Was Obama a good President? Rate the Obama presidency

[CivicParticipant]

-

[Sumner 1868]

F- It seems to me that Obama was a disaster. As a far lefty (by American standards) who wants less corporatism, a less corrupt government, more respect for basic rights, less foreign intervention, and a stronger social safety net, Obama was a sellout and an enabler of everything I don't want the government doing, and did little I do want to see happen.

Weak on global warming and green energy. Socially liberal mostly when he was pushed into it. Missed a clear opportunity to revitalize our national infrastructure. His signature piece of legislation was Cato Institute health care plan. He aided and abetted the Bush Administration's regime of torture and illegal spying, giving the criminals a free pass and setting a terrible precedent. He did the same for the  crooks profiting from the 2007 economic crash. He didn't even try to fix our most pervasive and dangerous problems.  He trashed Libya and continued all of the Bush administration's worst offenses. He belongs in jail, in a cell between Bush and Trump.

But even if you don't agree with me, if you want a strong and globally active America, he was a failure. He oversaw the continuing decay of our military, while squandering it's capability to little effect. He failed to counter Russian or Chinese expansionism, and left the nation ill-prepared to do so in the future. Sure, he left our economy better than he found it, but you can say the same about Putin, and I'm not going to sing his praises either.

The most you can really say for him is that the creaky, corrupt, decaying machine that is the American establishment didn't completely break on his watch. He even shined it up really nice. But he certainly didn't do anything revolutionary, or even to change where the US is headed.  And he did set the stage for Trump. He seems good to us now only because anyone would look good in comparison to Trump.

I've written before about the metaphor of the nation as a bus, with Trump as the crazed, intoxicated passenger who seized control, waves around his gun (and appears to be wearing a bomb) and is drunkenly accelerating towards a cliff.

Obama, by contrast, was a nice, clear spoken and polite man. He explained that he'd recently gotten his commercial license, and if he could please drive, he'd take us where we want to go. But once in the chair, he was a pleasant driver, but he kept us on the road to the same place Trump is going, just at a slower and more sedate pace.

[Kodak]

F- It seems to me that Obama was a disaster. As a far lefty (by American standards) who wants less corporatism, a less corrupt government, more respect for basic rights, less foreign intervention, and a stronger social safety net, Obama was a sellout and an enabler of everything I don't want the government doing, and did little I do want to see happen.

Weak on global warming and green energy. Socially liberal mostly when he was pushed into it. Missed a clear opportunity to revitalize our national infrastructure. His signature piece of legislation was Cato Institute health care plan. He aided and abetted the Bush Administration's regime of torture and illegal spying, giving the criminals a free pass and setting a terrible precedent. He did the same for the  crooks profiting from the 2007 economic crash. He didn't even try to fix our most pervasive and dangerous problems.  He trashed Libya and continued all of the Bush administration's worst offenses. He belongs in jail, in a cell between Bush and Trump.

But even if you don't agree with me, if you want a strong and globally active America, he was a failure. He oversaw the continuing decay of our military, while squandering it's capability to little effect. He failed to counter Russian or Chinese expansionism, and left the nation ill-prepared to do so in the future. Sure, he left our economy better than he found it, but you can say the same about Putin, and I'm not going to sing his praises either.

The most you can really say for him is that the creaky, corrupt, decaying machine that is the American establishment didn't completely break on his watch. He even shined it up really nice. But he certainly didn't do anything revolutionary, or even to change where the US is headed.  And he did set the stage for Trump. He seems good to us now only because anyone would look good in comparison to Trump.

I've written before about the metaphor of the nation as a bus, with Trump as the crazed, intoxicated passenger who seized control, waves around his gun (and appears to be wearing a bomb) and is drunkenly accelerating towards a cliff.

Obama, by contrast, was a nice, clear spoken and polite man. He explained that he'd recently gotten his commercial license, and if he could please drive, he'd take us where we want to go. But once in the chair, he was a pleasant driver, but he kept us on the road to the same place Trump is going, just at a slower and more sedate pace.

