To those disappointed in President Obama:

[Deja Q]

What would you want him to say to reassure you for the future? I mean, hearing "5 months isn't long enough" from all of us here on planet Earth isn't going to reassure you, so what will?

(Please try to keep this limited to the economy, and in a civil format, but I am also grounded in reality so feel free to discuss whatever reasons or excuses you want for not liking him.)

[lame54]

1. first you start with disappointed and then end with not liking him...

Not necessarily the same thing

[lib2DaBone]

2. I love Pres Obama.. I voted for him and I would again....

BUT.. I know that he can't solve our current economic mess by using the same people that caused the problem in the first place.

Tim Geithner, Larry Summers, BOA, AIG, Billions of dollars paid to German Banks and Swiss Banks....the Federal Rewserve LOST Trillions of Dollars they can't account for and they are not even concerned?

If I could say one thing to Pres Obama.. it would be JOBS JOBS JOBS. No one is talking about stopping the off shoring and bringing our jobs home.

[DJ13]

3. Reaffirm the he intends to actually follow through on his campaign promises

Of course, several have already ended up in the dustbin, so that wont happen.

[stray cat]

7. Which ones will not be completed by 2012 which he said would be completed by then?

I think with Iraq he promised a time table but that it would depend on the situation on the ground. I know he and Biden have always said they are pro-civil unions.

[madaboutharry]

4. To be totally honest, I don't know how to feel

right now. I think he is a deeply sincere and caring person. I think he is intellectually brilliant. And I think he knows things that only those in the highest positions of power are privy too. I understand that he can not go into The White House and change our country and our culture overnight. I understand that he has to deal with an opposition party that trades in ugliness. I just don't know if I am disappointed or if I should be. Does that make sense?

on edit: Would I work on his campaign and vote for him again? Absolutely.

[960]

5. I'd like him to stop saying anything. I already know his beautiful words are worthless.

GET TO WORK ON PROGRESSIVE REFORMS NOW!

[timeforpeace]

6. "As promised, we're out of Iraq and Afghanistan"

That will do it. Otherwise, what was it we voted him in for? People are dying. Still. Not reported anymore, but it's happening.

[stray cat]

8. Check out the promise, his time line and what he said about the situation on the ground.

I don't have to keep a promise I never made.

[latebloomer]

9. Actually, he made it clear during the campaign that he would escalate

the war in Afghanistan, and that he would take quite a while getting out of Iraq.

One of the things that dismayed me back then.

[lib2DaBone]

17. Iraq costs $430 Million a day. Yet we argure about health care?

[cherokeeprogressive]

29. 1.9 American lives have been lost for every day we've been Iraq.

Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of innocent lives that have been lost.

4312 lives / 2278 days

[readmoreoften]

21. I'll accept "We're out of Iraq and Afghanistan". I don't really care about his promises.

(Not that he does either.) I'd like him to be the person many progressive voters thought he was.

[Marr]

10. When you say., "five months isn't long enough"...

you're kind of updating the old, "he's only been in office for six weeks!" line, correct?

Most of the disappointment I've heard have been based around Obama's statements about his own plans and intentions. It's not that he hasn't been able to accomplish this or that agenda item *fast enough*, it's that he announced that he has no interest in pursuing it at all.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

11. I backed him, and I still back him .....

I don't pretend even to begin to understand the problems he assumed on January 20, 2009, so I'm going to go on faith - something I really do not usually exhibit or even feel - and believe that he's going to do the best anyone can do with such a miserable mess.

That said, I also believe our country is beyond saving. I think our time for "recovery" has passed, our debt to China is too large for us ever to get out of the hole, and our lack of a manufacturing sector shows absolutely no signs of ever returning.

So, I think we're doomed. I honestly do. I'm just enjoying the ride ..........................

[ZombieHorde]

12. "What would you want him to say to reassure you for the future?"

I want to hear him say; "Zombiehorde will be getting tons of money by Monday. I have personally made a direct deposit into his bank account."

(I am not making fun of either side here, I am just being silly. I don't post often about economic issues because I am not sure what should be done.)

[DesertFlower]

13. i voted for him and i would again.

i just hope he demands that we have a public health care option.

[Bluebear]

14. 'Please try to keep this limited to the economy' -Why?

[mmonk]

15. Why do you want it limited to the economy?

And personally I don't care for your insult. If you're calling for a discussion to be civil, you don't insult the other person. In doing so, you ended your conversation with me and probably others.

[QC]

16. He could make the go go boys put on pants. n/t

[lib2DaBone]

18. Hoo Boy.. people please.. we are in deep crap here....

The United States is going to crash unless people can unite behind a central idea.

Obama has the chance to save this country... almost every American out there can lay out a plan to get us out of this shit. So where is this public voice?

Millions of ordinary workers can see it.. all of American can see it it... why can't Obama?

We need jobs, we need industry, we need American built cars, we need the troops home from Iraq, we need new high speed rail, we need new electric, we need health Care..

C'mon Folks.. it's not all that complicated. Either our elected leaders support a country free of the Federal Reserve.. or we all ALL going to crash and burn with he assholes on Faux News.

[QC]

19. OK, I would like to see him go up against a powerful interest for the sake of the people.

EFCA, say, or genuine health care reform.

Something real, with a significant chance of defeat. A little boldness, instead of the endless calibrating and triangulating that we have seen so far.

That would make me feel very hopeful, even if we lost.

[readmoreoften]

24. I'm with ya. If he showed an ounce of backbone it'd go along way.

I mean stem cell research and scribbling a signature on Lily Ledbetter hardly shows groundbreaking initiative.

[QC]

26. Yeah, backbone. I am getting ugly flashbacks to Bill Clinton here.

I liked Bill in many ways, but there was one thing I hated: he would trample his friends underfoot in his rush to embrace his enemies. He seemed convinced that if he just gave in to them one more time they would finally love him. It was ugly, and now it looks like we are in for more of it.

[readmoreoften]

22. He can see it.

He just doesn't give a shit.

[armyowalgreens]

20. I think I'm more pissed off about what he has done and how he has done it.

Also I'm pissed that he ignores gay rights issues.

[readmoreoften]

23. Yeah, I'm not so upset about what he "hasn't done." I'm not into the stuff he does.

Like the whole push into Pakistan. The surge in Afghanistan. The loopholes to keep Bagram and other black hole sites open. The bailouts. Preventative Detention. The creation of the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives.

[armyowalgreens]

25. Bingo.

[QC]

27. Yeah, that's why I am heartily sick of the "IT'S ONLY BEEN {__} DAYS!1!!1!!" routine.

My problem is not that he hasn't done much, but that so much of what he has done sucks.

[bigjohn16]

28. He could say that there are certain things we will never throw to the wolves of capitalism.

Like health care. As for the economy it looks like to me that all his administration is doing is patching up the bubble I haven't seen any major policies that will regulate our carnivorous capitalist system. I want him to break up any company that is "too big to fail" and put regulation in place to limit the size of banks and insurance companies so we can never hear that term again and we never have other cancerous companies bring our economy to it's knees again. He doesn't have to get everything done in the first 5 months but I'd still like to see the road map so I know where we're going because at this point I'm not really sure where he stand on many issues.