# 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:** 5
**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:** [April 26, 2016, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/81 "2016-04-26T00:18:36Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > 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. So, only when a black woman is to go on a bill do we need to create a new denomination? I don’t recall that Jackson was ever appointed “$20 bill for perpetuity” honors. He’s out, she’s in. People seem happy about it. Thanks Obama. ETA: Why the Hell do we need both a $20 and $25 bill? That’s one idea I heard floated. Seems like a complete waste of government resources. We can get by with the current 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 ---
**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, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/82 "2016-04-26T00:21:50Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > 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. I know that some compare the Trail of Tears to the Holocaust. The Holocaust wasn’t simply an ethnic cleansing, it was a _genocide_. The Trail of Tears did not wipe out a 3rd of the Native Americans; the Holocaust wiped out a third of world Jews, and 2/3 of European ones. Indian Removal was not pre-ordained and planned like the Holocaust. Also, Indian Removal (an similar events in Russia and China with respect to their indigenous peoples vs. White-skinned Russians and Han Chinese, respectively) were about land. They were not based on conspiratorial ideas of cabals and creating capitalism AND communism in order to control the world and ruin races, as the Holocaust was. Also, Jackson brought democracy to the masses and away from exclusivity to the oligarchy. People like Hitler, Pol Pot, etc., didn’t Then again, Barack Hussein Obama tried to compare slavery to the Holocaust when he visited Africa, again a bad comparison. ---
**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, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/83 "2016-04-26T00:32:29Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > Indian Removal was not pre-ordained and planned like the Holocaust. Do you think it just sort of \*happened \*somehow? :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > Also, Indian Removal (an similar events in Russia and China with respect to their indigenous peoples vs. White-skinned Russians and Han Chinese, respectively) were about land. Then you know as much about \*lebensraum \*as you do about Indian removal. > [@](#): > > Also, Jackson brought democracy to the masses Not to people he owned, or removed, or had killed when they resisted, or to women … Really, can’t you think of a few people you admire more? > [@](#): > > Then again, Barack Hussein Obama tried to compare slavery to the Holocaust when he visited Africa, again a bad comparison. Hoo boy. We just might be done here. ---
**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, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/84 "2016-04-26T00:40:30Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Do you think it just sort of \*happened \*somehow? :rolleyes: > > Then you know as much about \*lebensraum \*as you do about Indian removal. > Not to people he owned, or removed, or had killed when they resisted, or to women … Really, can’t you think of a few people you admire more? > > Hoo boy. We just might be done here. So are China and Russia also like Nazi Germany now (given the Russians and Han Chinese started off with a smaller land area than what they are now too?). Lebensraum had far less of a role in The Holocaust than conspiratorial ideas against Jews, that they had a cabal and did things in Protocols to control the world, such as corrupting races, societies deliberately to weaken peoples and force capitalism and communism on people to such ends. Such ideas did not figure into Indian Removal, the Aboriginals in Australia, Siberian Conquest, etc. Even for Lebensraum, no ethnic/racial group experienced what the Jews did on solely the basis of their ethnoreligious origin. Why do I reject comparisons of black slavery to The Holocaust? 1/3 of the world’s blacks were not exterminated. 1/3 of the world’s Jew were. There are many black majority nations and territories. There is only one Jewish majority nation or territory. **The end.** ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/85 "2016-04-26T00:43:53Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > 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. How far left the Dems are moving is irrelevant to the Republican primaries, isn’t it? I don’t expect to see Trump, Cruz and Kasich taking different stands on the $20 bill. ---
**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, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/86 "2016-04-26T01:01:57Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > How far left the Dems are moving is irrelevant to the Republican primaries, isn’t it? I don’t expect to see Trump, Cruz and Kasich taking different stands on the $20 bill. I was referring to national polls. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/87 "2016-04-26T01:10:21Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > I was referring to national polls. Those put him far behind Clinton and Sanders. He hasn’t gained on them recently that I’ve heard of, and he’s not going to because of anything involving the $20 bill. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/88 "2016-04-26T01:12:47Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > Lebensraum had far less of a role in The Holocaust than conspiratorial ideas against Jews, that they had a cabal and did things in Protocols to control the world, such as corrupting races, societies deliberately to weaken peoples and force capitalism and communism on people to such ends. Such ideas did not figure into Indian Removal, the Aboriginals in Australia, Siberian Conquest, etc. A distinction without a difference; in each instance you give, the dominant power had its own way of dehumanizing the Other. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/89 "2016-04-26T03:27:56Z")
> [@](#): > > 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. Do you really think Obama sat down in his White House dungeon and plotted this plan out to maximize the most right wing outrage? Or could it possibly have been determined without his input whatsoever? Funny I don’t see a thing in this link that says it was the eevuhl Barrack Hussein Obama who made this decision. > **[Treasury Decides To Put Harriet Tubman On $20 Bill](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/20/474983292/treasury-decides-to-put-harriet-tubman-on-20-bill)** > > The decision caps a public campaign asking for the change and months of deliberation by the Treasury. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/90 "2016-04-26T03:43:25Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > 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. That would have been far more disruptive. We don’t really need a new denomination. At any rate would you have been upset if we went back to using Grover Cleveland, whom Andrew Jackson replaced back in 1928? There is nothing about denominations that are set in stone and Tubman was a far more admirable character than Jackson IMHO. That said I’d prefer no people on money at all. Stick with animals. Also get rid of that ugly shade of green - American money is an aesthetic failure on the whole. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/91 "2016-04-26T04:43:53Z")
