# Obama and Divisiveness **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 8, 2016, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286 "2016-03-08T15:38:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/61 "2016-03-08T23:47:05Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > The Bill Clinton 1990’s era was the big tent era in Democratic politics. Obama letting (and in some cases, aiding) the party to move further left runs the risk of former Democrats leaving the party. No more, I should think, than the number of previously nonpartisan or third-partisan or simply discouraged lefty independents the Dems will pick up, once Sanders has done his work. Do you think most of those cheering at his rallies now have ever campaigned for a Democrat before? Maybe, but I doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/62 "2016-03-09T00:31:21Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > I doubt it; he’d understand that indeed the Democratic party has moved very much to the left in the [past 10 years](http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/06/democrats-too-liberal-for-bill-clinton-118555), and I was one of those people it runs the risk of moving left past. He supported and promoted the welfare reform today’s progressives dislike, ditto the death penalty. I supported both. He’d also not disavow [the majority of Democrats, who like me, and like Republicans and Indies, support Israel](http://www.gallup.com/poll/189626/americans-views-toward-israel-remain-firmly-positive.aspx?g_source=Politics&g_medium=newsfeed&g_campaign=tiles)and think we’re both [at war with Radical Islam.](http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/israel_the_middle_east/voters_to_obama_yes_we_are_at_war_with_radical_islam) If the Clintons didn’t have to deal with Obama’s popularity of the liberal base, they wouldn’t be giving him leeway on those issues. > He was to the right of where Obama is, but like me, is to the left of the GOP. I’m pro-abortion rights, pro-gay marriage, and against tax-cuts for the rich and support the environment (I recycle religiously). I’m rather anti-religion; I may criticize Islam, tho I don’t save criticism of Christianity. I take the Bill Maher view. > The Bill Clinton 1990’s era was the big tent era in Democratic politics. Obama letting (and in some cases, aiding) the party to move further left runs the risk of former Democrats leaving the party. I guess I’m the equivalent of a Rockefeller Republican; a dying breed. I think you be the victim of political relativity - the shift of the Republicans to the far right might make it seem like Obama moved left. There is also the impact of events since then. The Recession moved people who pay attention to wanting more regulation. You don’t want to sound like those Republican congressmen who claim that whatever candidate the Democrats run is the most left wing person in history - like the guy Jon Stewart chopped into little pieces during the 2004 convention. Religion by the way is not a left/right issue - Karl Rove is an atheist, no matter how much it hurts me to say so. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/63 "2016-03-09T00:42:08Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I think you be the victim of political relativity - the shift of the Republicans to the far right might make it seem like Obama moved left. Based on [this video](http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/10/03/333912/reagan-tax-loopholes-crazy/), Obama is about as far left as Reagan. ---
**Author:** ![DerekMichaels00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DerekMichaels00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerekMichaels00)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/64 "2016-03-09T01:23:18Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I think you be the victim of political relativity - the shift of the Republicans to the far right might make it seem like Obama moved left. There is also the impact of events since then. The Recession moved people who pay attention to wanting more regulation. > You don’t want to sound like those Republican congressmen who claim that whatever candidate the Democrats run is the most left wing person in history - like the guy Jon Stewart chopped into little pieces during the 2004 convention. > Religion by the way is not a left/right issue - Karl Rove is an atheist, no matter how much it hurts me to say so. Clinton triangulated against Republicans who wanted to cut everything, and against Democrats who didn’t wanna reform welfare, and did so publicly. Obama did not do that to Occupy Wall Street or the Islamism-apologising crowd, which has given rise to the fact a socialist can win primaries. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/65 "2016-03-09T01:56:11Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > Clinton triangulated against Republicans who wanted to cut everything, and against Democrats who didn’t wanna reform welfare, and did so publicly. > > Obama did not do that to Occupy Wall Street or the Islamism-apologising crowd . . . . . . but he did nothing else for them either. > [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > . . . which has given rise to the fact a socialist can win primaries. No, what **I** just said has given rise to it. ---
**Author:** ![DerekMichaels00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DerekMichaels00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerekMichaels00)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/66 "2016-03-09T04:47:55Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > . . . but he did nothing else for them