# Fittingly, Obama votes "present" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 25, 2016, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fittingly-obama-votes-present/775593 "2016-12-25T09:52:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fittingly-obama-votes-present/775593/101 "2016-12-30T12:14:15Z")
Well, if anything, the administration has done an excellent job of dividing their own party and uniting Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fittingly-obama-votes-present/775593/102 "2016-12-30T12:24:33Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Well, if anything, the administration has done an excellent job of dividing their own party and uniting Republicans. :dubious: Republicans are united? The Trumpsters and the NeverTrumps? Do tell. I think what you meant is that the **incoming** administration has done an excellent job of reassuring “economic conservative” Republicans that the Trump Presidency will be Republican-crony-capitalism-as-usual, while gingering up their family-values/racism/sexism base with a little simulated economic populism. For the remaining three weeks in which he doesn’t actually have to do anything, policy-wise, this is a shrewd strategy for keeping Republicans in general sort of happy. After that, of course, things get trickier. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fittingly-obama-votes-present/775593/103 "2016-12-30T13:20:42Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > I think you’re quite wrong there. Trump has a lot of respect for Israel and cares very much about its future. I firmly expect him to be the only President to keep to his word and recognize Jerusalem as the ancient and present capital of the Israeli people. Trump is a deeply caring and compassionate person, which should be obvious to all. He truly puts others above himself. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fittingly-obama-votes-present/775593/104 "2016-12-30T13:25:00Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Well, if anything, the administration has done an excellent job of dividing their own party and uniting Republicans. Obama has united Republicans in their hatred for Obama. Close to the truth. More truthful: Republicans did that by themselves. Republicans can’t agree right now if the soon to be President should be openly welcomed. Some unity. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fittingly-obama-votes-present/775593/105 "2016-12-30T21:47:40Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Fittingly, Obama votes “present” Fittingly, **adaher** misses the point > [@Donpeyote](#): > > The significant number% wise like how many LGBT folks are in the American populace (3%) ?😕 When come back, bring relevance and cohesion. > [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > No they wouldn’t. Hate to do this in the Pit, but cite? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fittingly-obama-votes-present/775593/106 "2016-12-31T05:56:19Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > I think you’re quite wrong there. Trump has a lot of respect for Israel and cares very much about its future. I firmly expect him to be the only President to keep to his word and recognize Jerusalem as the ancient and present capital of the Israeli people. Trump has never respected anyone or anything in his entire life. Also, his word has always been worthless. He always was and always will be a con man and a thief and a liar. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fittingly-obama-votes-present/775593/107 "2016-12-31T06:16:18Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Trump has never respected anyone or anything in his entire life. Also, his word has always been worthless. He always was and always will be a con man and a thief and a liar. I’m not sure that’s completely true. He appears to have great regard for people he believes are both competent and loyal. Of course those loyal to him can never really tell whether he actually believes them competent or is just playing them. But I’ve heard a couple of stories (haven’t been able to track the cites down) of him spending time and capital helping someone he trusts out of a jam. I agree with you that his “friendship” with Israel will last right up to the point that he believes it is personally advantageous to flip. But I don’t see that happening any time in the next four years. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fittingly-obama-votes-present/775593/108 "2016-12-31T21:57:22Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Well, at least one person inside the US must believe the US can have a valuable role as a fair-minded arbitrator, namely Jimmy Carter, the architect of the two framework agreements collectively known as the Camp David Accords signed by Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat. And outside the US at least the Nobel Committee must believe it, too, because Begin and Sadat were jointly awarded the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize, and for that and other achievements in international diplomacy, Carter himself received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. > > No one is denying that the US is an ally of Israel, but if the US was unconditionally and consistently “on the Israeli side”, there wouldn’t be all those abstentions, let alone the dozen or so times that the US actually voted to condemn Israel’s actions. Begin and Sadat weren’t independent fair-minded arbitrars. Neither was Carter. Carter, as a fair-minded Israeli ally, thought that peace would be good for Israel. The Nobel committe, and a fair number of other people, agreed. IN retrospect, I wish that Australia, a dyed-in-the-wool, rusted-on American ally, had not been supportive of the Second Gulf War. Sometimes the best thing your friends can do is to say no. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fittingly-obama-votes-present/775593/109 "2017-01-01T19:48:35Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Here’s a novel concept, though I know it’s a hard one for right-wingers: How about deciding on what’s right, on what constitutes the best course of action in a complex and difficult situation, and just doing what makes sense? The problem with that for the **adaher** s of the world is that after eight years of knee-jerk anti-Obamaism, the parts of the brain required for rational analysis have atrophied from non-use. ---
**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fittingly-obama-votes-present/775593/110 "2017-01-01T20:24:27Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > 😕 This sounds garbled, as though you were trying to say that all other Presidents have promised to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital but not followed through. Bill Clinton promised and G.W. Bush promised. So did Romney. Barack Obama, in a speech before he was elected in 2008: “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.” ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fittingly-obama-votes-present/775593/111 "2017-01-02T13:17:51Z")
> [@Okrahoma](#): > > Barack Obama, in a speech before he was elected in 2008: “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.” :dubious: That’s not the same thing as a _President_ promising to officially recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. That’s a [Presidential _candidate_ listing requirements for a hypothetical future two-state solution:](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91150432) > [@](#): > > The Palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive, and that allows them to prosper — but any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel’s identity as a Jewish state, with secure, recognized and defensible borders. Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided. Any politician, whatever they may think about the ultimate desirability of having Jerusalem or some part of it as the officially recognized Israeli capital in some future stable resolution of the Israel/Palestine conflict, would be a fool if they believed that automatically required the US to officially recognize it **now** , without regard for any other political issues. I don’t disagree that Trump might indeed believe that. But then, Trump in many crucial respects **is** a fool. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fittingly-obama-votes-present/775593/112 "2017-01-02T18:51:28Z")
Meanwhile, [Palestinians are coming to accept](http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-palestinian-one-state-2016-story.html) the one-state solution, now seemingly inevitable, however and whyever you may think that may be. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fittingly-obama-votes-present/775593.md?page=5)