What Is Obama's Biggest Blunder to Date as POTUS?

[Moot]

Wrong. Obama was following a VERY long tradition of sitting Presidents making sure former Presidents, and their entourages, are safe...thus, Obama ensures his own safety from the next Administration's prosecution.

That's just the way it works.

Perhaps, but that's not the reason Obama didn't indict Cheney and his neo con pals. The reason given is because he didn't want a trial to consume his presidency and impede on getting his policies implemented and other things he wanted done.

 

[HowardBThiname]

Perhaps, but that's not the reason Obama didn't indict Cheney and his neo con pals. The reason given is because he didn't want a trial to consume his presidency and impede on getting his policies implemented and other things he wanted done.

Well, that's what he'd like you to believe, I'm sure. :2razz:

 

[Glen Contrarian]

He says it was going into the libyan civil war without a plan, which is a good contender, but I think it was spending a year and a lot of political capital claiming to be working on fixing healthcare as he made it worse when he should have been working on economic reform. My second choice would be failing to do economic reform at any point. My third would be creating global leadership vacuum as he tried to lead from behind. My fourth would be either the Syrian mess, the Libyan mess, or the deliberate provocation of Putin with the Ukrainian mess.

What say you?

Considering the fact that the night before Obama was inaugurated the first time, the Republican elite met and decided that they would do their utmost to obstruct everything he tried to do no matter what - including items and positions they'd previously supported - Obama's biggest blunder was thinking that he could actually work with the Republicans to make things better for America. In the case of the GOP, it really was party above country...and Obama didn't realize that.

 

[Casper]

He says it was going into the libyan civil war without a plan, which is a good contender, but I think it was spending a year and a lot of political capital claiming to be working on fixing healthcare as he made it worse when he should have been working on economic reform. My second choice would be failing to do economic reform at any point. My third would be creating global leadership vacuum as he tried to lead from behind. My fourth would be either the Syrian mess, the Libyan mess, or the deliberate provocation of Putin with the Ukrainian mess.

What say you?

Believing he would be able to work With Republicans.

 

[tres borrachos]

Believing he would be able to work With Republicans.

Yeah, this is pretty much what I was thinking too. Believing that he was so awesomes that everyone was just going to pant like dogs in an effort to obey him. He was either very naïve or very arrogant (probably both).

Libya was one of his worse moves.

I personally don't think he's been that terrible.

 

[Fenton]

ObamaCare and then hid Foreign Policy blunders

 

[Mr Person]

He says it was going into the libyan civil war without a plan, which is a good contender, but I think it was spending a year and a lot of political capital claiming to be working on fixing healthcare as he made it worse when he should have been working on economic reform. My second choice would be failing to do economic reform at any point. My third would be creating global leadership vacuum as he tried to lead from behind. My fourth would be either the Syrian mess, the Libyan mess, or the deliberate provocation of Putin with the Ukrainian mess.

What say you?

I'd say that was a fairly big one; did he remember to note the part where we didn't simply "go in without a plan", we actually armed militia groups and then lost track of the cash and gear?


I think his biggest failing is a combined failing on the healthcare/economy front, as to his approach. Namely,

1. He should have burned all political capital necessary to obtain the size of stimulus economists recommended, and should have tailored it to bypass/override the APA and various existing procurement/etc policies used by agencies. The latter point would be necessary for having truly shovel-ready jobs. Specifically, we're going to have to pay trillions over the next 10-30 years to deal with an infrastructure that's falling apart. We should have put a ton into meaningful dam, bridge, highway, waterworks, sewer, etc repairs. And he should have had a plan ready the moment he stepped into office.

2. He should have then moved on to health care reform. But instead of saying "hey, congress, why don't you get something on my desk in 6 months? You know, like that **** I was saying on the campaign trail," he should have walked in with his very own detailed plan, structured exactly as the one on which he campaigned.



I'd add another failing: thinking that acting aloof and above-it-all would somehow cause the "change" he wanted voters to hope for to come into being. It didn't. He managed to alienate his own party in large part. That, plus a pointlessly hostile GOP, made it impossible to do much legislation after his initial burst.

 

[Mr Person]

Believing he would be able to work With Republicans.

This, despite the memo circulating in nov/dec 2008 instructing rank and file that the policy would be to oppose everything he wanted (echoed again by McConnell in 2010).

 

[Casper]

This, despite the memo circulating in nov/dec 2008 instructing rank and file that the policy would be to oppose everything he wanted (echoed again by McConnell in 2010).

Yeup, despite the fact that the GOP had made many statements that they would not work with him and in fact would do anything they could to make him a one term President, did not work out well for anyone.

