Approval of President Obama
 

This a thread for you to share your thoughts on President Barrack Obama. :)

I wanted to do a poll similar to those like Gallup, etc. I wanted to see the statistics on his approval rating on this site. We'll be able to see if it is at all similar to that of America's population.

Anyways... I think it'll be interesting to see.

Seems like a nice guy, but I couldn't agree less with what he's doing. He entered office on a mandate of 'change' and what we've ended up with is more or less the black George W. I suspected this, though, when he appointed more of the same old faces as Secretary Of State, Treasury Secretary, etc. etc. Turns out Mike Gravel was right all along.

I don't believe it would be possible for anyone to do much better. He might have pulled a few fast ones on the American people, but honestly the States needs to wake up, smell the roses, and catch up with the rest of the world.

I think he's been too focussed on playing it safe and trying to get people to like him, when he should be doing what he said he was going to, making people work hard and letting people fall for the better of the nations future.

This coming from a Canadian though, so feel free to discount my views.

I really don't see that he could do much better than he is at the moment. Sure, it seems like he's playing it safe, but he's trying to get some manner of unity between the GOP and Dems.

Our previous president all but set him up for failure. There was an unfinished war, another war begging for attention, a piss-poor economy, and one of the strongest divides between the two main parties that there's ever been.

He's been trying to do things, but all of the partisan bull**** is getting in the way.

I really don't follow politics nearly closely enough to make any kind of qualified statement about Obama's presidency, but honestly, anything is a step up from Bush.

I didn't even vote for him but he was the lesser of two evils at the time.

He just seems very inexperienced as a politician in general. The crucial time for him to push alot of things forward was wasted. He was too busy trying to cater to both sides with bi-partisan crap.

Who cares about the other side when you have all the strength on your side to push through very important things. He needed to do things Bush style and just force shit through when he had the chance.

He squandered the opportunity and everything that he has passed he had to compromise so much just to get it through.

This is pretty much it. Obama invested pretty much 100% of his steam in campaigning, now that he's in office, he seems to have pretty much tamed.

Cheap Heath Care is cool, and all but seeing as it's his only real focus, and he's not even getting most o that through in a timely fashion. Nothing is really getting done.

Honestly, Obama needs to get some balls. He promised radical change up the ass like as if he'd be a president who would stand up to anything, and is doing the EXACT opposite. I couldn't give a flying **** about unity between the political parties. We need to pull our country out of the ****ter...

Essentially, We NEED an FDR, and we ended up with a William Harrison in FDR's skin.

I didn't like the old shriveled white Bushes so why would I like the new black Bush?

pfft that's so off base.

I wish he would act more like a black Bush.

He's too wishy washy.

Actually, Obama campaigned as a moderate democrat. I have to say that four months ago, I would've agree with you about him toughening up, but this country won't get anywhere unless we cooperate with one another. Although, I was pretty angry when I saw his tax compromise... Those Bush tax cuts are just idiotic, and they're feeding the beast that is big corporation and greed.

Not to mention, from what I have heard and seen, the healthcare bill is really watered-down and not nearly as strong as it was intended to be (and needs to be).

I've heard about ten different descriptions of the healthcare bill ranging from a system similar to Canada's to legally forcing people to purchase from pre-existing insurance companies (which is bs I'm sure), and I'm too much of a lazy sod to read all 400+ pages of the bill, so I really don't know what to think of it anymore.
I wish people wouldn't make up this kind of runoff.

But yeah, I do agree we need a strong healthcare bill. However, I can see him wanting to compromise just so it exists (especially with Republican majority in congress), because it can always be amended by a later administration. That's what happened with FDR's New Deal and the numerous acts produced by it. (Yeah, it's kind of stretch comparing the two but it's my two cents.)

Well, I'm not saying he was intending to be super super left. More so, he gave the impression that he was a very strong, directioned president who intended to see his vision through. What we got is the world's ultimate compromiser, and a guy who pretty much backed down from a the promises he made.

I mean, has he even closed Guantanamo bay yet? I mean, it was supposed to be the very first thing he was doing. if hasn't done that even yet, what has he done?

Good points. Both of you.

Aw, thanks. :D

Also, just throwing this out there, I have no definite opinion of Obama's performance as a president as I don't have enough knowledge regarding his history as president to make an informed decision.

We don't have money. If the economy gets better, I'll be happy. I could care less who's president. I'm indifferent towards him. He's definitely a good speaker. Almost as good as Bush.

:yikes::confused:

I actually think he wasn't THAT bad of a speaker overall (regardless of the content of what he said), he just made so many hilarious verbal blunders and occasionally made up words that it was impossible not to giggle at him.

But Gunnels, the Republican party isn't even happy with it now. Do you really think it makes a difference if the bill is stronger or weaker? To them, fighting any healthcare bill gives them more credit with the Tea Party and more recognition from other Republicans. In their eyes, anything passed by Obama is "socialism."

