# Obama "Most Divisive" Figure in US Politics **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 20, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525 "2012-05-20T17:13:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525/21 "2012-05-20T22:51:34Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > To me, he’s about as divisive as George Bush was through most of his presidency (I admit that at the end he went from being divisive to mostly reviled and avoided even by many in his own party). The left ABSOLUTELY hated him, the right generally liked him and supported him. You can make the argument that he was rightfully divisive for starting the Iraq war where Obama hasn’t made many truly divisive actions, but I’m not seeing a huge difference between the two in how much hate and vitriol there is spewed at them on a daily basis. Did you live through the W years?! Yeah, there was plenty of vitriol spewed at him (and/or Cheney), I spewed a lot of it myself. But compared to what Obama gets . . . well, there’s no comparison. Nobody ever called W a “Manchurian Candidate.” Clinton, now, **he** got something of the same kind of vitriol Obama gets (not from the Lewinsky scandal, I mean from Day One – I recall a bumper-sticker from his first year, “Clinton for Change,” each “C” rendered as a hammer-and-sickle); but now it’s cranked to eleven. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525/22 "2012-05-20T22:57:21Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > I think that with the evolution of online media and blogs, EVERY NEXT PRESIDENT will be the most divisive figure ever. Yeah, like if the old schtick about every donkey president being the Most Liberal Ever were remotely true we’d be literally communist by now. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525/23 "2012-05-21T00:16:59Z")
> [@fumster](#): > > Hell, even there he compromised and had a white mother. This self-confusion by Obama about his own race shows lack of integrity [as shown in a Rolling Stone interview of right-thinking voters (though I can find only the Alternet republication)](http://www.alternet.org/story/88211/mccain%27s_playbook%3A_hate,_fear_and_caveman_politics/?page=2): > [@](#): > > … Ron says his problem with Obama is the integrity thing. “He exaggerates too much,” Ron says. “He’s not honest.” > > “OK,” I say. “What does he exaggerate about?” > > “Well, like that time he was saying he had a white mother and a white grandmother,” he says. > > I ask him how this is an exaggeration. > > “Well, he was saying . . .” he begins. “As if that qualifies him to . . .” > > Despite my repeated prodding, Ron seems unable or unwilling to say aloud exactly what he means. Finally, his friend Mary, a grave-looking blonde with fierce anger lines around her eyes, jumps in, points a finger and blurts out one of the all-time man-on-the-street quotes. > > “Look, you either are or you aren’t,” she says. > > “And he aren’t,” Ron says, nodding with relief. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525/24 "2012-05-21T00:39:46Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Did you live through the W years?! Yeah, there was plenty of vitriol spewed at him (and/or Cheney), I spewed a lot of it myself. But compared to what Obama gets . . . well, there’s no comparison. Nobody ever called W a “Manchurian Candidate.” Many people openly compared him to Hitler or thought he’d establish a theocracy like Nehemiah Scudder. And quite a few people were fighting for his impeachment which is exactly what the Birthers want with Obama. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525/25 "2012-05-21T02:01:51Z")
Well, Bush did LIE TO CONGRESS to START A WAR. He also KIDNAPPED suspects from OUTSIDE USA JURISDICTION to HOLD THEM WITHOUT TRIAL. I left the GOP in those years. I can really say that while Bush was in some ways better than the House GOP, they all were a corrupt bunch who DROVE ME OUT of my party in dismay. So, yeah. Bush had it coming. If it blows back on Obama and he gets impeached for continuing Bush’s crimes, I’m really OK with that. Go ahead and scapegoat the mulatto, at least maybe the abuses can stop. ETA: Impeaching him for possibly (not really) maybe (as if) not being born where and to whom he thinks he was is as daft as a half-eaten dead stalk of monkey grass, however. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525/26 "2012-05-21T02:18:33Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > “Look, you either are or you aren’t,” she says. > > “And he aren’t,” Ron says, nodding with relief. Aren’t white, or aren’t black? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525/27 "2012-05-21T02:32:08Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Many people openly compared him to Hitler or thought he’d establish a theocracy like Nehemiah Scudder. And quite a few people were fighting for his impeachment which is exactly what the Birthers want with Obama. You’re woefully mistaken. Only a person who gets their news from talk radio and right-wing blogs could believe that. Maybe you can find a few links to random bloggers who said these things, but with Obama, it is highly placed elected officials saying them. > [@](#): > > Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colorado) is backpedaling after our sister station KUSA 9NEWS reported on an audio recording of his comments at a recent fundraiser where he raised the issue of President Barack Obama’s birthplace and said the president, “in his heart, he’s not an American.” [Colorado Congressman Mike Coffman: Obama in his heart is ‘‘not an American’’](http://www.wtsp.com/news/national/article/255633/81/Congressman-Obama-in-his-heart-not-an-American) [Sticking your finger into the face of the President of the United States.](http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ap_obama_brewer_120125a-615x345.jpg) > [@](#): > > A North Carolina Representative Walter B. Jones Jr. Congressman has introduced a resolution calling for the impeachment of President Barack Obama if he sends US troops into Syria without Congressional approval. > **[Congressman: Impeach Obama if US Fights in Syria](https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/153677)** > > A Congressman introduces a resolution calling for impeaching Obama if he sends US troops into Syria without Congressional approval. > [@](#): > > “So I think that’s the thought, because you’re never going to get something through the Senate. That doesn’t mean that at a certain point you just say enough, I don’t care enough about the Senate, duty calls us to just get up and just impeach this guy." Missouri Rep. Todd Akin There are dozens if not hundreds more, and I’m not even talking about the racist stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525/28 "2012-05-21T13:59:45Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Many people openly compared him to Hitler or thought he’d establish a theocracy like Nehemiah Scudder. And quite a few people were fighting for his impeachment which is exactly what the Birthers want with Obama. Curtis, can you link to some of this? I don’t remember anybody of note (politician, media talking head, etc…) taking the political discourse to this level. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525/29 "2012-05-21T14:21:03Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > And quite a few people were fighting for his [Bush’s] impeachment which is exactly what the Birthers want with Obama. You **do** see the false equivalency here, don’t you? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525/30 "2012-05-21T14:54:42Z")
