The Obama Legacy

[ZRod]

 

He brought us out of the great recession. He made significant attempts at addressing global warming. He opened up relations with Cuba. He brought Iran to the negotiation table. Lowered gas prices and greatly reduced our dependence on foreign oil. Got automakers to finally start improving their efficiency again. Actually took steps to work on immigration without a do nothing congress.

Step outside of your narrow minded views. He was a decent President. Not bad, and not great.

 

We had the worst economic recovery ever from a recession because of his policies, and he is the only POTUS ever to never had 3% GDP growth...ever. Income inequality became worse under his watch, ISIS has grown leaps and bounds, and we are more divided now as a nation than we were 8 years ago.

 

Lower gas prices are partly due to oil development right here in the US which he and the left are not fans of, and also on that note, Obama himself stated during his Presidency that lower gas prices are a sign that the economy is not doing so well.

 

I think you need to look in the mirror about being narrow minded.

Listen to criticism bud. Then think about it, and challenge your beliefs. You have blinders on. I am very open minded and will acknowledge legitimate faults of Obama.

 

Obama inherited probably the worst GDP any President has ever inherited. The recovery was too sluggish, but there really isn't a comparison for the mess we were in. Income inequality is something that has been trending the wrong way since before Regan, and it really took off under Bush. Not much he could accomplish with the Congress that was in place. ISIS is a major fault of Obama, but he quietly did what many here at home have muttered under their breath. "Let them fight for it". He's empowered Iraq, Turkey, The Kurds, and other nations to drive ISIS down without very much US skin in the game.

 

And Obama made it a point to reduce our dependence on foreig oil, and he quietly made great strides in this area. You're assertions about what he is and isn't a fan of are a red herring.

[The Dude]

Barack Obama is a truly inspiring figure for tens of millions of people and will continue to be for generations to come.

[ZRod]

You talking about Bruce Springsteen?

[zoogs]

I think he's talking about Donald Trump. Seems like that might be more accurate.

[Landlord]

Even talking outside of actual policy and static achievements, Obama brought a class, integrity, and relatability to The White House that an entire generation had never really even seen before. I'm going to miss seeing him lead the country in how to be a good father and husband, how to disagree respectfully while taking the high road, how to lose your cool because you love kids so much, etc.

[Danny Bateman]

That charisma from Obama is the reason millennials were so enamored with Bernie, even moreso than other groups. They've literally never known any other type of presidential candidate besides an extremely charsmatic one. Probably why Clinton had all the appeal of stale bread to younger voters.

 

ZRod, we're about to watch income inequality explode again if we start deregulating everything and cutting taxes on the wealthy again. It's arguably going to be worse than during Bush, because at least W had no pretensions about improving the economy. He simply called plays from a typical Republican economics playbook. Trump is probably going to want to put his spin on it somehow to show what a magician he is, and I have a feeling that's going to wind up being... not so good for those concerned with inequality.

[Landlord]

The majority of millenials have at least some decent kind of conscious memory of Clinton, Bush and Obama, jftr

[Moiraine]

The majority of millenials have at least some decent kind of conscious memory of Clinton, Bush and Obama, jftr

 

I agree about Bush. But just going from personal experience (and I'm the oldest age a millennial can be), I don't remember much of Clinton's presidency. I remember the saxophone thing, I remember thinking I don't trust him at all while watching the debates, and I remember Monica. Everything I know now about his presidency is just from hearing about it later. I wouldn't say I "experienced" it, being 10-18 years old at the time. I didn't know what the hell was going on or what his policies were. I just knew he was pro-abortion because that was my mom's number one issue. (She's since stopped being a Republican and doesn't vote for them down the line anymore).

 

On the other hand I probably had 80% of Nebraska's rosters memorized. I played an apple IIe football game and painstakingly entered in every single player's first and last names, and what I thought their stats should be, even down to 3rd and 4th string players.

 

 

This is a "new" version of the game compared to what I was playing. The one I was playing only had dots on the screen. But you could create your own plays which was cool. You had to draw lines where you wanted all of the players to move.

 

 

Well, that was a big segue.

[HuskerNation1]

 

 

He brought us out of the great recession. He made significant attempts at addressing global warming. He opened up relations with Cuba. He brought Iran to the negotiation table. Lowered gas prices and greatly reduced our dependence on foreign oil. Got automakers to finally start improving their efficiency again. Actually took steps to work on immigration without a do nothing congress.

Step outside of your narrow minded views. He was a decent President. Not bad, and not great.

We had the worst economic recovery ever from a recession because of his policies, and he is the only POTUS ever to never had 3% GDP growth...ever. Income inequality became worse under his watch, ISIS has grown leaps and bounds, and we are more divided now as a nation than we were 8 years ago.

 

Lower gas prices are partly due to oil development right here in the US which he and the left are not fans of, and also on that note, Obama himself stated during his Presidency that lower gas prices are a sign that the economy is not doing so well.

 

I think you need to look in the mirror about being narrow minded.

Listen to criticism bud. Then think about it, and challenge your beliefs. You have blinders on. I am very open minded and will acknowledge legitimate faults of Obama.

