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Obama's presidency review(A summary)
9 years ago
"Justice Is Fairness
Discipline is Honor
Honesty is Nobility"
-Taladrian
Discipline is Honor
Honesty is Nobility"
-Taladrian
Well despite all the pundits say, and especially what the president elect has been saying, was Obama's presidency really that bad? Statistically and taking in information on everything that happened in his administration over the past 8 years I would say...the president elect is mostly either wrong, or gives half truths about really anything he talks about(like a stopped watch he does give a good point every now and then),and so my quick answer would be, it's a mixed bag, he did some good things, failed or did some questionable things, but under the circumstances he did alright in my opinion given how volatile and tense the political situation has been, so let's focus on the numbers that we have at hand here are a few links to take a look for yourself.
http://www.factcheck.org/2016/10/ob.....r-2016-update/
http://www.npr.org/2017/01/19/51049.....by-the-numbers
https://geopoliticsmadesuper.com/20.....-barack-obama/
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/da.....or-the-economy
So what has he accomplished? This video gives a rundown on that.
From all the data I have gathered I would give Obama an average grade, he certainly did better than Bush, but could've been better, economically he helped the US get back on its feet, cut the unemployment rate by half, saved the country from further economic damage. He's also notable for furthering the rights of LGBT, by taking down don't ask don't tell and helping to implement marriage equality throughout the country, which is similar to previous instances where the Federal state and its supreme court had to intervene to further the rights of political minorities(aka like women, ethnic minorities and sexual minorities), so I think it was definitely a step forward.
He tried the first real step in healthcare reform that the US has yet to solve, and will continue to try everything else before we join the rest of the first world in having universal health coverage. Obama could've done better but with a hostile GOP congress,the Affordable Care Act he had to do a lot of compromises to the point that it made it not perform as well as it should have, but nonetheless the uninsured was cut by about 2/3, but I think he could've done better. Though in 2009 Obama proposed the Public Option which I think would've done better, forcing the for-profit health insurance companies to lower their prices(which if you've watched the news lately, they are reasons why I'm against having the profit motive in healthcare), but the GOP would have none of that, which I found very frustrating, something every first world nation all have is so hard to have in the US, yet we can afford the best military in the world. To me the ACA has done some good but it has its problems, but it's something, it's better than nothing. The GOP had 8 years to come up with a viable, alternative they are several models to choose from by looking at other nations all of which are cheaper than our ad-hoc system we have now, to me the fact Obama at least tried something was better than the GOP was proposing and until they come up with a better, coherent plan based on a system that actually works, I'd be against a repeal of the ACA.
He was pretty decent in foreign policy in general, though with the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan not that great, given the drone bombings I found very troubling during his presidency, which he intensified the use of drones that Bush started(which I oppose).He failed to help Syria where we could've done a lot of good in preventing the country from total collapse, but by then we were war weary so I understand why we didn't help. We intervened over the past two decades almost where we shouldn't have and didn't intervene when we should've. In terms of national security and civil liberties, he practically continued what Bush has started, sometimes expanded that, so to me he didn't do well in that.
In terms of scandals, despite bs from tabloids Obama didn't have things that were similar to the Contra Affair of Reagan or the Iraq debacle with GW Bush, or Clinton's fuck up in Mogadishu though Benghazi was definitely a fuck up, it wasn't as big in terms of scale, the new president elect I think had way more scandals than Obama ever did.
Obama's presidency despite him trying to compromise seemed to make this country more divided than ever, I mean even when Obama tried to promote a politically moderate supreme court judge, Marrick Garland, they still didn't want to confirm him mostly out of spite, despite I think what the hell did they expect for a Democrat president to appoint? A conservative judge? Another Scalia? I don't think so, the fact the tried to compromise with Garland I think was a good move, but nonetheless, they refused to confirm him. I never seen how vicious people were towards a president in my life, I didn't see this type of viciousness with Bush but to me the only president now that will recieve more flak is the president elect though a lot of that is because of things he actually said and done or wants to do.
