* better job creation than BushII despite post-GFC and GOP Congress (the "it's not as good as it should have been" argument basically shows how little they understand how deep the GFC went)
* got rid of DADT
* defending planned parenthood
* lowest rate of government spending growth since I don't remember when
* Improved standing in the International community (conciliation vs separation and isolation)
* got Healthcare reforms passed (something that evaded, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter and Clinton)
* Wall St reforms
....
This. Plus Lilly Ledbetter (I still for the life of me can't understand why republicans hate this so much), S-Chip, etc. Plus I really like him as a person: he has a compelling life story and has inspired a lot of young people. It's so peculiar to me the absolute demonization of Barack Obama who rose from nothing to the presidency, unlike Bush, Clinton, and the whole rest of the crew...
It's because Corporate America makes profits off enforceable exploitation and does not want the booty of such exploitation taken away. Think of why Corporate America hates unions. It claims that it likes to negotiate individually with workers on their merits as workers, one-on-one. Of course it is anything but one-on-one; the corporations have experts on staff to determine how weak a bargaining position a worker has so that such can be exploited.
Remember the ethos that corporate bureaucrats who have no intimacy with working people have: no human suffering is excessive if there is a profit to be derived from it.
Scenario: you are a 23-year-old man working in the shipping-and-receiving department, and your wife just had a baby. The experts find that out and one of them tells you that in view of your needs you can afford to make an investment in the profitability of the company -- a 20% pay cut.
Collective bargaining prevents such abuse. It does not prevent a corporation from giving special breaks to those who are unusually competent -- like promotions to positions with greater responsibility or requiring more skill and of course higher pay.
Do you prefer that workers do their jobs well -- or that they concern themselves largely with watching their backs from corporate elites?