 

Obama inherited probably the worst GDP any President has ever inherited. The recovery was too sluggish, but there really isn't a comparison for the mess we were in. Income inequality is something that has been trending the wrong way since before Regan, and it really took off under Bush. Not much he could accomplish with the Congress that was in place. ISIS is a major fault of Obama, but he quietly did what many here at home have muttered under their breath. "Let them fight for it". He's empowered Iraq, Turkey, The Kurds, and other nations to drive ISIS down without very much US skin in the game.

 

And Obama made it a point to reduce our dependence on foreig oil, and he quietly made great strides in this area. You're assertions about what he is and isn't a fan of are a red herring.

 

 

Lol to the bolded part...please tell me when you have been super critical of Obama as I have rarely seen it. I know you are upset with the outcome of this election but you are stretching big time right now. You claim to place fault on him, but in what you just wrote, you are really claiming its Congress' fault he was not able to accomplish anything. He had 2 full years of an entire Democratic government from 2009 to 2011, and the only thing that came of it was Obamacare which is a mess.

 

Regarding the inheritance of tough economic situations, while the severity of the 2008 financial crisis was a tough thing for any POTUS to inherit, and I agree with that, the magnitude of what Bush 43 inherited within his first year in office was much deeper, with the collapse of the stock market, the Enron scandal, an economy that was in recession within his first quarter in office, and then 9/11. He dealt with not only market woes but also GDP woes and psychological woes from consumers which have been the driving force behind our economy for decades. His actions as POTUS led to several years of strong GDP growth at a time when the nation was in shock.

 

I have also given much praise to Bill Clinton's job performance on this board and think he did make this country better in many ways, and his focus on welfare reform and reaching across the aisle deserves kudos from all. While he was morally flawed, his accomplishments far outpace anything Obama has done in 8 years.

 

And as for criticism of both parties, I have been very critical of Bush 43 on here on a handful of topics including his Katrina response as well as growing the size of the government and creating a new entitlement like Medicare Part D. I also was highly critical of Trump both during the primaries and during the general election when he screwed up.

At the end of the day, Obama's personal likability will garner him some positive notes in the history books, but in terms of policy and how he made this country better, he will be not that much different than Jimmy Carter.

[ZRod]

Why do I need to be super critical of him if it's not warranted? That makes no sense.

 

You asked for positives! This conversation wasn't supposed to be about what faults I found with him. I listed off valid positives, and you chose to ignore them or state some unsubstantiated claim about them.

 

If you want to address faults then let's address faults, but that is not what you originally asked for.

[JJ Husker]

The majority of millenials have at least some decent kind of conscious memory of Clinton, Bush and Obama, jftr

It would also seem that some millenials apparently think Bush was a bad father & husband, that he wasn't relatable, that he didn't have any integrity, and that he didn't know how to disagree respectably. Shows ya how much good a decent kind of conscious memory is worth.

[zoogs]

Do they? I think Bush for all his faults was clearly a good family man, a respectable and decent human being, and pretty darn relatable. It was clear to me that he strove to be a man of great personal integrity, but on the other hand prosecuted what I now regard as a highly dubious and reprehensible war in the face of the international community. Nor am I a fan of his domestic record, but as I recall disrespect was something he was given (not so unfairly!), not gave.

 

This is literally the first time I've heard some of these charges against him.

[Landlord]

It's my opinion, shared by at least a decent handful of my friends, that Bush was a well-meaning, generally good guy who just happened to be a bit of a clueless doof.

[NM11046]

This is (supposedly) the bulleted content from President Obama from a call yesterday with folks who campaigned for Obama as well as Hillary. Gotta admit it sounds like him and it gave me peace and hope:

 

- Your President feels your pain.

- Surprising losses are worse than the ones you see coming.
- Progress doesn't always follow a straight line.
- I'm giving you a whole week and a half to get over this. But come Thanksgiving, it's time to stop moping and get organizing - something I know a little about.
- I'm constrained in what I can do until I'm a private citizen.
- But come February (maybe a little later after a vacation), Michelle and I will be right there with you.
- In the meantime, stay involved locally.
- I'm still fired up and I'm still ready to go.

[knapplc]

This is (supposedly) the bulleted content from President Obama from a call yesterday with folks who campaigned for Obama as well as Hillary. Gotta admit it sounds like him and it gave me peace and hope:

 

- Your President feels your pain.

- Surprising losses are worse than the ones you see coming.

- Progress doesn't always follow a straight line.

- I'm giving you a whole week and a half to get over this. But come Thanksgiving, it's time to stop moping and get organizing - something I know a little about.

- I'm constrained in what I can do until I'm a private citizen.

- But come February (maybe a little later after a vacation), Michelle and I will be right there with you.

- In the meantime, stay involved locally.

- I'm still fired up and I'm still ready to go.

 

I'm completely cool with making the Democrats "The Party of Obama." He's worlds better than anything the Clintons will/would do.

 

That last line gives me hope. I'd love to see him get out there, sleeves rolled up, and fight to keep our country fit for everyone.