Quoted in its entirety because you sum up nicely what I think.
I think Obama has taken some enormous risks in his first 6 months. Clearly it’s too early to tell if those risks will pay off or bite him in the ass.
I like the fact that he’s trying to make substantial changes, but am nervous about the results. Those results will define his presidency (and legacy).
I have the same premises but my conclusion is a bit different. He’s taking huge risks and I love him for it. Very few people would have the energy to go after these issues so early, and I happen to agree with the direction he wants to go. I’m pulling along with him as hard as I can.
Don’t get me wrong – I really want him to succeed. But there are so many elements at work here (including many things beyond his control), so I am nervous if it will all succeed.
I think he has the opportunity to be one of our best presidents, but that will all be based on the results of his risks.
Ditto. My husband says I should quit my job and become a professional Obama Cheerleader, but the only reason I defend him so much is because I spend so much time clearing up lies that the tightie-righties are circulating.
Has he made some minor mistakes? Sure. Has he done more good in these first months than most other presidents do in an entire term? I think so. Does he have a long way to go? Yup. Has he exhibited the drive to work hard and juggle multiple major issues? Absolutely.
I give him a solid B.
He’s doing okay. I voted for him but I wasn’t part of the “Obama is the Chosen One” crowd. So I had realistic expectations.
My biggest disappointment is that he’s holding back. He could actually take a page from the Bush playbook and be willing to say “I’m right even if everyone thinks I’m wrong so I’m going to go ahead and do this.” Obama needs to learn to defy his opponents.
Obama said many times that things would get worse before they got better. He is doing as well as anyone could considering the mess he inherited and that many of the hardliners want him to fail and are doing all they can to make that happen if they can.
He lacks Bushes arrogance, is trying to do what he can for the American people and telling the truth instead of telling lies.
The messiah title was given to him by the right wingers to put him in a negative light.
Bigots do not want a Black man to succeed, and the pro-birthers are using the abortion issue against him, although they do not want to pay for the services needed to pay for all the born children that the parents cannot afford to support.
To a certain extent. But face facts - there were a lot of Obama supporters who went way overboard in their devotion to the candidate.
How is that different from any other candidate?
We’ve got a thread on “Palintologists” right now.
I haven’t read the other replies yet, so I’ll throw in a:
Meh. He’s not embarrassing, but he’s being a bit spineless about some things.
I think, with those “apology” tours that made the veins bulge in RW’s necks, he accomplished a whole lot at nearly no cost to boost global respect and affection for the U.S. Points for that.
Not to single you out or anything, but I hear a lot of this. My first point: Has anyone seen the DOW recently? If that’s any indication of the health of the economy (and it certainly got people excited last October) then I have to wonder whether it’s time to pull some heads out from under the pillows and put our collective shoulders to the wheel now that we’re un-mired. We can always get back to holding the banks accountable. Cold revenge and all that.
He’d probably like that too, but he’s an educated man. He’s got to look no further than Carter to see how easy it is to alienate Congress, even those on your own team, if you crack the whip too hard to soon. I see constant, consistent, light pressure. It’s the same technique I use on my son when I really need him to put his selfish desires aside and come through for the family.
And I’m right there with you on the rest. I think he (or his advisors) has got an outstanding knack for foreign relations. The only folks Ive known personally who disagree with that are “fight to the death for your honor” red-necks who don’t see the value in turning enemies into allies. Health Care reform and the economy were never promised to be overnight deliveries. Any debt counsellor will remind you that it probably took you years to get in debt, and so it will take years to get out. That’s just reality.
It’s silly to say that nothing has been done yet. People seem to forget, or maybe never understood, how far down the hole we got ourselves. Bush sucked as a leader, but we put him in the chair for 8 years. The wars and the economy are not his fault, they’re ours for being too lazy to look among ourselves for someone better to compete with him. Obama’s always been pretty up front about where he expects the change to come from, and he didn’t mean from HIS magic wand. his job is to give us some goals and inspire us to attain them. Waking up and inspiring a population is a hell of a task if you’re not willing to use terror and your goal is not to seize as much power as you can.
I think he’s doing a heckuva job, you bet’cha.
It’s not an indication. It’s a indicator of an entirely separate entity from “the economy” that people talk about, which just happens to coincide with it some of the time.
In common parlance, the state of the economy is defined by two simple questions: have I got a job, and can I make my mortgage payment?
I voted for him. At the time, I saw him as an incredibly smart, savvy politician. I did not think that a lot of his platform would be practical to move through the political process, though. Conversely: through the campaign we saw that he can deliver a speech like few others can, generally has the gift of not saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, and often says the right thing at the right time.
