Good article from an Obama supporter

[sheldon]

Yeah, there's a lot to complain about.... but sometimes maybe we need to take a step back and consider the alternatives!
Take a look at the list of bills, it's fairly impressive.

An Obama Supporter Strikes Back: Points in Defense of the President
By BuzzFlash
Created 08/23/2011 - 5:51pm

DEE EVANS FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

http://blog.buzzflash.com/print/12966

"Regarding those Obama supporters who have now taken the World Wide Web by storm complaining about what President Obama isn't doing, hasn't done or isn't going to do...I have some food for thought.

If you go back and listen to some of Obama's early speeches before his election, he said in nearly every speech that "change is not going to be easy" and that "it's not going to happen overnight" but I think many of us were way too busy listening to the sound of our own clapping to hear any of that.

Obama came into office with a wrecked economy, high unemployment and debt and 2 wars and 2 1/2 years in people are already trying to call him a failure. Bush came into office in peacetime with a budget surplus and we gave him 8 whole years to earn that label. What's wrong with that picture?"

Read the rest:
http://blog.buzzflash.com/print/12966

[Angry Dragon]

1. .............

:popcorn:

[SwampG8r]

2. sigh

i brought some extra visqueen sheets ...want one for some of that popcorn?

[Angry Dragon]

16. Just for you

:popcorn: :popcorn:

[SwampG8r]

22. remember when people used to come here and discuss stuff?

good times

[Angry Dragon]

24. Frustration and fear is ruling the day

People are frustrated because it seems like no one is fighting for them.
Others feel that they have the President on their side.
It almost seems like politics has become a religion.
Either you believe in your leader or if not them you are a heretic.
The questioners are looked at like atheists.

When it really comes down to is what you hold as principles.
If your leader seems not to hold the same principles as you where do you turn
or do you just suck it up and hope for the best.
Where are the leaders of yesterday that had a vision, were willing to fight,
held their principles out in front for others to see.

We have become a nation that measures success by how much money one has.
If very little much money then one is worthless and can be discarded.

[SwampG8r]

25. you got that right

[Blue-Jay]

3. *sigh* This fuckin' place...

[dennis4868]

4. I've been saying this...

for almost 3 years but you have soooo many here who just have an irrational hate for the first black president. I don't believe it's racism but it has to be something bec no other president has been treated like this by both sides...Obama inherited hell and people wanted heaven in 2-4 years and it does not work that way. not in our political environment. Obama gets blamed here for everything even when it's out of his control (example Gittmo). Even when Obama released his long form birth certificate people here at DU were trying to determine if it was real using all kinds of PDF programs. Really crazy.

[CoffeeCat]

9. That makes me so damn angry...

So anyone who dislikes the corporate corruption, warmongering and lack of meaningful healthcare reform under
Obama---is either a birther or someone who has "irrational hate for the first black president"?

That's so frickin insulting and sick, I don't even know what to say to you!

I worked so hard to get Obama elected. I was a precinct captain for him and I stood in a room, on a chair
and gave a speech, hoping to convince everyone in the caucus room to support him. My husband and I wept
the night he was elected. It was one of the most emotional nights of my life.

I truly do despise many of Obama's actions--but I do not despise him personally, nor do I have any sort
of racist, irrational hate.

This is about principals!

Either a President has them, and he doesn't play along with the corruption, lies and crimes----or he doesn't have
them and he continues these crimes.

You insist that people "hate" Obama, when really--it's not about personalities AT ALL, for me anyway. But it
appears that you're all about personality and standing with a President--no matter how bad his policies are.

[dennis4868]

10. thank GOD for Obama...

www.whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com

the most progressive president in the last 50-60 years based on facts and the record.

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. +1

[sabrina 1]

21. Keep your race card to youself. That is the last despicable resort

of anyone who cannot make a case as to why those of us who supported this president should not be furious at this point at how he has handed over every important issue as a bargaining chip to the Republicans.

If all you have is your false and thoroughly disgusting race baiting, all you are doing is proving you cannot defend the utter betrayal of all those who worked hard to get this president elected. Thanks for the admission.

You just accused DUers of being racist. I would edit that if I were you as it not only false, it is against the rules here.

Despicable. And this is an Obama supporter! :eyes:

[Wilms]

5. Go on. I'm listening.

[CoffeeCat]

6. I am so sick and tired of people repeating...

...that "change isn't easy" and "change doesn't happen over night".

