How do you think Obama is doing since he took office?  I want your opinion.

Usually, asking if Obama is doing a good job on an internet forum is like asking a sorority girl to explain the tax code… a lot of hot air and not a lot of substance.

That being said, I do not get into the mud slinging and the ‘blame Obama because he’s Obama’ sort of thing.  I do think that on a situation-by-situation basis he has a nasty habit of making poor decisions either meaning that (a) he is listening to terrible advisors or (b) he is disconnected with reality.  I’d believe it was a mixture of the two.  You just don’t do campaign speeches and rallies for political allies while there is a troop request sitting on your desk (at least not when the strategy of the war is swinging on that single request).

Honestly, even when he does something I kind of like, he somehow finds a way to put his own flavor of failure on it.  Abandoning the stationary missile sites for Aegis systems is an outstanding idea, and I was one of the few conservatives applauding him.  That being said, you don’t go public with a highly classified system like that which is still in Naval development and in, for all intensive purposes, R&D.  Sometimes taking it slow is a good thing, Barry.

Usually, asking if Obama is doing a good job on an internet forum is like asking a sorority girl to explain the tax code… a lot of hot air and not a lot of substance.

Not cool.

I’ll agree with you on him making really poor decisions…..not talking to his commander on the ground for seventy days…..that was crazy….not doing anything about Iran, when hundreds of thousands of young adults were being killed for what they believed in….and don’t get me started on the Harvard incident…..plus, during his campaign, Obama said that he would be towards the center, but when he got elected, he went to the left, the far left…..

I have hear people even try to make the comment that “well, you can’t argue that as a person, he is a LOT better than that snake-in-the-grass, Bush”.  Let me explain a big difference behind the PEOPLE of B. H. Obama and G. W. Bush. 

Bush was a very plain-spoken leader-centric person.  He got the information he needed/wanted and made a decision.  Nor Hell, nor high water, he was going to do what he thought was best, let you know what HE thought was best, and acted on it so far as his powers allowed him.  Like it or not, that’s what makes a good President.  Andrew Jackson expanded the borders of the US to the dismay of Congress.  FDR went to war with two massive military powerhouses when most military advisors and much of congress said it couldn’t be won.  Reagan ended upwards of 3 decades of 50-90% taxes on some Americans to revitalize a stable economy more so than any other had in the past.  Agree with his decisions or not, Bush was not an eloquent politician, he was a leader.

Obama is a charismatic speaker and a diplomat.  He knows how to speak to an individual and get a good “feel” on a crowd.  Unfortunately, when you are President, “Chief Diplomat” is only one aspect of being President.  He doesn’t so much have Secretaries as he does “chiefs” that do his roles for him.  When he needs to act on part of the state, he sends his secretary to it rather then evaluating if he NEEDS to be there, personally, to show Russia the US’s full devotion to an Iranian plan.  When he feels there is a pandemic and everyone needs to be aware, he doesn’t get on TV and address the nation in a singular, one-statement message (de facto avoiding all hints of partisanship), rather he gets on Leno and talks about issues that he wants to have passed (like Climate Change, Healthcare, and other initiatives that were statistical non-issues with the majority of the electorate going into FY09.  Bottom line is that Obama is a president who wants to leverage his office to create a society that he thinks is best for the nation.  I feel he honestly believes he is doing best for the nation, but that doesn’t mean he has his priorities in line or that his charisma translates to leadership.  Even liberal bloggers are saying he needs to “Bush-up” a little if he REALLY believes in healthcare as much as he claims.

When Bush was in office, as much as I dislike the Newt Gingrich Neo-Con Republicans, I knew what I was getting, and I like that in my leader.  I also want a leader that has a plan backed by non-partisans and acts on it.  Anyone looked at the results of his border patrol initiatives, the relative stability of Iraq and the amount of time the country was rebuilt compared to historical precedence, and his anti-terrorism programs (DoHS)?  As much as anti-Bush people may hate to say it, they were and are still successful.  Whether Obama inherited anything or not, that doesn’t excuse his poor judgement and when I see him making poor decisions that are negatively affecting the economy and state of our forces abroad, I refuse to push this on Bush.  The last administrations made as many mistakes as many other well chronicled administrations, but if you are going to call him “the dumb monkey in the white house”, then you can’t tell me he single-handedly brought down the US economy (US president doesn’t physically have that kind of power… as Obama is learning the hard way).  Truth be told, I don’t think Obama is this stupid.  Someone gave him some of the swamp-politics Kool-Aid and is feeding him bad advice as well as bad statistics to back up his bad decisions.  His approval is about a wash.  His approval amongst likely voters is in the red.  He is letting troops die senselessly in Afghanistan while he sits here, plays more golf in 9 months than Bush did in 2.5 years, and sits at home going on TV shows at night pushing his hobbies through congress.

Whether you think the Iraq war was ill-concieved or not, I don’t really care at this point.  There was a dictator that no one will say was a good man and a hostile government towards the United States.  Our troops were sent there to route him out and establish a friendly democracy in an otherwise hostile region.  I work on the “think tank” side of things in my occupation and from a non-partisan position, that mission was accomplished.  Obama, on the other hand, is not necessarily sending more troops, but is instead doing something much worse: giving the existing troops insufficient force structure to mount any sort of tactical offensive.  Basically, Obama is saying he is not escalating war to his base while telling the best trained, equipped, and capable military in the world “sorry I can’t send back-up to help reduce casualties but…. I got an election to think of!”

Think what you want of Bush, but at least his “yes” was a “yes” and his “no” was a “no”.  Obama is a charismatic speaker, but a weak leader.  The public is picking up on this and it makes his liberal plans seem even more ridiculous.  Bush-up, Obama.

