# Assessing Obama's first three years in office **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 6, 2012, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927 "2012-02-06T03:07:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927/1 "2012-02-06T03:07:08Z")
(I’m not posting this in Elections because the topic is broader than whether Obama can or should be re-elected.) I see a lot of positive accomplishments, even with a hostile House since 2008: Domestically, at least the beginnings of serious health-care reform; stimulus spending that seems to be starting to work, now, finally; and he has recently announced plans to reorganize and streamline both the military and the civilian federal government. In foreign/military policy, he ended DADT, ended the war in Iraq, is winding down the war in Afghanistan, dealt with the Egyptian Revolution as well as a POTUS could have, helped tip the balance in the Libyan Civil War at no cost in American lives, and has generally turned a lot of bad will towards America into good will around the world. I’d say he’s earned his Peace Prize. Oh, and he got bin Laden, how many years did W have to get that done? ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927/2 "2012-02-06T03:18:48Z")
I like him. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927/3 "2012-02-06T03:20:33Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Oh, and he got bin Laden, how many years did W have to get that done? In what sense did “he” get bin Laden? Are you implying that he did it personally? Or that he gave more funding to the task than Bush? This just makes no sense to me. What role did Obama play in “getting” bin Laden. As far as I know, he just happened to be in office at the time that the event happened. Do you have any information at all that might convince me that the events would have unfolded any differently if anyone else had been in office? Or better yet, information that bin Laden would have been “got” sooner if Obama had been in office during Bush’s terms? On the face of it, it seems like a ridiculous claim. I assume that “getting” bin Laden was precisely as high a priority for the military regardless of who was President. > [@](#): > > I’d say he’s earned his Peace Prize. What, he did all that within 2 weeks of taking office, which was when he was nominated for the peace prize? If you aren’t making such a claim, then in what sense did he “earn” the prize? ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927/4 "2012-02-06T04:04:35Z")
A couple days ago, the news was still showing some clips of Obama’s SotU address, and I just turned to my wife and said, “y’know, after all the ups and downs over the last four years, he kept his cool… I still like him.” He inherited one clusterfuck of a national crisis (which granted, ain’t over yet), and navigated it the best I think any of his contemporaries could’ve. I feel pretty confident he’ll be re-elected at this point, and I think he can really make some inroads with a 2nd term now that his shoes are a bit more broken in. Congress willing. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927/5 "2012-02-06T04:11:55Z")
Well, he got rid of DADT. That’s a plus. We got out of Iraq despite him, not because of him (Iraq was only willing to let the soldiers stay if they could be held accountable when they do things like deliberately murder women and children, which wasn’t an acceptable compromise to the US), the healthcare reform created something worse than single payer _or_ the one you started with, he’s been abusing the 1918 Espionage Act to go after whistleblowers and denying people hurt by the government the ability to have their grievences heard in court. Not to mention threatening to veto a bill solidifying the policy of indefinite detention without trial, but only because he didn’t want Congress interfering with the decision-making and thus reducing his personal power. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927/6 "2012-02-06T04:13:18Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > I assume that “getting” bin Laden was precisely as high a priority for the military regardless of who was President. From a Bush press conference on March 13, 2002: > [@](#): > > Q: But don’t you believe that the threat that bin Laden posed won’t truly be eliminated until he is found either dead or alive? > > BUSH: Well, as I say, we haven’t heard much from him. And I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don’t know where he is. I – I’ll repeat what I said. **I truly am not that concerned about him**. From a 2008 town hall debate: > [@](#): > > KATIE HAMM: Should the United States respect Pakistani sovereignty and not pursue al Qaeda terrorists who maintain bases there, or should we ignore their borders and pursue our enemies, like we did in Cambodia during the Vietnam War? > > SEN. OBAMA: Well, Katie, it’s a terrific question. > > And we have a difficult situation in Pakistan. I believe that part of the reason we have a difficult situation is because we made a bad judgment going into Iraq in the first place when we hadn’t finished the job of hunting down bin Laden and crushing al Qaeda… > > And if we have Osama bin Laden in our sights and the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to take them out, then I think that we have to act, and we will take them out. > > We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927/7 "2012-02-06T04:14:52Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > In what sense did “he” get bin Laden? > > Are you implying that he did it personally? Or that he gave more funding to the task than Bush? > > This just makes no sense to