I have never trusted a President as much as Barack Obama

[cthulu2016]

I have never admired a President's clear-headedness or discipline so much.

I don't fret at all about response to crisis. On most things I feel that he has, in fact, "got this."

He is a gifted man and surely no worse, ideologically, than the average Democrat.

And I would like him a lot more if he were not often ass-backward on the great issue of our time—the economy.

It is not fair, but he needs to be MUCH BETTER than any President I've ever seen merely to reach a minimal threshold because the global economy fell apart.

And I don't care a fig about being "fair" to him on the internet. Life isn't fair. He wanted to be President and he's President and it happened to coincide with the greatest crisis of my lifetime and he has to deal with it better, understand it better, communicate about it better.

It is his bad luck to gain the office in such grim times, but he's very gifted and could handle it fine if he would get past whatever it is that keeps him thinking that the right answers lie between American political extremes.

Dude... the Martians invaded. Pompeii exploded... Pearl Harbor, zombie appocalypse, whatever. Not only is moderation and compromise not the right answer today, I don't know that the optimal policy-set even lies within our political discourse any longer!

A huge crisis has that effect... it upends everything, and one often has to upend what they thought was their reliable core just to begin to deal with it.

He needs to get it through his head that our deficit is not indicative of bad character, and that the fact that unemployment is lower than in 2009 doesn't mean the economy is self-correcting, and that the damage being done is a day-to-day crisis, running year after year.

He cannot unilaterally pass the laws we need, but that is no reason to pretend those laws are not the right answer. Be righteous, dammit. Have some damn epiphany or something.

Propose what is right so that what is right will at least have an ADVOCATE.

[cthulu2016]

1. Oh... and my apologies for not using the word "hate" anywhere in the OP

[Deep13]

4. I really hate that!

[gateley]

2. I agree - I DO trust him and feel he's a GOOD person.

But he totally baffles me and pisses me off at times.

But I'm still glad he's our guy.

[Deep13]

3. Same here, but without the last five words.

Saying he is the most trustworthy POTUS ever is actually a pretty low bar.

[cthulu2016]

6. A low bar indeed, but the only sensible comparative bar

[avaistheone1]

5. Not me.

http://www.ajc.com/videos/news/obama-vowed-never-to-cut-social-securitys-cost-of/vxrQn/

[MotherPetrie]

7. I don't trust him at all, and the reason is that I agree with the rest of your post.

I can't trust someone who keeps fiddling while the economy burns. As you say, he can't unilaterally pass laws, but he sure is not using the powerful platform he has to make a case for changing the status quo, either.

[mother earth]

8. It is time for FDR measures, ACTION/BULLY PULPIT & yes, OUTRAGE. K & R

It's about economic equality & the fact that BUSHCO failures must not be continued, & privatizing profits & socializing risk must end.

And our voices need to rise, silence is just wrong on so many levels.

[Scuba]

9. +1