Regarding a new denomination, I’ve been afraid the Treasury would look at salary discrepancies and put a woman on a $15 bill since that is roughly what a woman earns when a man earns $20. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2016, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/92 "2016-04-26T09:34:58Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > 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. We’ve changed the art and people on our money many, many times before. Why does this latest bother you so much? Do you think Harriet Tubman is not worthy? They’re not even removing Jackson, they’re just moving him to the other side. So why is it a problem? ---
**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:** [April 26, 2016, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/93 "2016-04-26T09:39:26Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > I know that some compare the Trail of Tears to the Holocaust. The Holocaust wasn’t simply an ethnic cleansing, it was a _genocide_. The Trail of Tears did not wipe out a 3rd of the Native Americans; the Holocaust wiped out a third of world Jews, and 2/3 of European ones. Indian Removal was not pre-ordained and planned like the Holocaust. > > Also, Indian Removal (an similar events in Russia and China with respect to their indigenous peoples vs. White-skinned Russians and Han Chinese, respectively) were about land. They were not based on conspiratorial ideas of cabals and creating capitalism AND communism in order to control the world and ruin races, as the Holocaust was. > > Also, Jackson brought democracy to the masses and away from exclusivity to the oligarchy. People like Hitler, Pol Pot, etc., didn’t > > Then again, Barack Hussein Obama tried to compare slavery to the Holocaust when he visited Africa, again a bad comparison. Slavery wasn’t the Holocaust, but such evil can’t really be compared. They were both among the worst things ever done by humans to other humans. If you don’t think slavery, which killed, displaced, raped, brutalized, and dehumanized tens of millions of people, was in this same category of the worst of the worst, then you either don’t understand the history of slavery, or you don’t consider the incredible suffering of black people significant. Considering your continued false assertions about Obama, and your weird emphasis on his middle name, I’m not sure which it is. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/94 "2016-04-26T10:19:12Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > Many people have said that President Obama has been divisive. What’s y’all’s take on that? The claim is … uhh … [checks forum] ignorant? But congratulations, I guess, to OP for not mentioning “Hussein” in his OP. \*\*DerekMichaels \*\*has so much respect for our President he usually writes his name in full, eg.g. > [@Joe Biden runs for president. How screwed is Hillary?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-biden-runs-for-president-how-screwed-is-hillary/726899/31): > > If Barack Hussein Obama wants to stab the Clintons in the back and send Biden in, I’d take Trump over Biden if he stole Hillary’s nomination, just to spite Obama. I’ll never forgive him for what he did to the Clintons in 2008… > Hillary had every right to 2008. Obama used recycled GOP talking points against her back then, made her into a “racist,” etc. It took a lot to move the party into Unity. It’d be much easier to divide it, it thats what Obama wants. ---
**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, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/95 "2016-04-26T11:31:39Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > They’re not even removing Jackson, they’re just moving him to the other side. Borrowing from Facebook: “Poor Andrew Jackson, being forced by the federal government to relocate. He must feel terrible.” ---
**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:** [April 26, 2016, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/96 "2016-04-26T14:16:49Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > I’m a white guy on the left of the center, a Bill Clinton type Democrat. And I’m a little teapot on the left of the Queen of England. But to answer your question, no, I have no idea why Barack **HUSSEIN** Obama is so divisive. Maybe some people just don’t like him. Maybe some people wouldn’t like Barack **HUSSEIN** Obama no matter what he said or did. Maybe if he was whiter, more jingoistic, much much further to the right, and changed his first, last, and middle names to something _ **American** _, for God’s sake, he’d get a lot more love from all those liberal left-of-center Clinton Democrats I keep hearing about. As for the discussion you wanted about Tubman, happy to oblige. If it was time to cycle Jackson off the $20 bill, he should at least have been replaced by a proper white guy, right? Maybe somebody heroic and up to date like George “Dubya” Bush, the guy that all those liberal left-of-center Clinton Democrats like yourself voted for. Harriet Tubman should be in the back doing the laundry and not gettin’ any ideas, you know what I’m sayin’? > [@septimus](#): > > … \*\*DerekMichaels \*\*has so much respect for our President he usually writes his name in full … That kind of deference is commendable. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/97 "2016-04-26T15:07:23Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Do you think it just sort of \*happened \*somehow? :rolleyes: Well, yes. Andrew Jackson tripped on the Oval Office rug; _that_ caused the Trail of Tears. :rolleyes: A century or so later, same sort of thing: Gerald Ford inadvertently tied his shoe to his hair dryer, and it pardoned Richard Nixon. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/98 "2016-04-26T15:44:45Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > 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). Believe it or not, one can believe a guy was not as bad as Hitler and yet still think he’s not as good a choice for the front of the $20 as Harriet Tubman. Heck, I can name a great many people who weren’t as bad as Hitler, and yet aren’t as good a choice for the front of the $20 as Harriet Tubman. Can _you_ name a few people who (a) weren’t as bad as Hitler, and yet (b) aren’t as good a choice for the front of the $20 as Harriet Tubman? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/99 "2016-04-26T16:03:48Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > If it was time to cycle Jackson off the $20 bill, he should at least have been replaced by a proper white guy, right? Obama would have replaced Jackson with Netanyahu if he didn’t hate Israel. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2016, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286/100 "2016-04-26T16:17:10Z")
It is refreshing that Obama’s middle name and the fearful inclusion of it did not prevent him from being elected twice. Drumming up fear just aint as effective as it used to be. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-and-divisiveness/748286.md?page=6)