me. What role did Obama play in “getting” bin Laden. As far as I know, he just happened to be in office at the time that the event happened. Do you have any information at all that might convince me that the events would have unfolded any differently if anyone else had been in office? Or better yet, information that bin Laden would have been “got” sooner if Obama had been in office during Bush’s terms? > > On the face of it, it seems like a ridiculous claim. I assume that “getting” bin Laden was precisely as high a priority for the military regardless of who was President. Your assumption would be wrong. GWBush made it clear that capturing or killing bin Laden was [not a particularly high priority](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PGmnz5Ow-o) for him, even saying “I don’t know where bin Laden is, nor do I ca…I just don’t spend that much time on it.” Obama’s credit for killing bin Laden was that it was at his direction that bin Laden was made a higher priority, and more resources directed toward such. Bush thought bin Laden had been marginalized enough not to be a threat, and decided spending lots of resources to capture or kill him was not worth the effort. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927/8 "2012-02-06T04:16:33Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > In what sense did “he” get bin Laden? > > Are you implying that he did it personally? Or that he gave more funding to the task than Bush? > > This just makes no sense to me. What role did Obama play in “getting” bin Laden. As far as I know, he just happened to be in office at the time that the event happened. Do you have any information at all that might convince me that the events would have unfolded any differently if anyone else had been in office? Or better yet, information that bin Laden would have been “got” sooner if Obama had been in office during Bush’s terms? > > On the face of it, it seems like a ridiculous claim. I assume that “getting” bin Laden was precisely as high a priority for the military regardless of who was President. In fairness, Obama does deserve credit for getting bin Laden. He authorized a covert op on foreign soil, without the consent of Pakistan’s government. It could have gone horribly wrong, and if it did, he’d get Jimmy Carter heat for the ensuing clusterfuck. That kept a campaign promise–or at least something he said in one of the debates–that if he had solid info on bin Laden’s location, he’d send in a team to get him. Think he caught some flak for saying it at the time, but he followed through. Ballsy call. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927/9 "2012-02-06T04:23:21Z")
Obama is commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces and we are pretty much out of Iraq. He gets credit for it. I would have liked to give him credit for getting us out much earlier, and would like even more to give him credit for getting us out of Afghanistan. I continue to hope. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927/10 "2012-02-06T05:14:52Z")
I think Obama is a president that the US is positively blessed to have. Remember that all of his accomplishments have been despite constant opposition, the kind of opposition that wouldn’t reach across the aisle if he proposed a bill as simple as “Puppies are cute”. Obama’s accomplishments are nothing short of amazing. Also, the reader may wish to consider what kind of shape America would be in right now in the third year of a John McCain-Sarah Palin regime. > [@](#): > > I assume that “getting” bin Laden was precisely as high a priority for the military regardless of who was President. Soldiers do as they are told so if they are told not to look for him they don’t look. Getting Bin Laden involved people on the ground in Pakistan, spy drones, satellite surveillance and a lot of people with magnifying glasses saying “maybe”. In other words, not the kind of thing the leader of SEAL Team Six could have done in his spare time no matter how much he wanted to. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927/11 "2012-02-06T06:10:51Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > A couple days ago, the news was still showing some clips of Obama’s SotU address Which one? Oh, wait. They’re all the [same](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDDRiGIUYQo). ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927/12 "2012-02-06T06:22:01Z")
Big accomplishments in difficult circumstances. Healthcare has a claim to being the biggest legislative win for a US President since LBJ. His basic problem has been a deep, intractable recession which was always going to be difficult to get out of. The fiscal stimulus helped end the worst of the recession in 2009/10 but wasn’t enough to spark a strong recovery. A bigger stimulus was needed but politically it was probably not possible. You can argue that he should have replaced Bernanke with someone more aggressive but again politically this would have been very difficult and risky. Perhaps the main criticism is that he hasn’t managed to create a compelling story to explain his economic policies to the public the way that maybe Clinton did. He has given some good speeches without crafting an overarching narrative. But I am not even sure of that criticism. After all Clinton’s first term was less successful than Obama’s and he had the benefit of a better economy. Presidential oratory is just not that powerful a tool. Overall I would give Obama an A-. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927/13 "2012-02-06T06:36:23Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > stimulus spending that seems to be starting to work How is the stimulus starting to work? How can you attribute the perceived improvement in the economy to Obama’s stimulus? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927/15 "2012-02-06T06:57:19Z")
