Obama as one of the Greatest Presidents Ever

[Glen Contrarian]

I agree. Obama was no FDR, he didn't bring real 'change' to this country.

In fact, if I had been ignorant about politics in general from the end of Bush's presidency to up to where Obama's presidency is now, I wouldn't be able to notice any real change within the country, because nothing really did change at all.

I'm basing my opinion on where the country was at, and where we are now...from losing 800K jobs/month to 66 straight months of private sector job growth, from two ongoing wars to no wars now, from torturing to no torture, from legal discrimination against LGBT's to no such discrimination, from Big Health deciding who they would and would not cover to an additional 20M Americans covered now (and a growth of overall cost much lower than before). And then there's Dodd-Frank and the creation of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, and let's not forget taking back all federal student loans from private borrowers so that students will pay no more than 8%. And he cut the deficit by more than half.

And all this against the worst obstruction any president has faced from the opposition party since the Civil War.

I thought long and hard about what presidents have done better...and I can't think of any except for the top three I listed: Washington, Lincoln, and FDR. Maybe LBJ did more for the people with his Great Society, but he will always be tainted by Vietnam. Reagan's only there because of winning the Cold War. Can you think of any other president than these whose accomplishments equal Obama's?

 

[Glen Contrarian]

It's simple math. How long was Bush in office before the attack? Seven months?

Now look at the planning. The perpetrators entered the country a year or two before. Therefore, if the story it was planned and carried out by Osama bin Laden is true, then the planning for it probably started soon after Clinton hurled a cruise missile at them and missed.

I agree, GWB was an horrific president, but he wears nothing on the 911 attacks.

Really?

We’ve known for years now that George W. Bush received a presidential daily briefing on Aug. 6, 2001, in which he was warned: “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” We’ve known for almost as long that Bush went fishing afterward.

What we didn’t know is what happened in between the briefing and the fishing, and now Suskind is here to tell us. Bush listened to the briefing, Suskind says, then told the CIA briefer: “All right. You’ve covered your ass, now.”

 

[Fletch]

Really?

We’ve known for years now that George W. Bush received a presidential daily briefing on Aug. 6, 2001, in which he was warned: “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” We’ve known for almost as long that Bush went fishing afterward.

What we didn’t know is what happened in between the briefing and the fishing, and now Suskind is here to tell us. Bush listened to the briefing, Suskind says, then told the CIA briefer: “All right. You’ve covered your ass, now.”

Ok, you are president Glen, its August 2001. You got a memo stating “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” What do you do that Bush didn't?

 

[Logicman]

Definitely. Obama actually inspired me in 2008, and I actually thought he was going to bring real change. But in reality, my hope was for naught, because he just turned out to be the same as the rest of the politicians out there. His presidency is one of the reasons why I don't identify as a Democrat anymore.

Why were you so gullible in 2008? We warned you people but you swallowed his bs anyway.

 

[MrT]

I already explained it. We had considerable sanctions on that country, cuba would not have had the political will to continue the sanctions after the strongman leaders (castros) died. They would've come to us. Eventually but it would've happened.

We instead (because Obama wanted the credit) went to cuba, and gave them a bunch of stuff and then lifted sanctions revising nothing in return. That's called weakness

One thing that I believe you are missing is that Cuba has already come to the negotiating table and implemented reforms that we demanded before the current deal took place.

 

[TheGoverness]

Why were you so gullible in 2008? We warned you people but you swallowed his bs anyway.

Excuse me? All you guys "warned" me about is how he was a 'radical islamist from Kenya'.

 

[MrT]

Why were you so gullible in 2008? We warned you people but you swallowed his bs anyway.

The argument from the OP (along with the fact that nearly all of the dire predictions made in 2008 about Obama) would support the assertion that your warnings were proven false.

 

[ludin]

I've often said that if Obama'd had an (R) behind his name, given his accomplishments, the GOP would be lobbying to have his face added to Mount Rushmore. But since he's got that (D), well, THAT means that he never has done and never will do anything good for anyone ever.

On my personal list of presidents, the top three are Washington and Lincoln (though I'm not sure which should be #1 or #2), FDR, and #4 and #5 are between Obama and Reagan...and the ONLY reason I include Reagan on the list was because he won the Cold War...quite literally the most dangerous time in recorded human history. He was the one in charge, so he gets the credit.

