I read a news article today from a main stream news site (I forget which) that polled Americans asking if they were better off today than they were before Obama, and the majority said they weren't. I'm surprised.

I did a post here on GFY documenting how bad things were when the recession hit, taking photos of construction projects that just stopped half way through - We had two condo complexes with half built shells and a restaurant where they build the shell but eventually tore it down. Our town was growing and growing quickly - we were one of the fastest growing cities over a ten year period - and suddenly everything just stopped.

My street alone has exactly twenty houses on it, and at the height of the recession exactly half of them were empty and our neighborhood was a ghost town. It was strange. Now all of the houses are occupied except for two, one because they divorced and the other because he decided to buy a larger house for a lot less on the other side of town.

My wife was out of work for nearly two years, and now she's been working full time for the past year. I'm doing well too. Everyone I know locally has jobs and is happy.

I'm sorry, it doesn't matter who was in office. The only solution for this problem is time, and that's a fact. Some of the things Obama did might have helped, or maybe not so much. But this also isn't a four or eight year problem. This will take us ten years to get back to "normal". And even then, we'll never be the same again. We've changed and we are scared it might happen again.

What has Biden done?

Yes it does, and I agree wholeheartedly with those that say they are not better off than they were before Obama took office. I am not either. He is the first president since 1972 that I must say that about.

Where he has succeeded so far:
- Kept the auto industry in business
- Repealed Dont Ask Dont Tell
- Got the tea party asshats to raise the debt ceiling and avoid America defaulting on our debts
- Shrank our military footprint in Iraq (slower than I'd have liked)
- Was willing to extend our reach into Pakistan, including the Bin Laden assault but even more importantly into a broader campaign along the afghan/pakistani border. He deserves a LOT of credit for zero terrorist attacks on US soil during his entire tenure so far.
- Improved Our relationships with most other industrialized nations (Hillary deserves a lot of credit for that as well)

Where he has failed miserably:
- GITMO is still open and the rule of law is still being ignored (there is NO excuse for this)
- Unemployment has remained absurdly high (due as much to the GOP as the Dems)
- He allowed his own party to bitch slap him and gave away a chance at single payer REAL health care reform
- Allowed gas prices to become an accelerant for inflation (gas need not be $4 per gallon right now)
- Failed to put teeth in energy regulation... still no arrests over the BP oil spill
- Allowed the Elizabeth Warren credit regulations to become watered down completely


Overall I'd give him a C- for his first four years. I'd give Clinton a B and George W Bush an F.
My expectation is that 4 more years of Obama will be a C+ at best, but Romney and Ryan is likely to be an F.
In short, his greatest accomplishment as President is that he has not been as bad as Romney would be.

It is shameful that Obama and Romney are the best two candidates for America to choose.
Citizens United is the real problem, not the Democrats or the Republicans... the people who own them both.

Soon as QE3 happens, it's going up even more.


The main economic problems would have happened if Jesus himself was in office. So in that aspect, you are correct. However, how Obama reacted to the problem is what matters.

But I do agree that things will never be the same. And it will happen again, and it will be worse because they did not fix the root of the problem and borrowed and printed even more money. The next blow isn't going to be so easy to put another band-aid on. There won't be any more Government money to bail out companies and banks. So what should have happened already, will eventually happen. It's only a matter of time.

You are a very ignorant person...and spread your ignorance in virtually every thread on this board...day and night.

We had about 160 thousand military personnel in Iraq many of which belonged to Combat Arms units. These forces have been withdrawn from Iraq. There has been additional private security personnel (private security has been in Iraq pretty much from the start of the occupation) hired to help protect US assets that had previously been protected by US military personnel. Private security such as "Black Water" type of security personnel are not Combat Arms units...they are lightly armed security personnel.

There is not 160 US "mercenaries" in Iraq/Afghanistan...at best they are a few thousand "Black Water" type security personnel.

Ignorant conspiracy type expat mother fuckers...such as yourself...spew out misinformation and exaggerations...pigshit in other words.

They even left part of their equipment (helicopters, armored personnel carriers etc) behind for use by the PMCs.

Politics is all about perception. It's not about what you did, but about what you can get people to believe you did.

Obama is taking heat for problems that he inherited. He did some good things, not enough but better than the Bush years. THe Affordable healthcare act is better than nothing, not good enough. He has stimulated innovation with lots of grants, stimulated education, and most important has not driven us back into the dark ages.

Most Americans do not know the largest middle class tax cuts was by Obama by reducing FICA, (Social Security) taxes therefore increasing net paychecks of working people. He has never touted much of what he did.

But we'll never know if he did good or bad. Would things have been better if McCain was in office and did things his way? Dunno - who knows? It would have been a completely circumstance if McCain was in office.

