Is Barack Obama's personality crippling his presidency?

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

His approval ratings have never dipped below 40% and he was President while the unemployment rate was over 10%. The answer to your question: no. If anything, it's his personality that has made his presidency memorable.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Obama has gotten more done then any President since LBJ......so I would say no his personality isn't crippling his presidency.

Yeah, lots of watered down pieces of legislation. The impression I am getting in Double Down is that Obama hates the Presidency, and hates elections, but continues onward due to ego. His White House staff was in chaos in 2011, with power struggles against Valerie Jarrett in particular causing a lot of tension.

He got healthcare passed(which no D since Truman has failed to do), got the largest stimulus in US history passed, Wall-Street reform, the auto bailout. There are very few Presidents whom's record are going to be as accomplished as his.

The whole notion that his personality makes him ineffective is nonsense when you actually look at his record.

^^^

This is a man who is uniquely able to cobble together coalitions of remarkably diverse special interest groups to accomplish policy change. Even when he has failed, his political acumen has proven to be impressive: he got the AFL-CIO and the Chamber of Commerce to agree on immigration reform. Nancy Pelosi deserves a huge portion of the credit for his first two years in office. The fact that Cap and Trade received votes from industrial Democrats during a recession is really remarkable. Miss u bb, yr in my heart forever Nancy.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

How the f could Obama get single payer? Every special interest group would be running ads 24/7 calling him an invasive communist *insert black pejorative term here* and the bill would be as unpopular as AIDS within two months. Obama could propose any minor healthcare reform and it would polarize the country by the late summer of 2009.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

How the f could Obama get single payer? Every special interest group would be running ads 24/7 calling him an invasive communist *insert black pejorative term here* and the bill would be as unpopular as AIDS within two months. Obama could propose any minor healthcare reform and it would polarize the country by the late summer of 2009.

He had both Houses of Congress. He was going to be hit hard in the midterms anyway. Why not go all the way and come back in 2012?

I support single payer over this mandate bs, and the fact that we can't repeal it completely at this point shows how strong single payer could have come.

Admit it: You may like Obama, but he could certainly be better. I think that about Rand Paul all the time.

Of course I think Obama could be better: I wish he never associated with that piece of human trash named Rahm Emanuel and wish he discarded Summers in favor of Christy Roemer. I wish he had the balls to not nominate Ben Bernanke, although I think Bernanke has done a good job. I wish Obama nominated solidly leftist supreme court justices instead of Kaplan and Sotomayor (who are both good but still leave something to be desired). However I have become a strong believer in not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, especially when it comes to the eternally disappointing game of politics.

I suppose when you are virtually waging a war against people who might as well be in UKIP or FPO, you learn to overlook the minor setbacks that occurred long ago. One thing I will not forgive Obama for is his performance in Copenhagen. He failed the world during those days and I'll get to live with the consequences of his languid performance. Climate change is truly a frightful phenomena.