> [@L. G. Butts](#): > > Curtis, can you link to some of this? I don’t remember anybody of note (politician, media talking head, etc…) taking the political discourse to this level. Thanks. I posted [this GD thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=421759) back in 2007; but I ain’t nobody of note, it was just a buch of nerds shooting the shit on a messageboard like here and now; and it **was,** even in hindsight, a matter worthy of some serious discussion at that level. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525/31 "2012-05-21T15:09:56Z")
Plus the equivalent now would be trying to impeach Obama for the health care bill. Which at least has a basis in political disagreements rather than being batpoop like birtherism. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525/32 "2012-05-21T15:20:48Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Quite the contrary: Obama is a uniter, not a divider. > > The Right hates him for being a hardcore tax-and-spend liberal with an old-school socialist agenda who wants to soak the rich to benefit the layabout poor, muzzle Wall Street, gut the military, weaken our position on the world stage, negotiate with our enemies, disengage from Israel, and outlaw the private ownership of firearms. The Left hates him because none of that is true. Hey! Look over there! {Maus runs off with the best summery ever.} ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525/33 "2012-05-21T15:43:06Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > …Oh, I may have to steal that. It is a thing of beauty, isn’t it. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525/34 "2012-05-21T22:45:06Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > To me, he’s about as divisive as George Bush was through most of his presidency (I admit that at the end he went from being divisive to mostly reviled and avoided even by many in his own party). The left ABSOLUTELY hated him, the right generally liked him and supported him. You can make the argument that he was rightfully divisive for starting the Iraq war where Obama hasn’t made many truly divisive actions, but I’m not seeing a huge difference between the two in how much hate and vitriol there is spewed at them on a daily basis. > > About half the country supports Obama and thinks he’s doing a decent job. I don’t know anyone who is absolutely crazy about him. This is pretty much how Bush was for a long time. Bush’s approval rating near the end of his term was 20-25%. He had no support from anyone other than his base. Not only that but he was governing during a relatively benign economic period (up until the end). So he didn’t have the cloud of economic failure hanging over him until the last few months of his presidency that Obama has had his entire term. I just don’t see the similarity. Bush didn’t care what his critics thought, although this mentality was better embodied by Cheney. Obama seems to go out of his way to be bipartisan for its own sake. In fact that was one of the reasons to be pro Obama in the 2008 primary, this mentality that Clinton would be too divisive. Clinton seems downright milquetoast compared to Obama. Well maybe not (to my knowledge Obama hasn’t been accused of killing his friends and making it look like suicide yet). Obviously I and most people on this board will have a political bias. But a lot of the hate for Bush was based on things he actually did. A good deal of the hate for Obama is based on what his critics ‘think’ he did. Or based on what Obama did that his critics used to support until a few years ago. Well again, maybe not (I love debating myself). The rendition program started under Clinton and Gore, I don’t really hear Bush critics bring that aspect of the program up. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525/35 "2012-05-21T23:47:48Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Bush didn’t care what his critics thought, although this mentality was better embodied by Cheney. His mentality **was** Cheney. ---
**Author:** ![JBGUSA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/258eb7/32.png) [@JBGUSA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBGUSA)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525/36 "2012-05-22T01:30:23Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > He’s divisive if you’re a real American. If you don’t find him divisive, then you’re not a real American. I tend to agree. But Nixon and Carter were more divisive. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525/37 "2012-05-22T02:44:53Z")
> [@JBGUSA](#): > > I tend to agree. But Nixon and Carter were more divisive. Carter was despised but never hated. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525/38 "2012-05-22T06:29:11Z")
wrong thread ---
**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:** [May 22, 2012, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525/39 "2012-05-22T10:50:11Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > And quite a few people were fighting for his impeachment which is exactly what the Birthers want with Obama. I think it’s shameful to compare the impeachment attempts against Bush with those against Obama. The most serious charge against Bush was the white lies he used to attack Iraq. But these were good lies, providing a trillion-dollar stimulus, and bringing peace and prosperity to the Iraqi people, now erecting a statue to Bush to replace the fallen one of Saddam. The shameful Obama, OTOH, is accused of masterminding a secret flight to Kenya while still a fetus, to conduct a Satanic ritual just so that 50-odd years later, he could force our job creators to provide our female sluts with free birth control. How liberals can dare compare the benign white lies of GWB with the Satanic Marxist designs of Hussein Obama is beyond my comprehension. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525/40 "2012-05-22T15:44:29Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > How liberals can dare compare the benign white lies of GWB with the Satanic Marxist designs of Hussein Obama is beyond my comprehension. I know a few people who would write that seriously. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-most-divisive-figure-in-us-politics/622525.md?page=3)