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

Hawkeye10

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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?
 
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?

Maybe it was that he never realized that he wasn't in Kansas anymore.
 
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 you sound like a right-wing fanatic but your post already made that point.

:lol:
 
I think he has done a reasonable job as president...and I think history will remember the opposition to him by the congress to be the reason more did not get done.

I am sure he gets a huge kick out of the fact that he pushes conservative buttons as easily as he does...and perhaps his biggest blunder is that he did not intentionally do so more often.
 
I think he has done a reasonable job as president...and I think history will remember the opposition to him by the congress to be the reason more did not get done.

I am sure he gets a huge kick out of the fact that he pushes conservative buttons as easily as he does...and perhaps his biggest blunder is that he did not intentionally do so more often.

Obama controlled both houses and then lost them by making poor decisions, I dont think that will be the legacy
 
Another contender is micromanagement from the White House, particularly when it comes to the military. Another might be lying to his people, Robert Gates said last week that he is embarrassed to admit that Obama straight up lied to him and he did not figure out till way too late.
 
Maybe it was that he never realized that he wasn't in Kansas anymore.

Interesting that you say that cause a few weeks back I read a very interesting argument that Obama is not very bright at all, that he is a flim flam artist. I have not bought yet but I am interested, Obama's miscalculations have been legendary.
 
He says it was going into the libyan civil war without a plan, which is a good contender,

He's not wrong.

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

Health care is not "worse" because of Obamacare. A lot of the problems with Obamacare are natural market reactions to a dramatic paradigm shift in how insurance works, which was bound to happen.

when he should have been working on economic reform. My second choice would be failing to do economic reform at any point.

What kind of "economic reform"? That's an extremely vague idea.

My third would be creating global leadership vacuum as he tried to lead from behind.

Bleh. That's right-wing claptrap. "Lead from behind" is a manufactured wingnut meme that has absolutely no meaning.

My fourth would be either the Syrian mess,

Explain, without fully backing Assad, who is a complete turd, how the "Syrian mess" would have turned out better for us.

the Libyan mess,

We've been over that.

or the deliberate provocation of Putin with the Ukrainian mess.

lolwut. How did Obama "provoke" Putin into doing what Putin was going to do anyway?

What say you?

I think you listen to too much wingnut radio.
 
Obama controlled both houses and then lost them by making poor decisions, I dont think that will be the legacy

No, the Democrats controlled both houses. The Democrats, who had a pretty wide ideological divide at the time, if you remember how Obamacare went. The people who got the public option scuttled were Blue Dog Democrats. Congressional Democrats were not and never have been in lockstep with Obama.
 
He's not wrong.



Health care is not "worse" because of Obamacare. A lot of the problems with Obamacare are natural market reactions to a dramatic paradigm shift in how insurance works, which was bound to happen.



What kind of "economic reform"? That's an extremely vague idea.



Bleh. That's right-wing claptrap. "Lead from behind" is a manufactured wingnut meme that has absolutely no meaning.



Explain, without fully backing Assad, who is a complete turd, how the "Syrian mess" would have turned out better for us.



We've been over that.



lolwut. How did Obama "provoke" Putin into doing what Putin was going to do anyway?



I think you listen to too much wingnut radio.

If you dont want to participate you have the option to do so with grace.

To refresh your memory the question on the table is

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

there has been no answer from Kobie.
 
If you dont want to participate you have the option to do so with grace.

I just did participate. Sorry you don't like how I did it, but I'm not sorry.
 
I just did participate. Sorry you don't like how I did it, but I'm not sorry.

So what is your answer? Has Obama properly evaluated his worst blunder given the information currently available?
 
So what is your answer? Has Obama properly evaluated his worst blunder given the information currently available?

Probably? I don't think such a question can be answered for a while.
 
Probably? I don't think such a question can be answered for a while.

Well if our aversion to calming Syria ends up being the final nail in the EU coffin then Syria probably has to go to the top, but we are making the call today, we need to make the best call we can today according to the parameters of the opening post.
 
It's hard to imagine anything other than his handling of Iraq and foreign affairs in general being viewed as his biggest failure.
 
Not coming into office on Day One fully loaded with a sweeping domestic program of reform that could have been passed by the big Democratic majorities he had in both houses for two years.

It should have been the second coming of the FDR Hundred Days with a continuous output of progressive domestic legislation. Instead, it was largely a wasted opportunity that he squandered due to his own timidity.
 
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?

His biggest blunder was to not prosecute Cheney as a war criminal.
 
I think he has done a reasonable job as president...and I think history will remember the opposition to him by the congress to be the reason more did not get done.

History will not remember Obama kindly, for many of the reason the OP states.

I am sure he gets a huge kick out of the fact that he pushes conservative buttons as easily as he does...and perhaps his biggest blunder is that he did not intentionally do so more often.

Noting and commenting on a President's mistakes is hardly having one's buttons pushed. I realize you agree with many of Obama's policies, but he's created some pretty big messes we, as a nation, are going to have to address.

I've never been a fan of sweeping anything under the rug -- especially based on partisanship.
 
Pardoning Hillary Clinton from any and all prosecution....oh, wait...too soon?
 
His biggest blunder was to not prosecute Cheney as a war criminal.

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.
 
I think he has done a reasonable job as president...and I think history will remember the opposition to him by the congress to be the reason more did not get done.

I am sure he gets a huge kick out of the fact that he pushes conservative buttons as easily as he does...and perhaps his biggest blunder is that he did not intentionally do so more often.

Like you are doing now, Frank...I saw that! ;)
 
If you dont want to participate you have the option to do so with grace.

To refresh your memory the question on the table is



there has been no answer from Kobie.

and Kobie is never wrong either. Just ask him.
 
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.

A tried and proven system that has lasted for decades.
 
Arming Syrian rebels was pretty bad. The kind of straight up, blatant bad idea that makes your stomach turn.

His biggest blunder was to not prosecute Cheney as a war criminal.

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.
 
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