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I think I figured out what is fundamentally wrong with Obama

Voltaire X

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Earlier today I was thinking about how someone with the type of upbringing that Obama had could end up making the decisions he has made. I don't think that Obama has malevolent intentions. It made no sense to me. Why would someone who overcame as much adversity as he did and is basically the poster child for the American dream do things like the NSA spying and drone strikes in six countries?

Then I just now realized something. I was thinking about how Obama felt the need to keep his promise regarding the chemical weapons red line in Syria, even though he broke many of his promises he made while campaigning. Obama cares more about his reputation with the international community than the American people. He believes that George W. Bush tainted the international image of America (he did), and his goal is to undo that. It is his number one priority.

Here are some examples:
-Like I mentioned earlier, keeping his promise regarding the red line in Syria but totally ignoring many of the campaign promises he made

-Choosing to stay in Iraq for as long as he could and continuing to stay in Afghanistan. Even though he ran as a peace candidate and over 60% of the American public wants to immediately pull out of Afghanistan, he has chosen to stay. He is doing this because he doesn't want to make America look like it came in, ****ed up the country, and then ditched it. He also doesn't want America to appear weak.

-The NSA/PRISM/PATRIOT Act spying. Believing that these programs were effective ways of preventing future terrorist attacks, Obama decide to continue and in some cases expand these programs to minimize the chance of a terrorist attack in the US. He does not want another tragic event like 9/11 to be associated with America. He wants 9/11 to be an isolated incident in the history books of the future, an that was followed by a long era of safety. He is willing to use whatever means necessary to accomplish this.

-Obamacare. In the eyes of the international community, Obamacare is viewed as America's transition into universal healthcare. We know this is not the case. Obamacare turned out to be a massive pork barrel virtually written by lobbyists. It is filled with handouts to insurance, healthcare, and pharmaceutical corporations. It was necessary for Obama to take large donations from these special interest groups in order to get elected in 2008, and he couldn't cross them or they'd dump all their money into his opponent in 2012. Obamacare was made this way before it even hit the halls of Congress. Obama wanted to get his signature healthcare bill passed because he knew it would make both him and America look good to the international community, and he was more than willing to completely gut any meaningful healthcare change to do so.
 
I don't share most of your premises, but - just to point out the obvious - Obama never had to "overcome" any serious "adversity". C'mon, he was raised by a loving grandmother who just happened to be a VP of the Bank of Hawaii, and he had attended the best prep school outside of he contiguous 48 - to proceed smoothly toward the Ivy League degrees and the effortless political career. I don't hold this against him - I wish I had his opportunities.

No, I understand: a lot of people voted for him (or against him) based entirely on the concentration of melanin in his epidermis. His abstracted image - shadow on the wall - as the "first black president" had to deal/correlate/interact with the "issues" - "overcoming adversity', and all that.

The actual golden boy propelled into the Oval Office by forces entirely beyond his control? - nah, not so much. And it is the actual, real person who actually makes the real executive decisions as we speak.

And we don't really know - or have any way of knowing - who the hell he is.

A strong argument against our imperial Presidency in general, don't you think?
 
"to grow the economy and create jobs"

If you look at the mass majority of what Obama has actually been trying to do, not just what the media reports, then his number one priority is still the economy.

I would say his number two priority is immigration, assuming he isn't trying to get the GOP to tank it so that it can be a huge issue in 2016.

Obamacare is perhaps the worst possible way to try to make the US look good to the international community. It is subsidized private insurance as opposed to a single payer system like most other Western democracies have. It makes him look like he is in bed with the insurance companies at the expense of the health of the American people.
 
Earlier today I was thinking about how someone with the type of upbringing that Obama had could end up making the decisions he has made. I don't think that Obama has malevolent intentions. It made no sense to me. Why would someone who overcame as much adversity as he did and is basically the poster child for the American dream do things like the NSA spying and drone strikes in six countries?

Then I just now realized something. I was thinking about how Obama felt the need to keep his promise regarding the chemical weapons red line in Syria, even though he broke many of his promises he made while campaigning. Obama cares more about his reputation with the international community than the American people. He believes that George W. Bush tainted the international image of America (he did), and his goal is to undo that. It is his number one priority.

Here are some examples:
-Like I mentioned earlier, keeping his promise regarding the red line in Syria but totally ignoring many of the campaign promises he made

-Choosing to stay in Iraq for as long as he could and continuing to stay in Afghanistan. Even though he ran as a peace candidate and over 60% of the American public wants to immediately pull out of Afghanistan, he has chosen to stay. He is doing this because he doesn't want to make America look like it came in, ****ed up the country, and then ditched it. He also doesn't want America to appear weak.

-The NSA/PRISM/PATRIOT Act spying. Believing that these programs were effective ways of preventing future terrorist attacks, Obama decide to continue and in some cases expand these programs to minimize the chance of a terrorist attack in the US. He does not want another tragic event like 9/11 to be associated with America. He wants 9/11 to be an isolated incident in the history books of the future, an that was followed by a long era of safety. He is willing to use whatever means necessary to accomplish this.

-Obamacare. In the eyes of the international community, Obamacare is viewed as America's transition into universal healthcare. We know this is not the case. Obamacare turned out to be a massive pork barrel virtually written by lobbyists. It is filled with handouts to insurance, healthcare, and pharmaceutical corporations. It was necessary for Obama to take large donations from these special interest groups in order to get elected in 2008, and he couldn't cross them or they'd dump all their money into his opponent in 2012. Obamacare was made this way before it even hit the halls of Congress. Obama wanted to get his signature healthcare bill passed because he knew it would make both him and America look good to the international community, and he was more than willing to completely gut any meaningful healthcare change to do so.

Try thinking through again, but this time use Occam's Razor.

I think you''ll find it far more likely that Obama is a very successful charlatan who is incompetent at his job and very good at avoiding negative consequences to himself. This is a far more common personality type that the harrowed saint that you seem to be envisioning.

There is no compelling reason to introduce such complexities into one's view of Obama unless it is a reluctance to face the possibility that one has been duped.
 
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