It's not about the CHANGE.

It's the fact that Obama has failed to lead on Progressive issues, and he has miserably failed to live
up to SPECIFIC campaign promises as well as his GENERAL overarching promise of "hope and change".

We still live in a country engulfed in corporate corruption--where greedy corporations bribe our
politicians in order to get a nice big menu of legislation and deregulation that shits on us
and lines the pockets of billionaires. Obama denounced this corruption!

Obama touted the fact that he had been against the Iraq war. He led us to believe that he
was not a warmongering neocon. The LAST thing I expected, was that Obama would continue
the neocon game--with Libya and Syria. The neocons spell it out--Iraq, Iran, Syria and Libya
are first on their hit list. ...I'm not happy!

Obama promised that he would return Habeas Corpus. He didn't!

Obama promised real change on healthcare reform. We will have the health-insurance industry calling
the shots with their profit-centric model that harms patients and even causes death. There is no
real reform--we got a few crumbs thrown at us, but the health-insurance big wigs saw a 30 percent
increase in profits and there were no cost controls put in that bill. Not what he campaigned on!

Obama gave many campaign speeches at Union venues, with hundreds of union members in attendance. Obama
said he stood with the unions. He's done nothing of the sort as President. Barely said a whimper during
the Wisconsin crisis, and most recently, he told unions that they would have to "compromise".

Obama promised to fix the economy and we were led to believe that he would do it FDR style. Not in the slightest!

Obama promised to FUND education and he specifically criticized No Child Left Behind as an "unfunded mandated". He
relentlessly promised more support for teachers. And look now...we're marching toward privatization faster than ever.

He said he would close Guantanamo. Whooops!

Look, I could go on and on and on with the broken promises, backpedaling and Republican and corporate kow towing
that has happened with Obama.

The problem is---he is not there LEADING when it comes to basic Democratic principles. Meanwhile, the banks
get whatever the hell they want, the health-insurance lobby is giddy and the neocons are sleeping well. He
has not been a LEADER--leveraging Democratic ideals.

We understand that change is hard, but you know what? It's damn near impossible when your own Democratic
President isn't fighting for that change--as he promised he would!

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[CoffeeCat]

12. But he doesn't stand up and fight for any of this!

Let's take Gitmo for example. Obama repeatedly said he would close it and he
gave very eloquent reasons for doing so.

The last time we heard one of those hopeful, "I"m going to close Guantanamo and here's why"
speeches, was during the campaign.

Yes, we all know the Republicans are big and bad. Oh, they're so scary! Oh noes...they won't hand
over the funding and make it easy for Obama. Big shocker.

Take your case to the American people. Stand up for what you believe in and what you said
during the campaign and FIGHT for it. Give speeches around the country and galvanize your
BASE around supporting this issue. LEAD, for Pete's sake! Carry the mantle for getting
it done.

He's barely said anything about it...he certainly hasn't fought for closing!

That's my point!

Yes, people who don't get things done, always have excuses. For once, I'd like to see Obama
fighting like hell for the public option or for returning Habeas Corpus or closing Guantanamo--instead
of repeatedly hearing how scary and daunting those big, meanie Republicans are.

That's what REALLY gets old...the lame excuses for doing and fighting for NOTHING,

[jaxx]

13. What are you doing about it?

Besides griping? Are you taking it to the Congress people and demanding that they do something, like pass bills with what you want in them? Or are you going to just demand that the President do it all?

The old lame excuse it's all his fault has gotten you nowhere. Where is your responsibility?

[dennis4868]

15. he fought for Gittmo...

just bec you don't pay attention enough doesn;t mean something is not happening...and with affordable care act a hell of alot of good came out of that law...no other prez in 50 years has done as much in this area...again, perfect change takes time...change was slow with the end of slavery, medicare, SS, etc...

[Angry Dragon]

20. Gittmo is an easy one ......... congress is mostly to blame for

the non-closure ........

To me President Obama has let this country down on the big issues. I know there are web sites stating the bills that have passed.
However the big things that have gone by the wayside will negate them. HCR done behind closed doors. Promised transparency denied.
Prosecution of bank fraud denied. Dodd-Frank attacked every day. Two budget plans negotiated behind closed doors. Transparency denied. Home foreclosure could have been stopped until investigations ran their course. Denied.
Arrests for war crimes. Denied. Claps his hands when a city fires all of its teachers. No union support.
Fighting for 3 more trade agreements so we can lose more jobs. Poor choice of cabinet and advisors.
To me these are some of the big things that he has failed on. These are the things that matter.
If gays can marry is important, but if they lose their jobs, have no place to live, it will not matter.