My in-laws make damn good money, yet they live like paupers. It's very odd. They take their money and they tuck it away in various banking accounts. Last Christmas this came up - they finally spending money and upgrading their forty year old house - and my mother in law told us that she has a bad habit of not wanting to spend money because she lived through the depression, and she knows what it's like when it gets "really bad".

I wonder if our generation will see the same ten and twenty years from now.

distroyed the health care system.

He is looking out for the worthless... lazy ass people that don't do anything to help this country, yeah, instead of cutting wealfare he chose to cut police, firemen, and military. That makes perfect sense!

everyone wants to bitch about tax breaks for the ritch. yet they supply jobs which bring in more taxes...

Of course it does. The poor make up the majority of the voters and, despite their lesser financial worth, they still get one vote per person. :)

Trickle down economics does not work. It just makes the rich richer.

The President does not have anything to do with police or firemen, that is local government

The worthless healthcare change allows people to buy insurance and forces the insurance companies to rebate some of their gouging to the people who paid premiums.

Read the law before you make comments without understanding

Share something good Obama has done so far?
 

A poo?

8char

Proof Obama done good!

what about Mitt ? what has he done for us lately ?

Obama has my vote!

Main difference is, Obama works for Rothschild and Romney works for Rockefeller, but let's not forget that Rockefeller works for Rothschild :upsidedow

Don't forget he ended Bush's folly in Iraq.

I think his golf game has improved - he has played a bunch.

The timeline for withdrawing the troops from Iraq was set by the Bush Administration...President Obama just abided by it.

You know, you can always tell when someone has a beef with the current occupant of the White House. Take out the stupidity and replace it with common sense.

President Obama doesn't decide how many police officers or firemen my hometown hires. They are city employees, not federal employees. Same with teachers, who locally in my area are county employees working for the country school district. So I have no idea where your saying Obama has decided to cut police and fire.

As for our military, I was unaware it was cut. However, it makes perfect sense really - We no longer have troops in Iraq, so I would imagine it would cut back on expenses - A LOT.

And as for the healthcare system? If it's better, why are so many doctors closing up shop? why are the hospitals laying off so many people? you obviosly know nothing about obamacare....

The question is what have U done for Obama :upsidedow

He didn't prevent the 2nd great depression, he just delayed it a bit while causing more irreversible damage.

Stayed out of his country.

Buddy, chill, I got no dog in this fight. Just trolling. :)

He'd rather eat the dog, lmfao.

Nothing.

Why won't Mitt Romney release his tax returns, as is customary? His father did - 12 years worth!

Mitt is hiding. Mitt is a crook. What else are we to believe?

"Despite pressure ? even within his party ? to release the tax returns, the Romney campaign is standing pat. Responding to critics, Anne Romney said: 'We've given all you people need to know.'"

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Deco...re-tax-returns

Fuck this greasy used car salesman. :boid

Destroyed the health care system? WTF?!?! It was fucking shit to begin with. The truth is Obama had the BALLS to take on a massive, politically incendiary issue.

When the fuck has the GOP done anything about it - other than Romneycare, that is. It's sooooo ironic that Mittens has to run from the only 1/2 way decent thing he's ever done. But that's the way it is when your base are a bunch of dipshits.


http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/...od-thing-2.jpg

You almost worked me into a frenzy. :upsidedow

True, but I'm willing to bet DX already knew that. :)

ok, looks like I should have scrolled down first instead of replying to DWB :)

Have you not been paying attention? They were laying off doctors and staff long before Obama. The entire system is broken. Obama tried to pass what is really Romneycare, but the Republicans shot it down.

Anything is better than nothing.

I never understood the concept of trickle down economics. I don't decide how many people I can employe depending on how much taxes I have to pay. It's decided by how much I need. You don't lower my taxes and I say "Gee, I can hire another person".

I'm just gonna pocket that money.

I watched that video... And they keep talking about how the White House leaked details about killing Bin Laden.... Yet they never mentioned what was top secret?

What was top secret? The dog that was on the mission? As if everyone in the town that unit was stationed at doesn't know the name of the fucking dog. The helicopter? You mean the ones we fucking left behind?

I love how they said we should have kept quiet about it for a week or two so we could go through all of that intelligence we collected? Because, you know, it would look really good if we staged a military raid in a foreign country and denied it for a week while the press asked questions. Not to mention the fucking Taliban most likely knew about the raid hours after it happened.

That video was thirty minutes of nothing.

It took you 7 minutes and 59 seconds to realize the video had ended?

Edit: doesn't matter to the general public, they only look at the small picture and how it would directly help them right now.....

Doing nothing is the absolute best that we could have hoped for from that batshit crazy harpy McCain picked.

And I very much doubt that we would have been so lucky.

Obama care? Sorry I'm Canadian I get free health care. For better or worse.