Reflection: What is Your Opinion of President Obama?

I'd prefer to see Obama win simply because I think that Mitt Romney is evil, and I am not morally justified in imposing his will on my fellow human beings.

However, I don't want my strong condemnation of Romney to be taken as uncritical support for Obama. He sucks. He continued the Afghanistan war, which was bad. He's allowed health care reform to be utterly crushed by the insurance industry into a shadow of what it should have been. (Make no mistake, that was acquiescence, not compromise.) He's dropped the ball on queer issues to the point that his Secretary of State is better than he is. He's just being a classic Democrat: care genuinely about the poor, women, queers and racial minorities, but fail to actually stand up for them when it's politically controversial.

 

I think this is what gets to me that most.

I personally don't really like Obama. He might have good ideas and everything, but he hardly delivers. Plus he isn't the LGBT advocate that half the people think he is. I have been going for Obama only because he isn't Romney and that's sad to say.

There needs to be a "real" third party in this country, though. This whole thing about playing complete opposites its absurd and accomplishes nothing.

 

speaking as an outsider to the USA I honestly believe Obama is the best candidate.
in his term he as already done so much and its stupid to believe that the economy can be fixed in just a couple of years.
its already on its long road to recovery.

 

Me too. From an outsider's perspective he comes off good.

I do find it interesting (read: stupid) that the US seems to be the only country that refers to their government by the individual leader rather than the political party that they are essentially just a figurehead for. You make it seem like Obama makes every decision personally and is the only one responsible for everything. Also this leads to your elections seeming like popularity contests for the individual rather than their party's policies.

 

Well, isn't that because we're like the only modern democracy that doesn't use some form of the Westminster system? We actually elect the head of state. We don't elect the majority or minority government (whose coalition) selects the head of state.

 

Obama is just another self-serving politician, who cloaked himself in the rhetoric and imagery of being progressive firebrand to get himself elected, and then governed as a conservative whose main goal was to line his own pockets.

He really has no excuses. He was elected in 2008 with a solid mandate after the American people decisively rejected the epic fail that was the last Republican administration. A mandate to make real, fundamental changes to our social and economic structures, ala FDR. Instead he squandered that mandate, bent over backwards to cater to the GOP, and ultimately ended up a lame duck president in his first term after letting the Republicans take back the House.

The sad thing is that, as bad as Obama is, the only official alternative, Mitt Romney, is even worse.

 

Basically this. Plus he's continued Bush's erosion of civil and human rights.

 

Yes. It's silly .

 

As a person I think he seems to be pretty down to earth. Especially Michelle, they seem like genuinely nice people, but like the rest of Democrats they have no backbone.

But I really do agree that the United States needs a third party for even more liberal minded people who want to take action. Compared to conservatives in Europe, our American Democratic party is quite far to the right.

But for what we've got, Romney vs. Obama, most definitely Obama. Who in their right mind would give an ounce of support to Romney, he's been so two faced on every single opinion.

I like many of Gary Johnson's opinions, but saying that I don't know much about him so I may be speaking to soon!

 

he does have more executive power than most elected heads of government.

 

Thumbs down from me; not that I think Romney is much better, but I generally favour the Republican party over the Democrats.

 

I see exactly what you mean. And to a large degree, I think you're right. But I get the feeling that it isn't because it's politically controversial and they're afraid to damage their campaign, but because it's politically controversial, and the far right would throw a temper tantrum if they tried to talk about it like adults.

---------- Post added 13th Sep 2012 at 01:57 AM ----------

I think Obama is good. Not perfect, but good. He is a little too accommodating to the Republicans, but that doesn't make him bad. He's tried, actually tried, to help the country in its social affairs, and to make everyone as content as he can. The fact that he doesn't twist the arms of the stubborn jerks opposing him is too bad, but I don't think you could have a Democrat that does. I support him wholeheartedly, not because he is perfect, not because he does everything right, but because what he stands for, and what he's trying for, are all messages I believe in. He might not be able to get it all, but at least I know he'll be trying. That's more than I could say for any other candidate.

