200,000.
Since when did $200,000 become more than a million

Since when does one have to make a million every year to become a millionaire?

metrovelvet

eoinbn wrote: »

Since when does one have to make a million every year to become a millionaire?

I dont think he can tax on old savings that have already been taxed. He would have to be taxing on current profits.

mgmt

OisinT wrote: »

Ending the Bush tax cuts is what is on the news a lot right now and here's what I don't understand / am confused that more people haven't questioned.

Obama gets up and says this tax increase will only effect "millionaires" in the US. Then he says that the tax increases will be in effect for everyone that makes over $200,000.
Since when did $200,000 become more than a million

Yes, ending the Bush tax cuts is a great idea. Afterall, the poor can just create jobs for themselves. Better still let the government give you a job, and a car (cash for clunkers) and free healthcare. Yes, mammy government will look after us. :rolleyes:

Overheal

mgmt wrote: »

Yes, ending the Bush tax cuts is a great idea. Afterall, the poor can just create jobs for themselves. Better still let the government give you a job, and a car (cash for clunkers) and free healthcare. Yes, mammy government will look after us. :rolleyes:

Yeah, because before the Bush tax cuts, you know - in the clinton administration - the economy was in such bad shape...And before that, I guess Conservatives Republicans everywhere (or to be accurate, 49 states) Really hated Ronald Reagan's guts.

Wait..

metrovelvet

Overheal wrote: »

Yeah, because before the Bush tax cuts, you know - in the clinton administration - the economy was in such bad shape...And before that, I guess Conservatives Republicans everywhere (or to be accurate, 49 states) Really hated Ronald Reagan's guts.

Wait..

Clinton benefited off the whole boo.com and internet explosion. That would have happenned no matter who was in office.

mgmt

Overheal wrote: »

Yeah, because before the Bush tax cuts, you know - in the clinton administration - the economy was in such bad shape...And before that, I guess Conservatives Republicans everywhere (or to be accurate, 49 states) Really hated Ronald Reagan's guts.

Wait..

Ah yes, but Clinton was distracted too much by Monica to do too much interfering in the economy :P

metrovelvet

mgmt wrote: »

Ah yes, but Clinton was distracted too much by Monica to do too much interfering in the economy :P

And bombing Iraq. No one minds it when a Clinton does it.

Exile 1798

metrovelvet wrote: »

His health plan is a disaster and the dumbest idea ever that is going to completely financially destroy the country. It is financial jihad suicide.

Idiot.

Actually, according to the CBO the Healthcare Reform Bill will cut the deficit.

Congressional budget analysts said on Thursday a broad healthcare overhaul would cut the U.S. deficit over 10 years and sharply expand insurance coverage, boosting the momentum for final passage in the House of Representatives.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61O4NV20100318

Exile 1798

mgmt wrote: »

Yes, ending the Bush tax cuts is a great idea. Afterall, the poor can just create jobs for themselves. Better still let the government give you a job, and a car (cash for clunkers) and free healthcare. Yes, mammy government will look after us. :rolleyes:

The Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 3% which failed to stimulate the economy and laid waste to the US budget are due to expire. They are not being repealed but are ending by their original design.

Why is it exactly that you want these disastrous tax cuts renewed by the present administration?

mgmt

Exile 1798 wrote: »

Actually, according to the CBO the Healthcare Reform Bill will cut the deficit.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61O4NV20100318

HAHAHA

Those figures were accounting nonsense. Everyone knew that. You can't add 32million people to a program and expect costs to go down.


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iCs08Khy15jLwNozWb1RVTSLXIjwD9I4G0PG1

Exile 1798

mgmt wrote: »

HAHAHA

Those figures were accounting nonsense. Everyone knew that. You can't add 32million people to a program and expect costs to go down.


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iCs08Khy15jLwNozWb1RVTSLXIjwD9I4G0PG1

What program have 32 million people been added to??

Are you even aware of the basics of what you're talking about?

mgmt

Exile 1798 wrote: »

The Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 3% which failed to stimulate the economy and laid waste to the US budget are due to expire. They are not being repealed but are ending by their original design.

Why is it exactly that you want these disastrous tax cuts renewed by the present administration?

Private sector spending is by the most efficient form of spending. Why do you want to take money off the millionaires (the job creators) and give it to politicians who will only spend it on ****e to get themselves elected.


This is what governments do:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100917/bs_yblog_upshot/report-los-angeles-spent-70-million-in-stimulus-funds-to-create-7-76-jobs

mgmt

Exile 1798 wrote: »

What program have 32 million people been added to??

Are you even aware of the basics of what you're talking about?

Obamacare

The nation's health care tab will go up — not down — as a result of President Barack Obama's sweeping overhaul. That's the conclusion of a government forecast Thursday, which also predicts the increase will be modest.
The average annual growth in health care spending will be just two-tenths of 1 percentage point higher through 2019 with Obama's remake, said the analysis from Medicare's Office of the Actuary. And that's with more than 32 million uninsured gaining coverage because of the new law.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iCs08Khy15jLwNozWb1RVTSLXIjwD9I4G0PG1

What are you talking about???

