Why are the American People punishing Obama?

Forums: Politics, Obama, Economy, Us Politics, Performance
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What seems to be some positives about our economy after the Great Recession, Obama's performance rating is a higher negative score. Even after seeing job increases, and the stock market growing at a good pace.

What seems troubling to most is the fact that wages and salaries have remained stagnant, losing some 5% buying power since 2009, and the new jobs are paying less than before the Great Recession.

Many credit the Federal Reserve for our improving economy by keeping interest rates low.

Why do you think Obama gets such a bad rap when he saved our economy from the Great Recession which many economists believe would have gotten our country into another Great Depression without his actions?

How do you rate Obama's performance?
Good ______3
Average____2
Bad_______1

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Type: Discussion • Score: 28 • Views: 9,561 • Replies: 157

@cicerone imposter,

According to today's poll, it's 49% approve and 49% disapprove.

Where do 'you' stand?

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Now what exactly did Obammy do to fix the economy???

Maybe they dont like him cause he repeatedly lies to the American public and people have just now caught on.

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Obama to me is the in between when measuring good leaders versus bad. He is a million times better than Bush, but he is far from being the ideal.

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@cicerone imposter,

I am upset with Obama for several reasons.

His foreign policy is horrible from his targeted killings and drone strikes to his flubbed response to ISIS. His domestic policy has been anemic, for example on immigration policy. There is only so much he can blame on the Republicans.

I have been disappointed.

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Way back when he was first elected, my comment (only partly sarcastic) was: First thing he ought to do as president-elect...

...is to demand a recount.

I have no idea of why anyone would want the job...which I saw as an abomination. The administration that was going to be followed...had turned our country into a disaster area.

Frankly, I expected very little...and such as I did expect, I figured would be done the way a dentist in the old west pulled teeth...with lots of reluctance on the part of the patient...and lots of pain.

My feelings are that Barack Obama has gotten about as much done as anyone could have gotten done considering the political climate in which he has been working.

I doubt he will go down in history as a great president...but back when he was still running the first time, I thought that whoever got elected was going to end up being considered a failed president.

I don't think of him as a failed president...but I sometimes think of We, the People as a failed electorate for countenancing the Republican Party as now constituted in our political process.

1 Reply

Obama is absolutely perfect. You just need a new electorate.

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@cicerone imposter,

Quote:

How do you rate Obama's performance?
Good ______3
Average____2
Bad_______1

0 Replies

@Frank Apisa,

Frank, we had an almost identical situation over here, with the awful Blair/Brown era finally coming to an end.
In the Treasury, the new man arrived and noticed a note on his desk from his predecessor which read (paraphrase) "Money all gone. Good luck with that"

Blair the poodle and Bush the master dragged both Countries through an illegal war and as far as the UK was concerned, Blair then sold the family silver and maxed out the UK's credit card.
I suspect a similar set of circumstances greeted the post Bush government over there.

You're right in that nobody can expect the sweep up guy to rectify the situation straight away, but the ordinary people who live ordinary lives have very short memories.
Five years is a very short time to clear up such a mess, but it will come back and unfairly bite Obama if he doesn't.

My bet as an outsider (wait for the scoffing) is that Hilary stands a good chance.
It'd be great for the US to have a Mrs President come along and show the squabbling boys how things are done.

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@Lordyaswas,

Peace in Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone, introduction of the minimum wage, introduction of working benefits to make sure people weren't caught in a poverty trap. Unlike now, there was significant funding for the NHS which meant people didn't wait for months on end for operations.

Blair's premiership was a thousand times better than the dark years of Thatcher, and significantly better than the bunch of Hooray Henries in charge now.

Britain would have gone along with Bush regardless of who was prime minister. The Tories all voted for the illegal war in Iraq.

The Global crisis was caused by American banks passing off sub prime mortgages as capital. Brown's actions stopped the recession becoming a depression. Alastair Darling's economic policies were working, until Gideon's disastrous budgets brought in 2 years of unnecessary stagnation.

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I would say in large part due to the economic situation and due to foreign policies, about 1.7 - below average, but not the worst.

I honestly saw little in the way of good foreign policy and the economic situation was pretty bleak -- I think Obama care is going to continue to cause economic problems. Personally, even though I have had slight increases in salary and even a new job, my net salary is less each year mostly due to the increases in health care costs with the past two years the increases in health care were significant. This probably the only time in my life where my net pay has decreased each year.

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@Lordyaswas,

You wrote with which I agree,

Quote:

It'd be great for the US to have a Mrs President come along and show the squabbling boys how things are done.

And that would work if we had more women in congress.

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@cicerone imposter,

Reminds me of a quote from Jim Morrison...

Quote:

There are no longer “Dancers,” the possessed. The cleavage of men into actors and spectators is the central fact of our time. We are obsessed with heroes who live for us and whom we punish… we have metamorphosed from a mad body dancing on hillsides to a pair of eyes staring in the dark.
- Jim Morrison

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@cicerone imposter,

Quote:

Why do you think Obama gets such a bad rap when he saved our economy from the Great Recession which many economists believe would have gotten our country into another Great Depression without his actions?

Because a lot of us think that what Obama did was kick the can down the road, at the price of about $2 trillion, without lifting a finger to fix the actual problems. We are likely to still have a depression, but with a much higher debt load going in then we were looking at in 07.

We cant give Obama credit for what we do not believe exists...IE a real turnaround

http://blog.forex4you.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/us_economic_optimism_index.jpg

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

How does anyone kick the can down the road when we're talking about our economy? "Kick the can down the road" has no meaning in economics.

1 Reply

@cicerone imposter,

cicerone imposter wrote:

How does anyone kick the can down the road when we're talking about our economy? "Kick the can down the road" has no meaning in economics.

dont be obtuse.

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

You're not only obtuse but can't even explain what you post. LOL

1 Reply

@cicerone imposter,

Quote:

Idiom Definitions for 'Kick the can down the road'

If you kick the can down the road, you delay a decision in hopes that the problem or issue will go away or somebody else will make the decision later.

http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/kick+the+can+down+the+road.html

In this case Obama chose to delay taking any action to fix structural problems in our economy, and instead took the "pull out the kids credit card spending like mad while praying that the problem goes away" approach.

THe American people right now take a dim view of this abdication of leadership. The historians will be more harsh. Practicing delay and pray is not leadership.

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

Please explain this,

Quote:

delay taking any action to fix structural problems in our economy.

What structural problems in our economy?

1 Reply

@cicerone imposter,

http://www.cbpp.org/images/chartbook_images/1.1-GDP-change-OPT.png

1 Reply

Why are the American People punishing Obama?

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