LeAnn - 26 October 2009 06:27 PM

Usually, asking if Obama is doing a good job on an internet forum is like asking a sorority girl to explain the tax code… a lot of hot air and not a lot of substance.

Not cool.

I agree not cool

Some people do not feel the need to enter a debate about the president and his job for a number of reasons. Some feel it is too soon and some may also feel that their opinions will not greatly be liked and will not want to be attacked in a sense…which has happen before on PW.

I do not have a long winded explanation or opinion, but I did vote I do not care. In a sense, because what can be done? Just because we do not like how he is leading, there is very little we can do, takes a lot to get rid of president. A lot of people hated Bush, but he was there until the end. Nothing we say or argue will change the fact, that he is indeed our president. We may not like how he is leading, but he is leading. There will always be people who believe they can do a better job and know more then he does. I think the fact we forget a lot is we are not in his shoes and there is a whole lot we do not know and will never know. We can not look through his eyes, it is simply impossible.

We may not like the man, but he is our President and will be for a few more years. We have to respect him, he is doing something.

plus the more he is in the news, the less I have to hear about Palin, which makes me happy. I hope she fades away, but I know she thinks she is all that and a bag of chips and she may want to run this county, but she never will. She does not have it, not because she is a woman, but because she is the wrong woman to ever do it.

I think the sentiment amongst people who are activists during all this is that Obama is OBVIOUSLY swayed by public opinion.  Also, it is important for the silent majority sitting at home to see that when they go “wait a minute, I don’t think I agree with the president or most of the media outlets”, they are not alone.

Furthermore, don’t get anyone’s intentions wrong here.  This isn’t just about Obama.  Obama just seems to symbolize all that is extreme on the left and I think the backlash you are seeing is from that.  I respect the office of the presidency, but this was not a man that by heavenly intervention was born into this position.  All things happen under God’s rule, but God also gave his creation free-will and, at times, lets us sit in our own mess (hence the public support over Hitler and the Soviet rise in Russia).  I believe with all my heart that Obama was elected because the free-will of mankind in America voted for this man and now God is letting us sit in what we made.  You know, Judea didn’t always have great leader either…

I respect the white house, and my job makes sure of that.  That being said, I don’t agree with him, don’t respect the individual “Barack Hussein Obama”, and I don’t think that it accomplishes nothing by voicing my discomfort in his agenda and the agendas of all those in Congress behind him.  Maybe not everyone paid attention, but I saw all of the senators and representatives caught up in fear and surprise at their voters’ anger when they went home in August.  The Democrats control both bodies of congress, the white house, and had a majority of the electorate behind them in May, yet we stand here with no Cap and Trade or Healthcare bill.  Don’t tell me disapproving of the President and his agenda doesn’t accomplish anything.

Interesting side note:  This isn’t an attack on you, Gail, but remember that when Bush made decisions on his intelligence reports, he was accused of being a war monger, a mindless shell to the war-machine, and a foolish cowboy.  I didn’t hear ANYONE saying, “we need to cut him some slack because none of us will ever be in the position he is in and we will never be able to see these decision through his eyes.”  I don’t give Obama crap because I “got my feelings hurt”;  That just leads to mudslinging.  That being said, I don’t feel sorry for Obama when he receives all this mess because I have yet to hear him congratulate President Bush on… well… anything.  The instant he gives his predecessor credit for the upturn in Iraq, the downturn in illegal immigration, his anti-drug initiatives, and his support of bi-partisan legislation (Porkulus Bill) at the end of his presidency, I will feel sorry for Obama and defend him in passing conversations with those you attack him.

Am I happy with some of the decisions he has made? Not at all.  But he is our president and so I will respect that… The only thing I can say is that everyday I pray that God would speak to him and tell him what he needs to do to bring our country and other countries closer to Him.

Good point, Gail…..We do have to respect him….and I do….It’s just SO HARD to do that when he makes decisions that America does not like, and then he doesn’t even bother to explain why he made those choices…and if they will work ( i.e, Healthcare, KSM trial in NYC, etc.)  Let’s take the KSM trial for example.  Obama wants to give this psychotic, homicidal maniac trial in Civilian court instead of a military tribunal…..and if this goes down, I can tell you that it will be nothing but a Anti-American, Anti- US government, hate spewing circus…..I find it hard to respect the man when he makes up decisions like this…

I respect the office of the presidency (i.e., I will follow orders without question and do what needs to be done).  There is NOTHING that states you have to respect the individual politician or his opinions.  It’s a fine line, but even the DoD (i.e., those under direct order of the president) is allowed to actively participate in partisan politics (without using their job title).  The “established authority’ is the congress as a whole, the office of the presidency, and the judiciary.  Nothing about that, or our Constitution, implies that you must agree with or like the individual occupying that office, but only that you should obey them until their term is up.

Personally, I am resolved to treat Obama a bit better then liberals and anti-Bush critics treated the previous administration.  I do think it is ironic when people criticized his speech, but get offended when you criticize Obama’s use of teleprompters or when they criticized Cheney’s connections to a private corporation but laud Obama’s connections to corrupt social organizations.  In the end, I walked away from the last 8 years saying, “Wow, there were some really stupid things done during that President’s term.” and likewise I find myself now saying, “I think that decision is the most ill-advised call I’ve heard in years.”  The only difference between then and now is that then people said I was “seeing things for what they are” and now I’m a “disrespectful racist”.  I’d like to ask all of the “you must respect Obama because he’s our President crowd” how outraged they were when caricatures of President Bush as a monkey came out and when people laughed at him choking on a pretzel.