# Barack Obama -- The man. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 18, 2015, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-the-man/713032 "2015-02-18T19:39:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-the-man/713032/41 "2015-02-20T12:40:20Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > And to play the first lady hijack a bit: I think Michelle is the real deal. A certain type of woman is attracted to brains. Another type is attracted to power. The one attracted to power will put up with philandering (Hillary) and consider it dues paid on the way to her own ends. Michelle, I believe, would snap Barack like a toothpick if he got nasty with an intern. > [@adaher](#): > > As for Michelle, I don’t think she’s a social climber at all. Quite the opposite, actually. I think she’s discontented at having to do all this First Lady crap. Note that she joined the Republicans in applauding the fact that he had no more campaigns to run. But I believe their marriage is the real deal. I don’t even think she’s really discontented about the FLOTUS role, from what I’ve been able to see of her she’s quite at ease in a lot of the projects she gets involved in and her demeanor when she has been with him has been (to me) clearly supportive _but not submissive_. But y’all may have a point there – people may not say so out loud, but ISTM the public _does expect_ First Ladies and Political Wives to put on a plastic smile and put up with all the bull$#!t; be all about the The Little Woman act and avoid acting or talking like she considers herself his equal; or else to just quietly become invisible. (Then when the candidate or official screws up we bitch about her standing next to him on the dais as he tries to extricate himself. Huh? ) That is a nonsense expectation in this century IMO. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-the-man/713032/42 "2015-02-20T15:00:57Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > (Similarly, I don’t understand your claim that Nixon was an “empty suit”. Is that to imply he was dumb?) No, I mean to say that (to steal a line from\*\*\* Citizen Kane\*\*\*), Nixon had a lot of opinions, but he didn’t really believe in anything except Dick Nixon. He never had a principle except Dick Nixon in his life. Nixon had enormous ambition, but no real idea what he wanted to DO with the power he obtained. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-the-man/713032/43 "2015-02-20T15:11:22Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > What do you think of Barack Obama, and why? Total loser. Our country needs a President, not a golfer or a selfie-stick operator. His only accomplishment to date has been to make Jimmy Carter look competent. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-the-man/713032/44 "2015-02-20T16:25:13Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > No, I mean to say that (to steal a line from\*\*\* Citizen Kane\*\*\*), Nixon had a lot of opinions, but he didn’t really believe in anything except Dick Nixon. He never had a principle except Dick Nixon in his life. > > Nixon had enormous ambition, but no real idea what he wanted to DO with the power he obtained. And this reminds you of Obama how? I can accept if you don’t approve of his actions as President, but Obama certainly seems to “believe in” things - such as, I don’t know, healthcare. Plainly, a dramatic sea change in how this country gets its medical treatment should count as something Obama wanted to do with the power he obtained. [QUOTE=Clothahump] Total loser. Our country needs a President, not a golfer or a selfie-stick operator. His only accomplishment to date has been to make Jimmy Carter look competent. [/QUOTE] Not that I should expect much better, given your partisanship, but, for real?? Again, I can accept that you don’t approve of his actions, but “total loser” for a man who was a two-term President? No accomplishments for the man who presided over the execution of Osama Bin Laden, or the passage of a dramatic (and hugely controversial) healthcare law? And you dismiss him as a President because he’s a golfer? I never realized that the two are mutually exclusive…certainly he’s never conducted business on the golf course while playing with a Republican Speaker of the House, for example. But, upon reflection, you are correct - no successful President has ever posed for pictures, or played golf during his time in office. What could I have been thinking? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-the-man/713032/45 "2015-02-21T03:12:09Z")
> [@CGav8r](#): > > \*\*I have absolutely no doubt \*\*that he will be looked at as one of the best presidents in the last 100 years when all is said and done. Yep. With all of his accomplishments related to navigating the clusterfuck combination Bush left us with, and passing Healthcare Reform - oh, and by the way, being the first African American president - he will have buildings, coins, and monuments on a level with the most respected presidents. Yes, I am a fan, but just from the sheer evidence of what he faced and what he has accomplished, I have to stop and chuckle when folks look at the bluster of the politics of the day and think that it will matter vs. what he accomplished in a historical context. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-the-man/713032/46 "2015-02-21T07:13:34Z")
I’d have a beer with him. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-the-man/713032/47 "2015-02-21T08:50:21Z")
Obama would be the ideal republican politician: Christian, good family man, no infidelities, classy wife and kids. There really isn’t anything in his character or personal history that deserves hate. But, alas, he is the Other. One thing I really like about Obama is his insistence on talking to the American people as though they are adults, and not a bunch of spoiled crybabies. If he had gone the other way, pandering with fear, fear, fear, furriners must be feared bullshit, he’d probably have a 70 percent approval rating. For some reason, Americans crave Daddy presidents telling them fairy tales about monsters in the closet. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-the-man/713032/48 "2015-02-21T10:47:55Z")
Funny you’d say that give how intensely focused this administration is on spin and messaging. Straight Talk Express they aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-the-man/713032/49 "2015-02-21T14:46:05Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Straight Talk Express they aren’t. Straight Talk Express = nice branding, but itself message spin. Anyone trying it for reals is not going to be President. Spin and messaging is part of the job description of head of state/government everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-the-man/713032/50 "2015-02-21T14:53:31Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Funny you’d say that give how intensely focused this administration is on spin and messaging. Straight Talk Express they aren’t. I know you think it’s your sworn duty or something, but absolutely nobody is hoping for your critique of their _opinion_. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-the-man/713032/51 "2015-02-21T16:08:19Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Straight Talk Express = nice branding, but itself message spin. Anyone trying it for reals is not going to be President. Spin and messaging is part of the job description of head of state/government everywhere. Right. What politician doesn’t do this? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-the-man/713032/52 "2015-02-21T17:57:01Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Total loser. Our country needs a President, not a golfer or a selfie-stick operator. His only accomplishment to date has been to make Jimmy Carter look competent. Greatest president of my lifetime. Someone can certainly disagree with some of his policies, but “total loser” accusation says more about you than the President. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-the-man/713032.md?page=2)