either. > > No, what **I** just said has given rise to it. Obama triangulating against those fringes would’ve stopped taken away huge GOP talking points and huge far-left energy that has given America Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. ---
**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:** [March 9, 2016, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/67 "2016-03-09T05:26:05Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > I’d say that the “many people” saying “that” are just the same Kloset-Klan members who have never given their names or the exact numbers of followers… because that would show just how small they were. > > Figuratively? Literally? Both? Your call. > BTW: Trump + David Duke Endorsement = Still Waiting on Disavowment > > “I’m cold honey.” > “Put another cross on the fire.” As a die-hard democrat, it pains me to do this, but Trump has disavowed David Duke: [http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/03/politics/donald-trump-disavows-david-duke-kkk/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/03/politics/donald-trump-disavows-david-duke-kkk/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/68 "2016-03-09T07:34:51Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > …I’m a white guy on the left of the center… :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/69 "2016-03-09T16:08:02Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > . . . huge far-left energy that has given America Donald Trump . . . You really need to rethink that statement. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/70 "2016-03-09T17:05:07Z")
This is the standard line of thought that has appeared in online commentary (shudder) for 8 years. The president, black people, and liberals are now free to talk about race, and mention the problems that have divided the races for the past, oh, 300 years. This makes white people feel bad. Therefore, talking about race is bad. Pointing out the division that has always existed makes it exist (if you were previously blind). Therefore, the president is divisive. ---
**Author:** ![DerekMichaels00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DerekMichaels00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerekMichaels00)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/71 "2016-03-09T17:39:38Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > The president isn’t supposed to be Daddy keeping the siblings from fighting. he is supposed to at least try to unite Americans. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/72 "2016-03-09T17:41:56Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > he is supposed to at least try to unite Americans. America right now needs a divider, not a uniter. Hence the appeal of Sanders. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/73 "2016-03-09T17:59:38Z")
And Trump too, of course, but only Sanders is dividing the country along the appropriate lines. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/74 "2016-03-09T18:02:07Z")
“A troubled man for troubled times.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/75 "2016-03-09T18:05:51Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > “A troubled man for troubled times.” That sounds more like Lincoln, actually. Neither Obama nor Sanders nor Trump is a troubled man. ---
**Author:** ![DerekMichaels00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DerekMichaels00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerekMichaels00)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/76 "2016-03-09T20:50:33Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > America right now needs a divider, not a uniter. Hence the appeal of Sanders. so much for “hope and change.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/77 "2016-03-09T21:31:26Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > so much for “hope and change.” Well, Obama ain’t Sanders, more’s the pity. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/78 "2016-03-09T21:34:27Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > I’m a white guy on the left of the center, a Bill Clinton type Democrat. What is the point of making statements like that when everything you actually post sounds like you’re channeling Rush Limbaugh? ---
**Author:** ![DerekMichaels00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DerekMichaels00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerekMichaels00)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/79 "2016-04-26T00:10:53Z")
BUMP to discuss Obama replacing Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman, when Obama could’ve easily just added a new denomination and put Tubman on it. I’m progressive on the environment, abortion, and most economic issues. But I’m tired of these SJWs wanting to erase history, make everyone who wasn’t up to today’s standards of race views into Hitler, etc. No, Andrew Jackson was no Hitler; he committed no Holocaust-like genocide (pre-ordained and based on conspiracy theories). Ironic that the one day Obama actually criticizes the SJWs (about BLM shouting people down), he mimics them. If this is how far to the left the Democrats are moving; then its no wonder why Trump isn’t further behind in the race. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/80 "2016-04-26T00:13:40Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > Andrew Jackson was no Hitler; he committed no Holocaust-like genocide How much do you know about the Trail of Tears? Unlike you, I would prefer the minimum requirement to be on US currency to be somewhat higher than not being Hitler. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286.md?page=5)