Originally Posted by
Big Mac
Okay, so we've got some moderates and some leftist members. In view of his term up to this point, who among you are planning to vote to reelect Barack Hussein Obama? And for those who are, why in the world would you?
I've followed politics long enough to know that no President is ever going to be able to do 100% of what you would like him to do. For that to happen he'd have to A) be a dictator, and B) espouse policies that are exactly as you would have them. And that's just not reality. So for me, my voting choices come down to 1) vote for the candidate that most closely espouses my views with regard to policy, or 2) stand down and not vote at all. What I don't do ... quite unlike a lot of the American electorate ... is look around at the state of the economy on Election Day and if it's not in the best shape blindly vote for the other guy who's not in office. The reason being is that the person not in office may very well be espousing the same policies that created the economic conditions in the first place.
So to answer your question directly, yes I will be voting to re-elect Barack Obama. Why? Not voting in a presidential election is borderline anathema to me given the struggles my ancestors went through to obtain the right to vote. And I certainly don't have enough reason to stand down in light of that ... despite the areas where I've been disappointed by this President.
Originally Posted by Big Mac
Do you get off on seeing this country take on water like the Titanic? Or do you actually think he's done a competent job of leading the country?
The reality is that this country was taking on water like the Titanic the day he was sworn in. To the tune of 1+ trillion a year. So if he had literally done nothing ... there would still be
at least 3 additional trillion added to the national debt at this stage in the game.
Do I think he's done a competent job in light of the fact that he's had to deal with one crisis after another since Day 1 of his administration? Most definitely. Here's why ....
- Instituted policies that staved off another Great Depression and put the economy back on track to recovery with the
American Recovery And Reinvestment Act resulting in approximately 3.3 million jobs per the
CBO.
- Saved the US auto industry from collapse. Prevented millions of job losses that would have occurred if the industry had been allowed to go trough traditional bankruptcy or liquidated.
- Instituted the most far-reaching financial reform (albeit still watered down) in US history in response to the financial crisis with the
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
- Instituted the most major health care reform legislation since the introduction of Medicare with
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
- Payroll tax cut and extension of unemployment benefits resulting in additional economic stimulus.
- Unemployment rate of 7.7% when Obama took office while the economy was in a free fall with 750K job losses per month. Peaked at 10.1%. Currently at 8.6% ... less than a full % point from when his term began.
- Repealed DADT.
- Instituted equal pay for women with the
Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
- Extension of Benefits to Same-Sex Domestic Partners of Federal Employees by Presidential Memorandum.
- Pushed through a settlement in the black farmers lawsuit against USDA in the Pigford case.
- Greatly reduced sentencing disparities between powder and crack cocaine.
- Instituted major student loan reform with the
Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act saving 68 billion over 11 years and increased funding for Pell Grants for low-income students.
- Instituted the Race to the Top Fund ($4.35 billion) to reward States that create comprehensive education reform plans.
- Successfully managed the BP oil spill crisis. Eliminate the Minerals Management Service thereby cutting ties between industry and government in response. Implemented new safety rules for offshore drilling.
- Ordered the creation of a $20 billion escrow fund by BP to reimburse lost incomes in Gulf.
Ordered an additional $100 million to compensate those hurt by drilling moratorium while safety rules were re-assessed.
- Ordered and completed the full military withdrawal from Iraq.
- Stepped up military efforts in Afghanistan reversing Taliban momentum. Set a timeline for full military withdrawal.
- Located and killed Osama bin Laden.
- Dramatically escalated the drone war in Pakistan and decimated senior Al Qaeda leadership ... severely degrading its operational capacity.
- Nuclear arms reduction agreement with Russia.
- Initiated military effort to prevent a massacre of Libyan civilians by Moammar Qadaffi's forces. US leadership via NATO eventually toppled Qaddafi. No US casualties ... no US boots on the ground ... over in a matter of months.
(In full disclosure, I didn't think we should have gotten involved but it's hard to argue with success.)
- Recommitted the U.S. to a policy of “no torture” and closed secret prisons in Eastern Europe and other locations.
And that's not even an exhaustive list. Are there areas where I've been disappointed in Obama? Certainly ....
- Didn't close Guantanamo Bay prison. IMO, he went about it all wrong. He's the Commander in Chief. If you want it closed then issue the order and transfer the prisoners to military prisons on US soil. Don't go
talking about it so much giving your political opponents (and allies) the opportunity to drum up opposition and block funding. Just do it and then
announce it after the fact.
- I would have preferred to see the Patriot Act repealed or significantly scaled back. Having said that, there have been no successful terrorist attacks in the US under his watch so perhaps it's doing some good especially since there doesn't seem to be a widespread erosion of civil liberties. Of course, that's easy to say when you or people you know aren't being directly affected by it. To your knowledge.
- It's taken Obama waaaay too long to recognize that the GOP in Congress is taking his kindness and willingness to reach bi-partisan solutions as
weakness. Given the unprecedented levels of obstruction on the part of the GOP since the beginning of his Presidency, it should be readily apparent that they are not interested in compromising with him. As Sen. McConnell said their #1 priority is his re-election defeat. Just think about the
arrogance and
disrespect it takes to say something like that
on the record about a sitting President! Obama should have told the GOP to
kick rocks during the Continuing Budget Resolution (CBR) debate in Spring 2011 and the Debt Ceiling debate in Summer 2011. At least on one of them. It's good to see him finally stand strong and force the House GOP to play ball with the Payroll Tax Cut Extension he just signed. The only thing is he shouldn't need the Senate GOP to give him enough cover to pushback against the Tea Party faction in the House GOP.
- All the political pressure he's applying to the GOP about his jobs bill since the end of Summer 2011 should have been done last year. It should have been the American Jobs Act of
2010 instead of 2011. It was obvious at that point that the GOP was more than willing to see the economy still in the doldrums in order to saddle Obama with it in the 2012 elections. Not just
willing ... actively
sabotaging efforts to promote economic growth for that very purpose by
opposing any and everything that would increase aggregate demand ... and
pushing for policies that would reduce aggregate demand. The American public by and large supports the President's positions when it comes to jobs and taxes. When people have shown you
repeatedly that they are not willing to negotiate in good faith ... when their definition of "common ground" is
a lot of what they want and
little to none of what you want ... then it's time to stop trying to be the Compromiser in Chief and be the
President. Use the bully pulpit to light a fire under their ass all around the country. Obama's approval ratings have increased 5 percentage points over the last month or so as a result of these efforts and the public's increasing disillusionment with Congress in general and the Tea Party faction within it in particular. That's after only a few months of concerted efforts on Obama's part. Now imagine what his approval ratings would be if he had been doing that since last year?
In any event, my criticisms aside .... it's hard to argue with this when it comes to whether or not President Obama deserves re-election given the state of the economy when he was inaugurated:
An economy run off the cliff. Job losses in a total free fall. Arrested and reversed promptly as a result of bold action pushed by President Obama. Moving in the right direction ever since.
OAW