 

[Hawkeye10]

Considering the fact that the night before Obama was inaugurated the first time, the Republican elite met and decided that they would do their utmost to obstruct everything he tried to do no matter what - including items and positions they'd previously supported - Obama's biggest blunder was thinking that he could actually work with the Republicans to make things better for America. In the case of the GOP, it really was party above country...and Obama didn't realize that.

I would paint that differently, I think with the problem was his overblown ego/laziness. Obama assumed that all he had to do was state his will to get his will, and once he figured out that this was not so his tendency was to throw temper tantrums rather than to put in the political work to try to get what he wanted.

 

[Hawkeye10]

Arming Syrian rebels was pretty bad. The kind of straight up, blatant bad idea that makes your stomach turn.



He was never going to do that, not ever. It's hardly a blunder, it's how things are done. Unethical in absolutist terms, sure, a blunder, no.

I'm surprised people are still mentioning this.

We needed to calm Syria, not import more TNT. He did the exact opposite of what was in Americas interest in arming Syria.

 

[Abbazorkzog]

Appointing Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State...........

 

[Glen Contrarian]

I would paint that differently, I think with the problem was his overblown ego/laziness. Obama assumed that all he had to do was state his will to get his will, and once he figured out that this was not so his tendency was to throw temper tantrums rather than to put in the political work to try to get what he wanted.

If all you listen to is right-wing media, then it's no wonder that's what you believe...and you would never hear about all the times that Obama went above and beyond to get the Republicans on board. If you'll recall, one of the things that took Obamacare so long to get passed was Obama's efforts to get even one conservative to agree to it. He had the votes already, but he was still offering the Republican congressmen deals to try to get them on board, too. Another example is the debt ceiling fiasco - John Boehner famously bragged about getting 98% of what he wanted in the negotiation...and the Right Wing immediately castigated him for being an appeaser. If Obama were half as arrogant as you seem to believe, if he really were acting as 'King Barry' as the Right has tried to paint him, would he really have given Boehner 98% of what he wanted? I don't think so.

Another thing to consider is this: has Obama been willing to apologize for what he's done wrong? We've seen it several times - he freely admits his own shortcomings. In contrast, I distinctly remember watching a debate between Kerry and Bush 43 wherein Kerry asked Bush if he (Bush) had made any mistakes at all in his first term. I can't recall the exact words, but Bush essentially denied making any mistakes whatsoever in his first term.

And now the GOP's top two candidates this time around are Trump and Cruz. No sir, the GOP has no room to talk when it comes to wanting to see humility in the Commander-in-Chief.

 

[Hawkeye10]

If all you listen to is right-wing media, then it's no wonder that's what you believe I dont know who the "you" is intended to be, but it is not me...and you would never hear about all the times that Obama went above and beyond to get the Republicans on board Like when? He did not appoint a known political prick like Rahm Emanuel to run the Oval Office because he wanted to play nice with the R's. If you'll recall, one of the things that took Obamacare so long to get passed was Obama's efforts to get even one conservative to agree to it Wrong, what took so long is lazy Obama had no interest in doing the work, he said " you all figure out how to implement what I told you to implement and get me a law to sign. He had the votes already, but he was still offering the Republican congressmen deals to try to get them on board, too Sure, because major programs like this tend to need to have bipartisan support to survive long term, Obama is not totally ignorant he knows this, but the time to line that up was at the front end not the back end. And look where we are now, of the 5 candidates still running for POTUS only one says that they will even try to save ObamaCare, which was perfectly predicted by the fact that Obama did not go about creating ObamaCare in a prudent fashion. Another example is the debt ceiling fiasco - John Boehner famously bragged about getting 98% of what he wanted in the negotiation...and the Right Wing immediately castigated him for being an appeaser. If Obama were half as arrogant as you seem to believe, if he really were acting as 'King Barry' as the Right has tried to paint him, would he really have given Boehner 98% of what he wanted? I don't think so. Look, I would be hard pressed to find anything good to say about Boehner, but once it was clear that Boehner did not have the power to get anything done then this all landed on Obama's lap. And remember what he did then, "Do what I say, there will be no negotiations".

Another thing to consider is this: has Obama been willing to apologize for what he's done wrong? We've seen it several times - he freely admits his own shortcomings. The question on the table in this thread is has he done so correctly....this is a guy who tends to be fantastically wrong often, I am trying to find out if DP members think that he is correct here In contrast, I distinctly remember watching a debate between Kerry and Bush 43 wherein Kerry asked Bush if he (Bush) had made any mistakes at all in his first term. I can't recall the exact words, but Bush essentially denied making any mistakes whatsoever in his first term. Feel free to start a thread on Bush and his mistakes, I will be there, he made a lot of them, but this thread is about Obama

And now the GOP's top two candidates this time around are Trump and Cruz. No sir, the GOP has no room to talk when it comes to wanting to see humility in the Commander-in-Chief. Off topic

 

[Van Basten]

Appointing Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State...........