Spam reported. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927/16 "2012-02-06T13:28:11Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > How is the stimulus starting to work? How can you attribute the perceived improvement in the economy to Obama’s stimulus? The rooster crowed, and two years later the sun rose. How can you doubt it? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927/17 "2012-02-06T13:37:50Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Which one? > > Oh, wait. They’re all the [same](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDDRiGIUYQo). Do you have a particular problem with any of the things he has repeated in the SotU addresses? If an issue was important last year and is still deemed to be important by the president, why shouldn’t he bring it up again? The repetition might get a bit stale as far as speeches go, but there is nothing wrong _per se_ with doing so. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927/18 "2012-02-06T14:10:13Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > The repetition might get a bit stale as far as speeches go, but there is nothing wrong _per se_ with doing so. Well, when you can’t attack the substance, attack the form. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927/19 "2012-02-06T14:44:54Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > In what sense did “he” get bin Laden? :dubious: You’re not **still** debating **this** shit, are you? > [@Blake](#): > > What, he did all that within 2 weeks of taking office, which was when he was nominated for the peace prize? If you aren’t making such a claim, then in what sense did he “earn” the prize? :rolleyes: And that’s even sillier. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927/20 "2012-02-06T14:50:41Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > How is the stimulus starting to work? How can you attribute the perceived improvement in the economy to Obama’s stimulus? [Economists ‘n’ shit.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvestment_Act_of_2009#Developments_under_the_Act) > [@](#): > > One year after the stimulus, several independent macroeconomic firms, including Moody’s and IHS Global Insight, estimated that the stimulus saved or created 1.6 to 1.8 million jobs and forecast a total impact of 2.5 million jobs saved by the time the stimulus is completed.[77] The Congressional Budget Office considered these estimates conservative.[78] The CBO estimated according to its model 2.1 million jobs saved in the last quarter of 2009, boosting the economy by up to 3.5 percent and lowering the unemployment rate by up to 2.1 percent.[79] The CBO projected that the package would have an even greater impact in 2010.[79] The CBO also said, “It is impossible to determine how many of the reported jobs would have existed in the absence of the stimulus package.”[80] The CBO’s report on the first quarter of 2010 showed a continued positive effect, with an employment gain in that quarter of up to 2.8 million and a GDP boost of up to 4.2 percent.[81] On the other hand, economists Timothy Conley of the University of Western Ontario and Bill Dupor of the Ohio State University used state level variation to estimate that while the stimulus created or saved 450 thousand government jobs, it destroyed or forestalled 1 million private sector jobs, thus costing jobs on net.[82] Conley and Dupor’s analysis has been criticized for its seemingly statistically irrelevant results.[83][84][85] Other researchers have come to significantly more positive conclusions about the bill’s effects on jobs. Economist Dan Wilson of the Federal Reserve, who used similar methodology, without the same identified errors, estimates that “ARRA spending created or saved about 2 million jobs in its first year and over 3 million by March 2011.” [86] > > The CBO also revised its assessment of the long-term impact of the bill. After 2014, the stimulus is estimated to decrease output by zero to 0.2%. The stimulus is not expected to have a negative impact on employment in any period of time.[87] > > In 2011, the Department of Commerce revised some of its previous estimates. Economist Dean Baker commented: > > > [@](#): > > > > [T]he revised data … showed that the economy was plunging even more rapidly than we had previously recognised in the two quarters following the collapse of Lehman. Yet, the plunge stopped in the second quarter of 2009 – just as the stimulus came on line. This was followed by respectable growth over the next four quarters. Growth then weakened again as the impact of the stimulus began to fade at the end of 2010 and the start of this year. In other words, the growth pattern shown by the revised data sure makes it appear that the stimulus worked. The main problem would seem to be that the stimulus was not big enough and it wasn’t left in place long enough to lift the economy to anywhere near potential output.[88] ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927/21 "2012-02-06T15:06:34Z")
I wish I could remember the commenter who said, on Bill Maher’s show – if bin Laden had been taked down like this during the Bush administration, George W would already have a tear drop tattoo next to his eye. Obama’s administration? Eh, it’s not like he did really did anything important; he just watched on the TeeVee. What a pussy. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assessing-obamas-first-three-years-in-office/611927.md?page=2)