I have a right to determine what is important to me. I feel this President has failed me and this country.

[akbacchus_BC]

7. Thank you for this reminder but you have to know that President Obama

won with a lot of support and what did he do? Reneged on Gitmo, single payer medical care, out of Iraq and the list goes on. He should realise that working with the GOP is a lost cause. He wasted his popularity with the effin bipartisan shit! Hope McClurkin not on the agenda if he gets reelected!

I still support him but my vote does not count.

[sheldon]

14. I agree, he could have made better use

Of the support he got, and the democratic control of house and senate. Although, many democrats seem to lean pretty hard to the right, which might explain why a republican majority gets whatever they want, and a democratic majority gets very little.
I still think he's a very brilliant guy, and he "gets it", I just wish he'd be a more effective leader on a lot of things.

[akbacchus_BC]

18. I agree with you, however, President Obama needs to shelve the

bipartisan shit. The GOP hates him and wants him to fail, so fuck them and he should adhere to his campaign promises!

He needs an advocate and only Al Sharpton is there for him, where the fuck is Jesse Jackson and that clown Harold, busy kissing ass I guess!

No other President in the US came in with such political power and President Obama blew it, no wonder people are so frustrated with him!

[sheldon]

26. Yeah, it's almost bizarre.

The GOP/Teabagger/Rightwing is hell-bent on his destruction, and he still bends over backwards for them.
A big part of me wants him to call them out, and start kicking some ass.

[jaxx]

11. K&R

Ignore the crap posted over and over and over about he didn't do this or that. Also you will need to ignore congress since they pass the bills that didn't close Gitmo etc.

Thanks for the post!

[akbacchus_BC]

19. You serious! He escalated the fucking invasion in Iraq and hello Pakistan!

[Scurrilous]

23. K & R

:thumbsup:

[PufPuf23]

27. For some reason this thread reminds me of the Fugs and Saran Rap. nt.

[hfojvt]

28. kinda lame right from the start

"Obama came into office with a wrecked economy, high unemployment and debt and 2 wars and 2 1/2 years in people are already trying to call him a failure. Bush came into office in peacetime with a budget surplus and we gave him 8 whole years to earn that label. What's wrong with that picture?"

Huh? I think I was calling Bush an idiotic lying sack of crap as far back as Feb. 2000 or soon after he announced his candidacy?

Then there's the list at the end. There seems to be a whole lot of tiny little things on that list, like this "No. 332, Add another Space Shuttle flight."

Woah, I did not know that. Well, I guess that makes up for extending the Bush tax cuts, lying about it, and then promoting cuts to social security and also trickle down economics for job creation. With another space shuttle flight, all is forgiven. Now if he would only use the private sector to improve space flight. THAT would really turn things around for this country.

That Obama was a compromiser instead of a fighter? Huh? I took Obama over Hillary because Hillary is a DLCer. That's not my idea of a fighter. The only people Hillary seemed willing to fight in the campaign was the left blogosphere. Otherwise she never stood for anything except her own inevitability. Some things she now has in common with Obama. Obama didn't say he was gonna compromise. He said he was gonna create CHANGE. He told us, 'yes we can'.

Further, I would not mind some compromising. However, it does not fit my idea of a 'compromise' when the other side gets 97% of what they wanted. Again, compare the proposals in this link http://www.ctj.org/pdf/taxcompromise2010.pdf

Obama's original proposal was 13.3% of the tax cuts going to the top 1% (something that was itself already a compromise). The Republican proposal was for 26.1% of the tax cuts to goto the top 1%. What did they 'compromise' on? 25.4%. Excuse me for thinking that that is about the worst compromise ever. 25.4% is much much closer to 26.1% than it is to 13.3% to say nothing of the 4% that I would have like to see.

Obama's original proposal was already too top heavy (that is, generous to the rich). Under his plan, the bottom 40% only would get 13.9% of the tax cuts. The Republican plan gave the bottom 40% only 7.4%. The surrender only gave the bottom 40% 9.2%. Again, 9.2 is much closer to 7.4 than it is to 13.9. That's not a compromise, it is capitulation.