I can’t see Nixon doing this:
Vine <– that’s a video
Ontopic: I think he’s a good guy. He’s had to endure the unprecedented actions of a GOP that’s falling over itself to show how much they loathe him in order to hurl red meat to the base of their party which lost their shit when he got elected. And never once has he broken composure.
I can respect that. I’d have kicked Bohner in the fucking nuts by now.
Off to IMHO.
I voted for him first time around thinking he would be a “FDR style socialist” and I think in his heart he may well be. I believe our party (the Democrats) beat that out of him pretty much during the first two years. Since then he hasn’t seemed the same - as President or just as a person. But like Carter, he may find a better place and chance to effect change after office than during. At least I hope so. Then we’ll truly know what kind of man he was all along.
Great guy, for a Masshole Harvard man anyway 
But yeah, I’d love to have a drink with the guy and pick his brain. Way too smart for me, though–intimidatingly so!
On what basis do you make this assumption? 
Right on all counts except the realism.
That’s why the last 6 years of his presidency will have accomplished nothing.
Ah, fuggeddaboutit.
He’s always the calmest guy in the room. That’s an important quality in a leader.
My son was one of the students present for Obama’s speech at the G20 summit in Brisbane last year. He and his friends were totally knocked out by Obama’s charisma. They were in the fourth row so they got a good chance to bathe themselves in his presence. When my son got home he told me “Obama has got a great smile” - the only compliment I have ever heard from my son about another man in all the years I’ve known him.
The speech was pretty rousing - I could feel my patriotism rising. So I’m going to say he’s a man of great charisma and a good speech-giver.
But it’s not far from it, and it’s naïve to think otherwise.
With almost 4.5 million employees affecting virtually all Americans. Running that bureaucracy its much, much more difficult than running a Congressional staff of less than 35 people.
President Obama hadn’t run anything before he became President. I think some management (vice leadership) experience would have helped him
But a CEO type is used to people saying “how high” when he says “jump”. The president needs to work with a Congress that is just as likely to say “FU” (I’d argue more so for Obama than normal, but all Presidents deal with it).
And when Obama does do the CEO thing with executive orders, people lose their shit.
Not saying that more seasoning wouldn’t have helped him, of course, but it’s not an obvious thing.
I was impressed that he read the Harry Potter books to his children. I know it’s important to read to your kids and I did my best, but no way could I have had the stamina to read books of that length aloud.
As a person, I think he’s a good guy. I think he feels the pressure of being the Jackie Robinson of politics and to be as unflappable as he has been and still maintain a good family life is pretty remarkable.
To me, he looks like the kind of dad that wouldn’t have you shaking in your boots if you told him you broke a window or got a D in math, and the kind of dad that would take you to the beach when he’d really rather chill at home and watch baseball.
He’s young for a president and that makes me relate to him better.
I think if I was at some social function with any of the other living presidents, they’d probably talk my ear off about some high falutin’ policy or share old war stories. Obama seems like he would ask you what you like and be able to chat you up about things other than politics
Bill Clinton strikes me as a guy it would be a gas to converse with. Obama does not.
As a man, I think he’s probably alright. Seems like a low-key, insightful guy and I just can’t stop believing his machinations run deep and defy perception. Like he’s appearing insufficient right now but only because he’s focused on setting up butterfly effects that will contnue to affect this country in a positive way long after his term expires. Maybe suffering a bit from the coldness of being smarter than 90% of his constituency. I think in 20 years America will look around at the good things it has and will point to him as the cause. He won’t be around to bask in it though. I fully expect him to rival Carter in his post-presidency activism. 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.
I do disagree with his politics a lot because I see him as too patient and too willing to compromise where I think an iron fist is the more appropriate tool.
Went to the White House Halloween function (a long line of kids of military families get candy from POTUS, FLOTUS, Ms Robinson, and various staffers); I got to see him and his wife interact with families for about 10 minutes, before I was moved along. Both he and his wife have charisma in spades; very comfortable talking to people, genuine smiles, interactions with all kinds of folks. I was impressed (so were my kids). I’m guessing he would be great to have a beer with, or to discuss some sports with, as well. Seems like an approachable guy.
As a family man, he seems like a tremendous father and husband. His family has had to make a lot of sacrifices for his job; as a military guy, I can tell you that it’s tough to maintain a work-life balance sometimes, but he seems to have his priorities straight. I’ve read numerous stories about him always trying to spend time with his families (dinners, kid’s school activities, etc.). I know folks who have worked in the Executive Office Building and as and aide to the Veep; both of them said that the Obama’s were very nice to staff and military aides, and were genuinely thoughtful and generous people. They had great things to say personally about Dr and Mr Biden, too, although I don’t know either of these folks’ political leanings.
All of the pics I’ve seen from the right to show how either of them are arrogant, or rude are being selective; all of us can be caught looking a certain way out of context. Pretty meaningless.
As for my thoughts on him; he has continuously shown himself to be thoughtful and (dully) pragmatic throughout his precidency, and has been incredibly effective despite obstruction from the right on everything he has proposed. He spent quite a bit of time reaching across the aisle (think about all of the input from the GOP in the ACA), but it’s been ignored or thrown back in his face. Remarkably, on things that he has pushed for that were stopped by the GOP (Jobs bills, GITMO closure, etc.), the right then attacks him for not getting more jobs or for not having GITMO closed, etc. Hit’s the height of hypocrisy.
None of what he has pushed forward has been surprising to me; almost everything he has pushed for was set forth in both of his campaigns. Folks who wanted someone more liberal or conservative wasn’t paying attention while he was on the stump, IMO>
**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; he has remained calm and cool in the face of some of the most divisive and disrespectful talk from Congress and the Right Wing media. He has been divisive, only in that there is a loyal opposition that have used anything he has done or proposed to divide the country, through inflammatory rhetoric and lies. shrugs Guess there is a market for that.
He has guided this country out of the Bush Recession and has kept us from sending our military into wars that would suck us into decades-long quicksand. Do I wish he could have sent some bankers to jail for aiding in the recession to jail or brought key architects of the Iraq war up on charges? Sure, but you can’t have everything.
Have you ever heard him speak at the Correspondents’ Dinners? He’s got great comic timing. I’ve also heard it when he made a (pre-President) appearance on “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me”. Nixon was incredibly socially awkward; the idea that Obama is anywhere like that strikes me as absurd.
(Similarly, I don’t understand your claim that Nixon was an “empty suit”. Is that to imply he was dumb?)
I voted against him both times. If I had it to do over again . . . I would donate money to his opponent, and then vote against him.
But he seems to be a nice guy, personally. If we met socially, I think I would like him.
I had the opportunity to meet him shortly before he became a presidential candidate. He had written a book and was doing a book signing at our local book store. He very much impressed me with both his intelligence and what appeared to be genuine interest in people. He spoke to each of us individually, not with canned phrases, when he signed our books. I liked him. I remember thinking that here was a man who was going places. Very prescient of me, wasn’t it? lol
Others have called it aloofness or ambivalence.
Seems to me that he’s probably the coolest President we ever had. He also seems like a nice person. I just question his honesty and willingness to take responsibility for his actions. The gay marriage question was particularly revealing. He said that Axelrod had confused his personal feelings for his position on the issue. Okay, so there’s a separation between Barack the man and Barack the politician. Except he used his faith to cite his opposition to gay marriage! Is his faith a product of his political persona and not part of his actual person? Either he’s got a split personality or he’s still lying.
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.