Since he’s come to office, he’s pretty much delivered on being that person. Guantanamo’s closing could have been handled better, I think. The hysteria about which prison to hold the detainees in was particularly stupid. He should have found some way to address/diffuse that nuttyness. I am not sure I how I feel about that situation yet. So far, I am happy any movement’s been made, but there’s a lot to unravel in that mess.
Iraq is going as I expected, Afghanistan is doing, umm differently than I expected. Pakistan’s change in stance toward the border area with Afghanistan has changed that situation a lot. It might work to defeat the Taliban, it might make Pakistan just as much of a warzone as Afghanistan. I couldn’t even second guess the strategy to use in that situation. We can’t really help Pakistan directly, and they don’t want us to come across the border, anyway. All we can really do is try to make life hard on the Taliban and easier on the average Afghani on the side of the border we are already on, I suppose.
As to the stimulus package, I don’t have a problem with betting the economy on the economy. Economics being what it is, let’s hope they picked the right number on the wheel this time.
The fact that UHC seems like it might actually come to be in the U.S. appears to be an unexpected bonus. I certainly did not think that was possible during the election. We’ll see if the meat grinder makes good sausage out of that one. It seems like too politicized an issue for him not to sign it if they get it out of congress and onto his desk. I know he’s a politician, and I think he knows it too. Even if it’s a big stinkburger by the time it gets to him, it’ll probably get signed.
So, as a politician: A
As a savior: F (heck, Jesus gets a C-. I’m not grading on a curve, here.)
Rubbish. Better than Bush but that’s not saying much. Dumb foreign policy in Afghanistan and he’s basically a moderate Republican at home. The GOP depicted him as a radical lefty during the election campaign and that’s actually what America needed, not another right of center leader.
Obama is not lying at least, and his job is like someone trying to catch pillow feathers that have been sent to the wind. It will take a lot of time. He never promised to have everything solved in a couple of months and those who think he( or anyone) can are not being realistic,
The old adage holds true…United we stand, divided we fall.
I think he is the best president since George Washington. He has done more in a few months — positive things — for the middle class and ordinary Americans than any president in the modern era has done after a whole term, in my opinion. We personally have benefited from his weatherization tax credit — credit, mind you — for projects we otherwise could not have afforded but that we sorely needed. I am seeing work crews everywhere I go. These guys are spending their money, I would think, and that would help to raise retail sales. I have heard that new housing sales are up. We are looking forward with great hope toward his other plans. I absolutely love President Obama, and am proud to be an American because of him. I’m not biased (I am neither a PDemocrat nor a Republican), but I think the Republicans are acting like absolute utter idiots in opposing him for no reason other than to oppose him.
That’s where I had him, too.
Actually, I had him tied with The Big Guy, but thought I would knock him down to 2nd out of respect for one of our Founding Fathers.
- Washington
- Obama
- Lincoln
- Wartime FDR
Jefferson, Jackson, the Gipper and few others are in the distant rear-view mirror.
In fact, I think if you started now, and started to chisel Teddy Roosevelt’s features a little differently here and there, you could have him up on Mount Rushmore before the 2012 election.
And couldn’t agree more with the results he has delivered for the middle class and ordinary Americans in the few months he has been in office. One wouldn’t have thought it was possible.
But those doubters were proven wrong, weren’t they?
“Best President since Washington” is something that needs to be evaluated after someone’s term. Obama has served somewhere around 15% of one term. Let’s not jump the gun, here…
What I enjoy the most about him is that he (a) addresses the paranoia the media generates instead of letting it smolder, (b) holds frequent interviews with the press and © holds frequent town hall meetings with individual communities in the United States.
I am not a historian, but I’d be certainly interested in knowing whether other Presidents held frequent town hall meetings with average citizens to listen to their concerns. I know some people hate this about him, but I’d rather the President do that rather than take absurdly long vacations.
I dislike the fact that he is continuing the Clinton-Bush “Give America’s Money to the World.” We have our own problems and wish the U.S would cease sending our tax dollars to build wells in Ghana and museums in Tel Aviv. I don’t like the fact he has reduced U.S domestic and military spending while increasing international aid in his 2010 budget proposal, while at the same time, quelching any notion of a second, domestic 2009 stimulus package. I figure if Obama is increasing aid to Egypt, then he can cut me, a taxpayer, another check.
I’d give Obama an A- so far, but I fear he is sliding to the right.
- Honesty