Also, Mitt Romney. He's been called evil here, and I think that's an understatement. The man is heartless. The things he did to his dog? The things he did to that boy in his prep school? The things he says? How could anyone make him a presidential candidate? Anyone?! He's a liar. He only cares about money. He'll give up any belief, and principle, and any morals to get elected, and once he's elected, he'll give up anything for big money for all his oily bastard friends. He doesn't only not support gay marriage, but he wants to do away with civil unions. If there ever was someone I would guess to be completely inhuman, he would be it.

Plus, he's Mormon. That shouldn't matter, but it does a lot to me. He's just not trustworthy. He's a lying asshole, and if he gets elected, I may have to shoot someone. Probably myself. I don't see how any human being could support him. Do they not have consciences? Do they not have compassion? Do they not have minds? Nothing makes me lose faith in humanity faster than the thought that an evil man like Romney could be legally elected. That he could persuade 117,904,633 people to vote for slime bag evil like him is unheard of.

 

Preface: all of this is coming from a foreigner. An interested foreigner who often visits, but a foreigner nonetheless.


Compared to Romney? I'll go with a yay. Compared to Romney with a Ryan VP (and did I somewere hear Ronmey is pondering using Bolton as his secretary of state?) ticket, you can upgrade that to a "hell yay".

While Obama is far from my idea of a perfect politician, I do believe that Romney's proposed policies would be quite a bit more detrimental. My personal motto in politics would be "leave no man behind", while that seems to be the opposite of what Romney stands for.

That said, I don't believe Romney could do as much damage as people make it out to be. Sure, every candidate runs on a platform suggesting they could remake the country in their own image, but in practice, politics is a job of evolution, not revolution. Most of the time, a president is surfing a wave, while making a big show of controlling the wave.


If there's anything Romney does, it's making me feel sad he's the best the GOP could come up with. In the day, I'd gladly have supported an Eisenhower, and even a Nixon. I couldn't see myself voting for someone like Reagan, but at least he had a vision of where he wanted the country to go. Something no republican candidate since has managed to display, IMO.

France is somewhat similar to the U.S. They elect a president, and the president forms a government. Completely separate from whoever sits in the assemblée to vote on laws.

As much as some Americans might not like to hear it, I always maintain that France is the European equivalent of the U.S., though

 

Obama - Yay!

 

I dislike him as much as any mainstream politician, all of whom I cynically believe to be wholly to mostly superficial in regards to their apparent beliefs and views.


I hate the entire system more than any given individual, however.

 

Well, that's kind of implied by politically controversial...

Evil is the strongest condemnation that I can possibly level at someone, so it's not really an understatement. Though, I do agree with the sentiment. I call him evil precisely because he's devoid of compassion and shows a clear desire to actively harm people, especially women, queers, the poor, and people of color.

Of course it matters that he's a Mormon: his religious beliefs clearly affect how he'll govern. While I know that there is beginning to be dissent in the Mormon church around LGBT issues, the fact is that animus for queer people is a mainstream opinion in the church. I believe that all politicians should have to explain either that their religious beliefs don't inform their policy stances, or that their policy stances are opposed to the morally problematic views of their religious groups. Unfortunately, that's not the culture we have, and interrogating people about their religious beliefs is considered religious intolerance. (We have the double standard that religious tolerance is essential in polite society, but the religious need not tolerate anyone else, except of course other religious people.) So even though the LDS church was officially racist until recently, and is still officially sexist, heterosexist and transsexist, Mormons don't have to explain anything to anybody.

Also, I think his popularity is easily explained by the fact that politics is social warfare, and the wrong side is winning at the moment. We would have a serious problem even if only 30% of Americans shared his views.

 

So many intelligent arguments :goodevil:... I am not old enough to vote yet and don't pay much attention to politics, but I really don't like Mitt Romney. I might actually care if he gets elected to office (I usually am neutral on the matter) and he seems so.... inhuman.

 

While I think that "evil" is a bit strong to describe anyone who isn't a cartoon, I think "slime bag" is a perfect description of Romney. He doesn't seem to care about anyone other than himself and he changes his policies like some people change their clothes. I think anybody who supports him should be wary, because just because you like his policies not doesn't mean you will after the next time they change. Obama might not live up to his promise, but he hasn't changed his values.

 

I will just say Obama isn't exactly one of my favorite people.