EDIT: Bush never took himself all that seriously anyways. He could laugh at himself which is a wonderful quality to have.

I hope you know that wasn't sarcasm whatsoever.

Also, if anyone wants to feel happy, go here:

U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time

Feelsgoodman. Someday we will be out of this goddamn thing, but until then, it's a shitty situation.

Why do you think he was a good speaker? As Jack Pat pointed out, he was good at laughing at himself. But that's it. As far as I could tell, he was an atrocious speaker, and he said a lot of dumb things. Obama, on the other hand, is a fantastic speaker.

Yeah, good point. I can't argue with this.

I know. I was being sarcastic. Then I was being sarcastic in the way that I said I wasn't being sarcastic.

:banghead:

You fooled me! For a second I thought there had been some awesome Bush speeches that I was totally unaware of.

Eh...

There could be! :eek: Wouldn't be that something. Hearing him be eloquent would just.. I wouldn't know what to do.

He is a step up from Bush, but that is not saying much since he is a sack of **** as well.

From across the pond, he seems like a smart guy whose values are a lot better than your previous president. When it comes to what he's done or not, I'm nowhere up to date on present american politics and don't know any details. But, you're in a country with a huge debt, with a two party system which splits public opinion down the middle, where distrust against the government and a lot of the politics I personally think would help you runs deep. I'm sure all that and many other things present enormous obstacles which slows him down. To expect a new president to magically overcome all that is a bit much.

He had the chance near the beginning to push through some of the policies that he talked about in his campaign but he blew the chance by trying to appeal to both sides of the parties.

I wasn't expecting him to be a miracle but he talked a good game and when he could have backed it up, he decided to be a politician and appeal to both sides to help him in the future for his re-election.

I didn't vote for him because I knew he was just like every other politician but he just didn't appear to have the experience or to tact to be as ruthless as he should be.

The only thing he has going for him is his charisma, he's a pretty good guy and intelligent but he's a bit of a pushover. I like him as a person but talk about being soft.


you should be banned from using sarcasm. talk about overusing it to the point where it's ineffective lol

I think he went into this thinking thinking it was going to be a lot easier to change things in the government than it actually is. He just spent 3 years trying to convince a bunch of gray haired white guys that socialized health care is a good idea. We all see how that worked out. Overall I think he's a decent enough guy and an ok politician with some good ideas, but his ability to change the way things are has been pretty limited, which makes him look bad in the long run.

yeah but the things he was trying to change are pretty huge things that can't really be done overnight with the bi-partisan BS that goes on.

Yeah, I know what you mean. But I think you mean "partisan", bipartisan would imply either side is willing to compromise. Which certainly isn't the case with most of Obama's issues.

well yeah I meant partisan but he's always trying to make things bipartisan as in wanting to have both sides agree on things.

He will start out with an agenda and then because of the back and forth between the two parties he ends up having to shave off and add in little things that he didn't want to and it becomes some sort of mutation of his original idea.

3 years is not overnight. If you don't think a president can do what Obama promises look into FDR who basically did whatever is in his power to completely reshape the government. He even clashed with the supreme court over it. Obama needs to be partisan. He needs to quit compromising. I don't care if the Republicans own the house.

It's not Obama's job to compromise. It's his to make change, and by my accord, he has made absolutely none.

I agree but also look at how many FDR type presidents we have had in history?

They come with necessity.

obama has the right ideas with rectifying american society. unfortunately hes not backed up by the now bloated gop congress. hence nothing good will ever get done.

congress-why should we pass healhcare bills and ssi increases? so americans can live better for longer? dont we have a pro-life abortion rally to go to?

It makes me sad to see that our president has such a low approval rating. I am pretty sure that racism still has a very large part in it. people will not admit it, but there are a lot of rednecks out there. The way it seems to me, republicans don't really care what happens as long as democrats don't succeed. of course it isn't only the gop, but it seems to be mostly coming from the right. Its a vicious cycle. Then of course there are all the ridiculous lies that people still believe in, such as that obama is not an american citzen, or that there are more people out of work now than when he came into office, or that he has ****ed up our economy even more. :(

Apparently 1/4 of Americans don't believe that Obama was born in the U.S., but that was a poll taken several months ago, so... it might have changed.

As for his approval ratings, low approval ratings are always natural when it comes to having a president in office for a certain amount of time. He's around 40-50% (I think), which actually is pretty good considering he's been president for about three years.

I thought it was around 25%, I'll have to look it up.

As of yesterday, 46% at least somewhat approve, while only 25% actually got his back.

So everyone that disapproves of Obama is a right-wing redneck? You are not even taking into account the left-wingers that dissaprove of Obama for being a spineless panderer that has backed out of almost every fight with the Republicans. America needs smart and strong leadership in a time of crisis. Obama is amazing at talking the talk but horrible at walking the walk.