And so it begins.......

[Maggot]

I see a huge "F" on our presidents head from all side on the horizon. The most inept president we have ever had, all talk and no substance.

The strongest challenge to Obama's philosophy on intervention has come from the deepening tumult in the Middle East and North Africa. The president saw great promise in the region when he first took office and pledged "a new beginning" with the Arab world when he traveled to Cairo in 2009.

But the democracy protests that spread across the region quickly scrambled Obama's efforts. While the U.S. has consistently backed the rights of people seeking democracy, the violence that followed has often left the Obama administration unsure of its next move or taking tentative steps that do little to change the situation on the ground.


limk I'm not a big fan of Yahoo and it seems his allies are jumping ship. I almost bet he comes up with some national emergency that stops the election.

[username]

Yeah, I don't think Obama's legacy is looking too good.

Did everyone hear that UPS is cutting out spousal benefits because it says it can't afford the costs associated with Obamacare?

The middle east...

I don't necessarily blame Obama for the mess over there. Some people question our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan to begin with and it's no surprise to me that Iraq is reverting back to even more chaos with our departure.

Egypt? I dunno, we could cut financial aid there; I wouldn't be opposed to that but I think the hope is that they have another "democratic" election (although we should be calling a coup a coup for chrissake).

Syria. I think we're definitely fucked if we do/fucked if we don't. I'm not ready to jump in and support the rebels at this point but those damn chemical weapons...Obama looks weak with regards to his "red line". He shouldn't have made that statement in the first place but, like I said, I'm not ready to start dropping bombs on Assad at this point either.

Russia...that ties back to what's happening in Syria, now Snowden...mess. But yes, the administration has to take some responsibility for the deterioration of that relationship. IIRC, Obama basically got caught saying he thought Putin was an asshole awhile ago, right? Nice......

Obama's fuck ups are going to make it harder for Hillary if she runs in 2016. She's going to have to figure out a way to differentiate/distance herself (besides the whole male/female, black/white thing) in her candidacy.

[Jimbone]

It's all Bush's fault.

[Duchess]

It's all Bush's fault.

*fist bump*

[HairOfTheDog]

In terms of media and public support, Obama's second terms looks a whole lot different than his first terms, from what I'm seeing.

Even the celebrity pseudo-politicians are distancing themselves. Matt Damon says that "Obama broke up with him" because of his disagreement with policy decisions. Heartbreaking story that made the international pages for a couple of days!

Personally, when it comes to foreign policy, I agree that there have been some miscalculations by the Obama administration, but there are always miscalculations when it comes to intervening in other countries/cultures for the purpose of strategic positioning in a region to "protect our own interests". IMO, it has to be done to some extent, to what extent is the real question.

I have no problem with the fact that the US isn't jamming itself down Egypt's throat for overthrowing Morsi, despite increasing fatalities on both sides and some civilian deaths (as sad as it is).

Also, no objection to refraining from sending troops into Syria or trying to take Assad out when each side is pointing at the other in terms of chemical weapons, war crimes, and terrorist infiltration.

Russia and Putin? What are you gonna do? Putin's a caricature of the tough guy - concerned almost entirely with one-upping and his public image.

China? I support the Obama administration's efforts towards opening up markets and improving trade/strategic relations with the largest consumer base in the world.

Drone attacks on terrorist bases in Yemen and elsewhere in the Middle East? No objection here.

On and on it goes with some areas of interest in almost every region of the world. I know some vehemently disagree with my opinions on these topics and respect that; they are just my opinions.

My bigger issue with the Obama administration is domestic policy.

However, the NSA accessing citizens' communications with the stated objective of detecting terrorist activity/plans proactively doesn't bother me. Snowden isn't a hero in my book, nor is anything that that he revealed surprising to me.

When/if it starts looking like the NSA is scouring citizens' communications and using that intel to go after non-terrorist criminal activity, I'll have a problem with it as a form of illegal search. No one needs to define "liberty" for me or try to convince me that I'm foolish for not viewing the NSA policy as a violation of my civil liberties -I get both sides and know where and why I'm standing where I am.

The economy is my biggest beef with Obama. So many promises related to the economy have not been met - they've been covered in other threads, so I won't list them all out again. The joblessness numbers are still scary, which means the people relying on government/tax-payer dollars remains way too high. Major US cities are going belly up, etc, etc...

To be fair, not all of the country's economic woes can be blamed on the federal government or the President. But, many of them are a result of policy trickle down, to a certain degree. I just don't think pre-election commitments have been kept or re-assessed and communicated to the public; that worries me more than most anything else, in terms of politics.

All JMO.

[Mohammed]

Well, if the Drone attacks would be actually on terrorist bases. So far from what we see here, it is about 50-50. Innocent families and kids are being taken out. The Drones have become simply ridiculous. There might be somebody there, boom, boom, which is the famous tactic being used, the double hit, which also has the nasty side effect that when a house or bus in a village gets hit, the next ones on the list are those running in to help.

And seriously, lately it's like Obama found a new hobby he is absolutely fascinated with. Sort of like he put an XBox in the Oval Office and goes wild with it all day.

Democracy is a funny thing. It worked well in America because you did what is necessary for a proper and decent democracy, you got rid of all the natives. Australia same thing. Africa was a bit different. Democracy was ok until the White Man was around, as he was the most democratic of the whole lot, thereby automatically taking over the leadership.

Once when he was gone it all looked a bit different as he came, put a border around 40 tribes, and told them all "Now see that border? In that border we have now what is called democracy! What is that? Easy, You ellect a President, me, who represents and takes care of all the other folks, you." because all of a sudden you had then 40 tribes who hate each other trying to decide from which one the next President would come from.

In some areas democracy just doesn't work. Besides, it was just one the wonderful reasons of Bush anyway. To bring democracy to the people.

But yeah, Obama looks somewhat confused at the moment.

[Duchess]

I think our country has a lot of fuckin' nerve running around the world telling people how they should live. Nobody likes a busybody.

[Maggot]

There has been many who have tried and quit right away after seeing the presidents policy moving forward. Judd Greg comes to mind in the very beginning. Either you have a greed complex and you hang with him like Eric Holder or you have morals and get out.......distance yourself from the man right away.

Great men are not made, they are born.

[FAHQTOO]

I think our country has a lot of fuckin' nerve running around the world telling people how they should live. Nobody likes a busybody.

It pisses me off too, but we pay these countries handsomely to be able to tell them what to do.

[Mohammed]

That's a bit of a hooker philosophy innit?!

"What you mean to swallow is an extra 50? Right, here's a 100, now turn around bitch!"

[HairOfTheDog]

Obama's even getting low marks from some women's groups now.

While there are many more female Congresspersons (who are reportedly equally as qualified as their male counterparts for Cabinet appointments), Obama hasn't appointed any more females to Cabinet positions than did Bill Clinton, and the percentage of women in the current administration is lower than under Clinton two decades ago.



Obama's getting hit from all angles these days.

Source:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonk...-clintons/