I can tell you that this is false because if he had an R beside his name he wouldn't have pushed the crap he has pushed.

Obama is no where close to one of the top 5 presidents of this country. he will sit below carter which is why carter has been happy with Obama.

 

[ludin]

Why were you so gullible in 2008? We warned you people but you swallowed his bs anyway.

hope and change hope and change. whatever the hell that is.
we can't stand anymore hope and change. I can't afford it.

 

[SHOOTER]

I've often said that if Obama'd had an (R) behind his name, given his accomplishments, the GOP would be lobbying to have his face added to Mount Rushmore. But since he's got that (D), well, THAT means that he never has done and never will do anything good for anyone ever.

On my personal list of presidents, the top three are Washington and Lincoln (though I'm not sure which should be #1 or #2), FDR, and #4 and #5 are between Obama and Reagan...and the ONLY reason I include Reagan on the list was because he won the Cold War...quite literally the most dangerous time in recorded human history. He was the one in charge, so he gets the credit.

are you kidding me obama is a socialist nut;
Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it.

RUN DON RUN

 

[ludin]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blog...ln-1-obama-18-kennedy-judged-most-over-rated/

new ranking out. Obama doesn't even make the cut although one correction he does rank a bit higher than carter but not much.

 

[Logicman]

The argument from the OP (along with the fact that nearly all of the dire predictions made in 2008 about Obama) would support the assertion that your warnings were proven false.

Not a chance. Obama has turned this nation into a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah, compounded the debt, gutted the military, pis*ed off our friends and encouraged our enemies. He's a serial liar, a spiritual dwarf, an elitist egomaniac, has a drunken-sailor spending wife, encouraged reverse discrimination, failed to secure our borders, signed a pathetic agreement with Iran, and is an embarrassment to the country. And that's the short list.

 

[Slyfox696]

I already explained it. We had considerable sanctions on that country, cuba would not have had the political will to continue the sanctions after the strongman leaders (castros) died. They would've come to us. Eventually but it would've happened.

We instead (because Obama wanted the credit) went to cuba, and gave them a bunch of stuff and then lifted sanctions revising nothing in return. That's called weakness

Only an ignorant or a simpleton confuses being a bully with strength.

Don't be one of those. Picking on Cuba because they are smaller than us and because they didn't behave the way we wanted them to behave is childish. China doesn't behave the way we'd like either, but we aren't treating them the same as Cuba because China is big enough and strong enough to fight back.

The fact of the matter is there was no reason to continue US policy towards Cuba as it was. Stating "well, they didn't do what we told them to do" is childish and the mentality of a bully.

 

[EMNofSeattle]

Only an ignorant or a simpleton confuses being a bully with strength.

Don't be one of those. Picking on Cuba because they are smaller than us and because they didn't behave the way we wanted them to behave is childish. China doesn't behave the way we'd like either, but we aren't treating them the same as Cuba because China is big enough and strong enough to fight back.

The fact of the matter is there was no reason to continue US policy towards Cuba as it was. Stating "well, they didn't do what we told them to do" is childish and the mentality of a bully.

Better a bully then a wuss

 

[Vern]

I disagree. Those who say he's the greatest President ever are just as ignorant as those that say he's the worst.
Our country has been a ****-hole since Vietnam.

To be fair, I don’t see many people saying he’s the best. The thread is actually “one of the best”. I do see thundering herds of conservative obediently telling me he’s the worst.

Also, a legitimate case could be made that he’s the best. No president ever had to deal with what President Obama had to deal with. Sure, FDR had a worse recession to deal with but the republicans didn’t obstruct him for their political gain at America's expense. His accomplishments alone put him in rarefied air. The degree of difficulty legitimizes any argument that he’s the best. No honest or intelligent case can be made that he’s the worst.

 

[MrT]

Not a chance. Obama has turned this nation into a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah, compounded the debt, gutted the military, pis*ed off our friends and encouraged our enemies. He's a serial liar, a spiritual dwarf, an elitist egomaniac, has a drunken-sailor spending wife, encouraged reverse discrimination, failed to secure our borders, signed a pathetic agreement with Iran, and is an embarrassment to the country. And that's the short list.