Right, how many damn times did I have to hear about Benghazi? Too many.

 

[Frank Apisa]

I'm wondering why no one has mentioned the fact that he had the poor taste to be born with the wrong colored skin...as one of his biggest blunders.

Even though it is denied, that error on his part does seem to play a role in why some of you folk do not like him.

 

[Tigerace117]

I'm wondering why no one has mentioned the fact that he had the poor taste to be born with the wrong colored skin...as one of his biggest blunders.

Even though it is denied, that error on his part does seem to play a role in why some of you folk do not like him.

Because nobody else is going to play the race card?

One thing I have noticed is that a lot of the time, Democrats brush off legitimate criticism of the man as simple racism.

Which is dumb, but whatever floats y'all's boat.

 

[RetiredUSN]

I'm wondering why no one has mentioned the fact that he had the poor taste to be born with the wrong colored skin...as one of his biggest blunders.

Even though it is denied, that error on his part does seem to play a role in why some of you folk do not like him.

Worst BS post you ever made Frank.

 

[tres borrachos]

I'm wondering why no one has mentioned the fact that he had the poor taste to be born with the wrong colored skin...as one of his biggest blunders.

Even though it is denied, that error on his part does seem to play a role in why some of you folk do not like him.

If you think his skin color is wrong, that's on you. Don't try to shove your color bias on other people.

 

[Frank Apisa]

Ahhh...I think the fact that Barack Obama was imprudent enough to be born with the wrong colored skin...actually is the "blunder" many of you most resent.

Too bad that.

Your next president was foolish enough to be born a woman. My guess is that really will gall you.

 

[fmw]

He says it was going into the libyan civil war without a plan, which is a good contender, but I think it was spending a year and a lot of political capital claiming to be working on fixing healthcare as he made it worse when he should have been working on economic reform. My second choice would be failing to do economic reform at any point. My third would be creating global leadership vacuum as he tried to lead from behind. My fourth would be either the Syrian mess, the Libyan mess, or the deliberate provocation of Putin with the Ukrainian mess.

What say you?

Running for a second term in office?

 

[Hawkeye10]

I'm wondering why no one has mentioned the fact that he had the poor taste to be born with the wrong colored skin...as one of his biggest blunders.

Even though it is denied, that error on his part does seem to play a role in why some of you folk do not like him.

Being black got him the POTUS chair, and got way too many people to look the other way when it turned out that he sucks at the job, so I think he should be grateful for being part black.

 

[Abbazorkzog]

I'm wondering why no one has mentioned the fact that he had the poor taste to be born with the wrong colored skin...as one of his biggest blunders.

Even though it is denied, that error on his part does seem to play a role in why some of you folk do not like him.

I really despise those idiots. They sully those of us that do not trust or like him for other, far more legitimate, reasons.

 

[Mr Person]

One thing I have noticed is that a lot of the time, Democrats brush off legitimate criticism of the man as simple racism.

'

What about illegitimate criticism?

Such as the facts that (1) Barack Obama was the first black President, (2) Barack "HUSSEIN!!!" Obama was the only president to have his claims of being a born US citizen questioned by 40% of the opposite party with another 20% "not sure" consistently for several years into his presidency, with claims remaining even after the long form was released, and (3) Barack (HUSSEIN!!!) Obama was the only president to have the authenticity of his stated religion doubted along similar party lines and with similar numbers.

Either the GOP got irrationally hateful the second he was elected, or there might just be something to the notion that there's racism out there and some of it was aimed at him.








Bottom line: If "Democrats" are too quick to allege racism, then "Republicans" are too quick to deny it.

 

[Tigerace117]

'

What about illegitimate criticism?

Such as the facts that (1) Barack Obama was the first black President, (2) Barack "HUSSEIN!!!" Obama was the only president to have his claims of being a born US citizen questioned by 40% of the opposite party with another 20% "not sure" consistently for several years into his presidency, with claims remaining even after the long form was released, and (3) Barack (HUSSEIN!!!) Obama was the only president to have the authenticity of his stated religion doubted along similar party lines and with similar numbers.

Either the GOP got irrationally hateful the second he was elected, or there might just be something to the notion that there's racism out there and some of it was aimed at him.








Bottom line: If "Democrats" are too quick to allege racism, then "Republicans" are too quick to deny it.

The GOP wasn't going to work with either of the Democratic options in 2008---they already disliked Hilary, and Obama was promising lots of "interesting" policies if he was elected.

There were similar concerns over the first Catholic President, first western president, etc. It's the novelty of the thing.