I've more than gave Obama a fair chance. I was living in Illinois when he ran for Senate and voted for him (actually I'd have to check who the Green and Libertarian candidates were that year). The point is I have been paying attention to Obama for a long time now and I had a mostly positive regard toward him.
10) Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize eight months into his term. It really bothers me that he didn't think to refuse it and suggest others more worthy. He admitted to being surprised he was nominated. How many achievements were overlooked because Obama got the prize? How much press could Obama have gotten for those achievements if he suggested them in his stead?
9) From ballot tampering to torture, I had high hopes the Bush administration people would be spending a lot of time fighting off the Justice Department. No such luck. Not only has Obama not had the Justice Department go after Bush, he's actually protected them from legal systems in other countries.
8) Obama has continued the Democrat tradition of confusing compromise with caving. Obama starts in the middle and keeps moving towards the GOP. I'd be okay with him shifting to the right or towards Republican voters. But I'm not okay with just giving the GOP whatever they want.
7)Obama was bragging to other world leaders about how great stimulus spending works and how they should try it in other countries. Supporting stimulus spending was presented as an act of desperation- and even then the American people didn't like it.
6) Remember the big oil spill this summer? Do you remember when Obama opened up 167 million acres of American coast to off shore drilling? Obama may be considered our first black president but it's really annoying that so many people assume he's a green president.
5) Obama's pussyfooting on DADT and repealing DOMA has a greater affect than that of other politicians. Obama has to seriously stand up for gay rights because his inaction doesn't stand out in the black community. If Obama would fight for gay rights the black community would notice and it would be clear that homophobia is not acceptable within the community.
4) Obama thinks he's doing such a great job that he thinks progressive voters shouldn't be criticizing him. This highlights to me the difference between liberals and progressives. Liberals want the government to do everything for them. Progressives believe that the way to control government is to take ownership of government. Progressives are activists while Liberals are inactivists. No one should ever be above criticism.
3) Obama is a listener not a leader. Remember when Obama would talk about changing how government is done? I get the impression that after he got in office and picked out his mostly insider staff they started telling him how things work in DC and why they do them that way. If Obama would use some leadership to purpose some bigger picture bills he could force Republicans to vote on bills.
2) Every president is probably guilty of expanding the power of the White House, but that trend should have corrected itself after the Bush administration. Obama is on watch so I expected him to start cleaning up. Instead Obama has expanded the abuses of power. You know how you have a right to a fair trial? Now under Obama, an American citizen, can be executed without trial if they are not on American soil.
1) Obama knows better. Bush was kind of an idiot (not sure if it was by choice or mental capacity), I tried to give him a little slack for being manipulated by his staff. And yes that is what staff does. They are political creatures whose opinions are guided by agenda. Bush probably believed his people care about loyalty. I can tell by the way Obama describes things is that he gets it, but he's letting it happen to him anyway.
One of my best friends says this actually makes Obama worse than Bush, even if the previous administration was slightly more evil. I'm not sure I'd go that far but it is worth noting.
BONUS: In 2007-2008 I created a series of political trading cards for my website.
http://www.nilgravity.com/generalelection.htm
I think alot of Presidents say one thing and do another and alot of them are manipulated by there staff about how things need to be ran, Honestly I don't understand the president anymore he says gays should have the same rights as straights but hasn't said wither he is pro gay marriages. Then he says that marijuana is good for medical purposes but at a press conference says he don't believe that Marijuana would stimulate the economy.And as far as off shore drilling goes we have plenty of places we can drill for oil instead of off seas. Matter of fact if he really is pro green which i don't believe he would find a alternative fuel and for those people against deforestation and are looking for another way to make paper here is your answer and also brings me back to making Marijuana legal it can make ropes,paper,pencils,alternative fuel and uses for medical reasons and im sure everyone out there knows this already but for all the closed box people who are rich and against anything common sense may not know this because there to busy buying new cars and cheating on their wife's. Or the people out there that have the so called normal life because you don't smoke pot or have anything to do with it. That to me don't matter to be honest. Because if we made pot legal we could create lots of factory jobs. Farming,factory that make paper,ropes,etc.Also more Pharmaceutical jobs as well. Any who i got way off subject. Going green is more about saving our planet than it is about what is right and wrong its more about life and death and until everyone can get on the same page this planet may not be around much longer and the President needs to make more logical decisions and watch what he says and do what he says he is gonna do but i don't see that happening to be honest.
ReplyDeleteHe may be proving that executive experience does matter.
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