Denerick

Thank God I'm not an American.

Exile 1798

mgmt wrote: »

Obamacare



http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iCs08Khy15jLwNozWb1RVTSLXIjwD9I4G0PG1

What are you talking about???

You realise that Obamacare is an epithet, not an actual program?

You said 32 million people had been added to a program and that this couldn't be done without raising costs. I'll ask again, what program have 32 million people been added too?

mgmt

Exile 1798 wrote: »

You realise that Obamacare is an epithet, not an actual program?

You said 32 million people had been added to a program and that this couldn't be done without raising costs. I'll ask again, what program have 32 million people been added too?

Fock, why are you so pedantic?

Black Swan

mgmt wrote: »

Private sector spending is by the most efficient form of spending. Why do you want to take money off the millionaires (the job creators)

This assumes that Reaganomics (trickle down theory) works for job creation in the US. It didn't work during the GW Bush era when he reduced taxation for the rich and left office in 2008 with high unemployment resulting from the greatest recession since the Great Depression.

mgmt wrote: »

and give it to politicians who will only spend it on ****e to get themselves elected.

Far too many politicians get themselves elected or reelected by attempting to bribe their state voters with earmarked pork barrel $400 million "Bridges to Nowhere."

Exile 1798

mgmt wrote: »

Fock, why are you so pedantic?

Why are you incapable of responding when questioned on your own claims?

I'll cut this short.

mgmt wrote: »

HAHAHA

Those figures were accounting nonsense. Everyone knew that. You can't add 32million people to a program and expect costs to go down.

First, note the out of hand dismissal of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office: "HAHAHA", "Accounting nonsense." Then the pretension "Everyone knew that" It's good that you know what everyone knows.

32 million people haven't been added to a program. I presume you are imagining a government program. What the Healthcare Bill did was mandate that people without Health Care coverage purchase it on a private exchange. Are you saying that economies of scale suddenly don't apply?

mgmt

Exile 1798 wrote: »

First, note the out of hand dismissal of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office: "HAHAHA", "Accounting nonsense." Then the pretension "Everyone knew that" It's good that you know what everyone knows.

32 million people haven't been added to a program. I presume you are imagining a government program. What the Healthcare Bill did was mandate that people without Health Care coverage purchase it on a private exchange. Are you saying that economies of scale suddenly don't apply?

You posted a link to CBO figures in March 2010, have you read the figures in May:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/05/cbo-health-care-bill-will-cost-115-billion-more-than-previously-assessed.html

The CBO took for granted that medicare cost savings ($450 billion) can be achieved. Do you honestly think this will happen? Besides this figure is double counted in obamacare.

The problem begins with double counting. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the health law will reduce Medicare spending by about $450 billion over 10 years. But all of those savings, plus massive tax increases, are used in the new law to pay for an expansion of Medicaid and a new entitlement program to subsidize insurance premiums for low-income households.

The Medicare cuts can be used to improve the government's capacity to finance benefits in the future or to pay for another entitlement. But they can't be used for both -- a point the CBO and Medicare's actuaries made in their cost estimates. On paper, the Medicare trust fund appears to have additional reserves because of government accounting peculiarities. But Congress has already committed those funds elsewhere.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/26/AR2010082605261.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Progressives don't believe the CBO either:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41271.html

Last Paragraph
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/108xx/doc10868/12-23-Trust_Fund_Accounting.pdf

Re: "Everyone knew that"
Opinion polls at the time showed that a majority of Americans did not want the bill.

Obamacare provides subsidies to families to purchase health insurance = Government program

Health insurance will rise because of obamacare.

metrovelvet

Can I ask now that the IRS has been put in charge of collecting for health insurance is not paying for your health insurance considered along the lines of tax evasion? CAn they prosecute the way they can for tax evasion?

fontanalis

coonecb1 wrote: »

Firstly, I think it's important to remember the circumstances he inherited:

1) A systemic banking crisis and related economic "Great Recession"
2) 2 wars in the middle east, a no-win situation in either case
3) A massive deficit due to Bush's fiscal irresponsibility

(Remember what Bush inherited? Unprecedented peace, prosperity and a $300 billion SURPLUS!)

Given that, I think he's done as follows:

Positive:
1) Passed a healthcare bill, albeit a flawed one, allowing Americans a chance at healthcare even if born into unfortunate circumstances
2) Pulled out of Iraq (effectively) without loss of too much face
3) Prevented another Depression (thus far)

Negative:
1) Guantanamo is still open
2) He has shown excessive bipartisanship in the face of bitter and unrelenting obstruction by the GOP
3) Refusal to implement another stimulus due to Republican pressure, resulting in still high unemployment

Overall, I think he's done a 70% good job. The problem is, he's trying too hard to reach compromise with the GOP, who are only interested in blocking everything he does.

My main gripe is that surely yhey had to know how bad things would get but still ran with the whole chnage mantra, for god sake the way some people were going on you'd think he was Harry Potter with a magic wand that was going to solve everything.

Dude111

Links234 wrote:

I really like Obama

I dont see how anyone could like him or what he is doing...