The fact that your attack leads off with comparing the United States to Sodom and Gomorrah (because of the expansion of LGBT rights I assume) really does not bode well for the rest of your list and just makes a rational person want to stop reading.

 

[MrT]

Better a bully then a wuss

There is no justification for believing that a shift in diplomatic policy, after 40 years of embargoes yielded almost zero concessions, and using the carrot of removing those embargoes HAS resulted in significant concessions, should classify someone as a "wuss."

 

[Vern]

Ok, you are president Glen, its August 2001. You got a memo stating “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” What do you do that Bush didn't?

Fletch, I can answer that. The first thing I would have done was not argue that the intel was a trick by al queada. Yep, that’s as easy as it sounds. The second thing is you then ask the people telling you al queda is determined to strike “what should we do?” Yep, just as easy as my first action. But Bush didn’t even bother to ask because remember, he thought it was a trick. so people are "running around with their hair on fire" and Bush did nothing. then we got reports he was annoyed at being told. Almost as if he didn’t want to know. Not a pretty picture.

Anyhoo, it seems one of the recommendations was to put law enforcement on high alert. That alone would have made it hard if not impossible for FBI HQ to not ignore the two reports of TERRORISTS IN FLIGHT SCHOOLS. And it would also have made hard if not impossible for FBI HQ to sabotage the Minneapolis FBI’s search warrant request. As far as I'm concerned, you can ask the FBI “why did you sabotage the search warrant request” whether we were on high alert or not. It just would have been impossible to explain away sabotaging the search warrant request if they were on high alert.

Now, can I say unequivocally that these actions would have prevented 9-11? Of course not. Nor can you say it wouldn’t have. But if 9-11 still happened, it wouldn’t have been for a lack of trying. While it makes you feel warm and fuzzy to believe “it would have happened anyway” it simply doesn’t explain Bush’s complete lack of action. You're simply trying to "retro justify" his actions.

And Fletch, my actions as president would not have opened me up to second guessing that I not only ignored the intel but I actually pushed back at it. Oddly this course of action, ignoring the intel and pushing back at it, was extremely helpful to his secret day 1 agenda to invade Iraq. 9-11 alone should have opened up Bush's lack of action and apparent lack of concern to second guessing. having a secret day 1 agenda to invade Iraq that benefited from his lack of action should have even the most die hard republicans questioning his decision making. But sadly and unsurprisingly it doesn't.

 

[Kal'Stang]

Thank God I wasn't drinking anything when I read the title of the thread. I'd have shorted out my computer despite trying very hard not to laugh at the silliness and stupidity of it.

 

[Glen Contrarian]

Ok, you are president Glen, its August 2001. You got a memo stating “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” What do you do that Bush didn't?

First off, I don't blow it off saying, "Okay, you've covered your ass now".

 

[Mr Person]

Obama isn't as bad as his detractors say, but I would never consider him to be one of the "greatest" Presidents ever. He was a major disappointment for me.

(I've explained at length in other threads my particular gripes with him recently, so, I'll just leave it at that for now)

 

[Slyfox696]

Better a bully then a wuss

That's stupid. Not picking on the weak kid in the class doesn't make you a wuss. As I previously said, "only an ignorant or a simpleton confuses being a bully with strength". Don't be one of those.

 

[fmw]

"Why Obama Will Go Down as One of the Greatest Presidents of All Time"

At least the bar is very low.

 

[iguanaman]

To institute whatever reforms we demanded when we established the embargo.

And wait a thousand years if nessecary

Cuba is 90 miles from Florida. The idea that we should keep trying to strangle it for 1000 years because we don't agree with its politics is just nuts. It is biting off our nose to spite our face and both our nations will benefit from normalizing relations.

 

[Fletch]

Cuba is 90 miles from Florida. The idea that we should keep trying to strangle it for 1000 years because we don't agree with its politics is just nuts. It is biting off our nose to spite our face and both our nations will benefit from normalizing relations.

I think Obama opening relations with Cuba is actually one of the good things he has done as president, opening a dialogue with Iran might well be another. But I think with regard to Cuba he should have pushed them more with regards to the rights of the people there and demanded more from Iran. So even his accomplishments are fairly uninspiring.