But would the president elect do any better? I think absolutely not, I highly doubt he'd be anything more than a one term president and probably will be impeached at this rate. To me there's not much of a comparison between Obama having a degree in law, with Trump who's a billionaire who's very questionable in his business ethics and not to mention has no tact, manners or hardly any knowledge on the subject matter he speaks me, and for me as an aspiring academic I find insulting. Where my family is from, they experienced unregulated capitalism that ravaged their countries. I think at best Trump has the capacity to do some good like in trade(both Trump and Sanders advocated Protectionism) however, there's a huge difference between Trump and Sanders in their moral character, which to me I cannot be behind the president elect as a Muslim. Though within the next week I'll probably analylze Trump's proposals and see if they can work or are they even constitutional.
Final verdict: Mixed, Average given the circumstances, some good, some bad, some inconclusive, but overall better than GW Bush in my opinion but not as good as say Bill Clinton's presidency, or perhaps HW Bush.
But anyway, Obama's two term presidency has many many issues to be discussed so it's difficult to summarize it all in one short journal but I hope it starts a conversation and give people an idea.
http://www.factcheck.org/2016/10/ob.....r-2016-update/
http://www.npr.org/2017/01/19/51049.....by-the-numbers
https://geopoliticsmadesuper.com/20.....-barack-obama/
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/da.....or-the-economy
So what has he accomplished? This video gives a rundown on that.
From all the data I have gathered I would give Obama an average grade, he certainly did better than Bush, but could've been better, economically he helped the US get back on its feet, cut the unemployment rate by half, saved the country from further economic damage. He's also notable for furthering the rights of LGBT, by taking down don't ask don't tell and helping to implement marriage equality throughout the country, which is similar to previous instances where the Federal state and its supreme court had to intervene to further the rights of political minorities(aka like women, ethnic minorities and sexual minorities), so I think it was definitely a step forward.
He tried the first real step in healthcare reform that the US has yet to solve, and will continue to try everything else before we join the rest of the first world in having universal health coverage. Obama could've done better but with a hostile GOP congress,the Affordable Care Act he had to do a lot of compromises to the point that it made it not perform as well as it should have, but nonetheless the uninsured was cut by about 2/3, but I think he could've done better. Though in 2009 Obama proposed the Public Option which I think would've done better, forcing the for-profit health insurance companies to lower their prices(which if you've watched the news lately, they are reasons why I'm against having the profit motive in healthcare), but the GOP would have none of that, which I found very frustrating, something every first world nation all have is so hard to have in the US, yet we can afford the best military in the world. To me the ACA has done some good but it has its problems, but it's something, it's better than nothing. The GOP had 8 years to come up with a viable, alternative they are several models to choose from by looking at other nations all of which are cheaper than our ad-hoc system we have now, to me the fact Obama at least tried something was better than the GOP was proposing and until they come up with a better, coherent plan based on a system that actually works, I'd be against a repeal of the ACA.
He was pretty decent in foreign policy in general, though with the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan not that great, given the drone bombings I found very troubling during his presidency, which he intensified the use of drones that Bush started(which I oppose).He failed to help Syria where we could've done a lot of good in preventing the country from total collapse, but by then we were war weary so I understand why we didn't help. We intervened over the past two decades almost where we shouldn't have and didn't intervene when we should've. In terms of national security and civil liberties, he practically continued what Bush has started, sometimes expanded that, so to me he didn't do well in that.
In terms of scandals, despite bs from tabloids Obama didn't have things that were similar to the Contra Affair of Reagan or the Iraq debacle with GW Bush, or Clinton's fuck up in Mogadishu though Benghazi was definitely a fuck up, it wasn't as big in terms of scale, the new president elect I think had way more scandals than Obama ever did.
Obama's presidency despite him trying to compromise seemed to make this country more divided than ever, I mean even when Obama tried to promote a politically moderate supreme court judge, Marrick Garland, they still didn't want to confirm him mostly out of spite, despite I think what the hell did they expect for a Democrat president to appoint? A conservative judge? Another Scalia? I don't think so, the fact the tried to compromise with Garland I think was a good move, but nonetheless, they refused to confirm him. I never seen how vicious people were towards a president in my life, I didn't see this type of viciousness with Bush but to me the only president now that will recieve more flak is the president elect though a lot of that is because of things he actually said and done or wants to do.
