Why I like criticism of President Obama on DU

[senseandsensibility]

Hint: it's not because I hate him.

I do read and rec critical threads frequently, although I almost never start them (if ever.)

I don't enjoy reading them, but I seem to seek them out. I finally realized why.

The critical threads on DU are almost always fact-based and from the left.

Where else can you find such criticism?

Sure...Obama criticism is EVERYWHERE, but it usually just right wing talking points, which are by definition boring, repetitive, and nonsensical. I'm not interested in that, and I never watch or listen to it.

The criticism on DU is not personal, for the most part. The things I read here are not being covered anywhere else. Even MSNBC does a horrible job of covering public education, TPP, and other areas of legitimate concern from the left.

As long as the criticism is fair and fact based, I don't have a problem with it.

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Fair assumption.

I doubt I will ever find a perfect Dem POTUS in my lifetime. This one is close (certainly closer than Clinton or even Carter, and don't get me started on LBJ - I was born in 1965) but we need one who is TRULY looking out for the 99ers...

[BillZBubb]

9. Other than Vietnam, Johnson was a transformational president.

Certainly Vietnam brings Johnson down a lot, but as far as the 99% on social and economic issues he ranks up there with FDR. President Obama isn't even close to Johnson on that score. In Obama's defense though, the republican party in Johnson's time wasn't fanatically right wing. A lot of those republicans actually cared about governing.

[Jamaal510]

2. Nobody's saying

that he can't or shouldn't be criticized; it's just that people have been disgusted with some of the hyperbole towards him (such as the posts about him being a warmonger and being a "fascist sellout&quot , and him seemingly drawing more criticism from a handful of posters than the Republicans get (when it is they who are the culprits of much of our problems).

[KittyWampus]

3. No, sorry. "Fact-based" takes into account the realities of how Congress works,

what it takes to get laws passed and the realities of the corporate media and a very well-funded opposition.

SOME of the criticism on DU is very well founded and based on reality.

MOST of it is from ideologues who think Obama has a magic wand but refuses to use it.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

7. So a different Democrat would have been more effective...

Obama gets a free pass from many here because people misrepresent the facts and say Congress blocks everything. There's also this notion that, with respect to the things he has delivered (which we know can't be much because of obstruction) they wouldn't have been championed by any Democrat. He's just a Democrat who moves to the right to comprmise, but otherwise can't get much done.

Nothing special.

[BillZBubb]

10. Sorry Kitty, but the rest of us are just as aware of congress as you.

Most of the fair criticism of Obama is because he has power that he refused to use. In his first term he was so concerned about being "bipartisan" that he ceded ground on issues before the debate had even begun. He let the republicans tailor programs that they later all voted against. He failed to use the bully pulpit and fight them. These aren't magic wand things. In politics, if you don't fight for something it doesn't happen.

At long last, the president seems to have figured out the republican's game. He now seems willing to call them out, even mock them as they so richly deserve. He is putting forth legislative ideas without pre-conceding to the republicans. He's doing better in that area. He's using his executive power more diligently.

There are other areas where I am critical of the president that can't all be blamed on congress. For instance, I still cannot fathom how after the financial ruin they caused, the Banksters have escaped prosecution. That falls on the Justice Department, which is in the executive branch, not congress. Maybe that makes me an ideologue.

[Rex]

4. Prepare to be destroyed by the BOG dwellers.

You must always say wonderful things about the POTUS...nothing else is allowed.

[Inkfreak]

5. Fair on criticisms should be allowed.

I dunno about rants that call him a used car salesman are appropriate. Just my opinion, of course.

[treestar]

11. This^^^^^^

The criticism is unreasonable so often. They do it over and over, and I can't go along with anything unreasonable. They get really mad that we won't jump on the bandwagon, which seems even more unreasonable. Talk about the limits on the Presidency or Congress and you get this sneering, "oh, so the President is powerless." No, but there are limits on that power.

I also think it absurdly unreasonable that saying really left wing things is going to get anyone elected. Anyone who rants against capitalism is not going to get elected to the Presidency. It is the one office that is more or less elected by the whole country, so the winner of that election will be "centrist" by definition. If the center were socialist, a socialist would win and Congress would be far more to the left.

Right wingers do the same exact thing - claim Mitt Romney lost for not being conservative enough. Or claim Bush was too liberal. They thing the right person saying the right things will change the minds of millions of voters overnight.

[packman]

6. As my mother used to say

But I never appreciated it at the time - This whippin' going to hurt me more than you, I love you but you deserve it.

The thing I like about Dems is if there is criticism to be handed it, we do it unlike the right which makes excuses for their sorry ass behavior.

[deafskeptic]

8. As long as it's fair and fact based, I don't mind.

I don't mind it when the left criticize him as long as it's not hyperbole or intended to make him look bad. I have some stuff to criticize Obama on some issues but my comptent is for the GOP.

It's hard to respect a party that threw Americans under the bus in opposition to Obama. If I were Obama, I would have lost my cool a long time ago. It's hard to like a party that acts so clownish and tried to bars people from voting by issuing voting ids; that one enraged me and I'm an anarchist! They lowered the credit rating for USA by threatening government shutdowns.

No way in hell I'm going to vote for a party as irresponsible as GOP. I am reconsidering voting for the record though I have my doubts about voting.