But would the president elect do any better? I think absolutely not, I highly doubt he'd be anything more than a one term president and probably will be impeached at this rate. To me there's not much of a comparison between Obama having a degree in law, with Trump who's a billionaire who's very questionable in his business ethics and not to mention has no tact, manners or hardly any knowledge on the subject matter he speaks me, and for me as an aspiring academic I find insulting. Where my family is from, they experienced unregulated capitalism that ravaged their countries. I think at best Trump has the capacity to do some good like in trade(both Trump and Sanders advocated Protectionism) however, there's a huge difference between Trump and Sanders in their moral character, which to me I cannot be behind the president elect as a Muslim. Though within the next week I'll probably analylze Trump's proposals and see if they can work or are they even constitutional.
Final verdict: Mixed, Average given the circumstances, some good, some bad, some inconclusive, but overall better than GW Bush in my opinion but not as good as say Bill Clinton's presidency, or perhaps HW Bush.
But anyway, Obama's two term presidency has many many issues to be discussed so it's difficult to summarize it all in one short journal but I hope it starts a conversation and give people an idea.
He did support gay rights but gay marriage was decided by the Supreme Court. Obama had little direct influence on that decision though he supported it verbally.
How was the ACA a compromise? The GOP never supported it so it didn't represent anything that they wanted. It was passed the Democrats had full control of congress.
I don't know how you can rate his foreign policy as "decent."
Bush never had any real scandals either. The claim that he lied about Iraq is false. He was given bad intelligence but he did not deliberately lie to deceive people. Even though you don't like Bush, you have to admit that Bush showed decency as president on a personal level.
Again, you say Obama tried to compromise and it's all the stubborn Republicans fault but where did Obama compromise? Where are the examples of him reaching out across the isle? I don't think Garland was an attempt to compromise. Garland may have been relatively moderate as a judge but he was a liberal and keep in mind he was going to be a replacement for a strongly conservative, originalist justice (Scalia). It's kind of understandable why Republicans would reject him as a candidate given the unique context of the situation.
The ACA was to win over moderate Democrats/Republicans to prevent a filibuster who would have otherwise likely pushed through single-payer if Kennedy hadn't keeled over so quickly.
From torture to the Patriot Act to the butching of the Bill of Rights, Bush was an ethical clusterfuck. Obama wasn't a star in that area either, but Bush was on another level.
Obama was a moderate, the tea party is the one that has pushed the Republican party to the right of Reagan. All taxes are theft, equality is overrated, economic growth is priority #1 at the expense of everything else.
The Democrats held a majority of seats, but never enough to avoid a filibuster. A bill must have at least 60% approval to bring it to the floor for a final vote. This means that at least [some] Republicans had to vote yea on this bill. ObamaCare was basically repackaged RomneyCare. I am curious as to what will replace it.
Mr. Trump isn't going to be able to run this Nation through Executive Orders and Twitter. At some point, he is going to have to deal with the House and Senate. He stepped on a LOT of toes on both sides of the political aisle on his way to the Oval Office. I don't expect anyone on Capitol Hill has forgotten this. Some of his key cabinet member choices leaves me wondering if the corporate takeover of United States is nearing its completion.
Supreme Court Justices should NEVER show political/ideological preference. Their sole function is to interpret federal law in a fair, balanced, and unbiased manner, not to uphold partisan policy. Anything beyond that borders on corruption.
-Fast and Furious gunrunning with weapons that ended up killing French people in the Paris attacks
-The Colorado river being turned orange by the EPA
-The General Services Administration partying in Vegas on the taxpayer's dollar
-The IRS targeting of conservative groups
-The fucking Iranian nuclear deal which has no guarantees of nuclear reduction because the unfrozen assets mean the Iranians can purchase pre-fabricated nukes or refined nuclear material and which bypassed Congress entirely
-Flint's water going 1000 days without being drinkable and fuck-all being done about it
And then the dumb bastard has the gall to try and authorize the transfer of 220 million to the PLO because lol. Who gives a fuck about the Israelis maintaining a safe, sovereign state?
And there are many more I missed, but that's what immediately stuck out. What a joke.
http://www.factcheck.org/2016/10/ob.....r-2016-update/
What I'm saying is, he did some good, some controversial and he screwed up in a lot of ways as well,i especially opposed his drone policy and continuing many of Bush's policies, especially on the Patriot Act and the NSA, but I still find him a bit better than Bush and certainly better than Trump.
i did something similar to it