I'm curious, who was the last president who would get a grade higher than an F from you?

[OSR stands with Israel]

Domestic Policy: C+

Economy: C+
Trade: D-
Crime: B
Immigration: D-
Race Relations: D
Environment: B
Healthcare: B

Foreign Policy: D

Afghanistan: C
Cuba: B
China: D+
Iran: B
Syria: F
Libya: F
Iraq: D
North Korea: D-
Russia: F

Overall: C

[Santander]

F- It seems to me that Obama was a disaster. As a far lefty (by American standards) who wants less corporatism, a less corrupt government, more respect for basic rights, less foreign intervention, and a stronger social safety net, Obama was a sellout and an enabler of everything I don't want the government doing, and did little I do want to see happen.

Weak on global warming and green energy. Socially liberal mostly when he was pushed into it. Missed a clear opportunity to revitalize our national infrastructure. His signature piece of legislation was Cato Institute health care plan. He aided and abetted the Bush Administration's regime of torture and illegal spying, giving the criminals a free pass and setting a terrible precedent. He did the same for the  crooks profiting from the 2007 economic crash. He didn't even try to fix our most pervasive and dangerous problems.  He trashed Libya and continued all of the Bush administration's worst offenses. He belongs in jail, in a cell between Bush and Trump.

But even if you don't agree with me, if you want a strong and globally active America, he was a failure. He oversaw the continuing decay of our military, while squandering it's capability to little effect. He failed to counter Russian or Chinese expansionism, and left the nation ill-prepared to do so in the future. Sure, he left our economy better than he found it, but you can say the same about Putin, and I'm not going to sing his praises either.

The most you can really say for him is that the creaky, corrupt, decaying machine that is the American establishment didn't completely break on his watch. He even shined it up really nice. But he certainly didn't do anything revolutionary, or even to change where the US is headed.  And he did set the stage for Trump. He seems good to us now only because anyone would look good in comparison to Trump.

I've written before about the metaphor of the nation as a bus, with Trump as the crazed, intoxicated passenger who seized control, waves around his gun (and appears to be wearing a bomb) and is drunkenly accelerating towards a cliff.

Obama, by contrast, was a nice, clear spoken and polite man. He explained that he'd recently gotten his commercial license, and if he could please drive, he'd take us where we want to go. But once in the chair, he was a pleasant driver, but he kept us on the road to the same place Trump is going, just at a slower and more sedate pace.

[pbrower2a]

Domestic Policy: B+

Economy: A
Trade: B
Crime: A-
Immigration: B
Race Relations: A
Environment: B
Healthcare: B
LGBT rights: A

Foreign Policy: B+

Afghanistan: C
Cuba: B
China: B
Iran: B
Syria: C
Libya: B-
Iraq: C
North Korea: B
Russia: B

Overall: B+ (because much of the rest of the world is left out of the grading).

[dead0man]

Domestic Policy:C+

Economy: C
Trade: C
Crime: C
Immigration: C
Race Relations: B
Environment: B
Healthcare: D
LGBT rights: B

Foreign Policy:D

Afghanistan: D
Cuba: D
China: D-
Iran: F
Syria: D-
Libya: F
Iraq: D
North Korea: C
Russia: C

Overall: C-

[Landslide Lyndon]

F- It seems to me that Obama was a disaster. As a far lefty (by American standards) who wants less corporatism, a less corrupt government, more respect for basic rights, less foreign intervention, and a stronger social safety net, Obama was a sellout and an enabler of everything I don't want the government doing, and did little I do want to see happen.

Weak on global warming and green energy. Socially liberal mostly when he was pushed into it. Missed a clear opportunity to revitalize our national infrastructure. His signature piece of legislation was Cato Institute health care plan. He aided and abetted the Bush Administration's regime of torture and illegal spying, giving the criminals a free pass and setting a terrible precedent. He did the same for the  crooks profiting from the 2007 economic crash. He didn't even try to fix our most pervasive and dangerous problems.  He trashed Libya and continued all of the Bush administration's worst offenses. He belongs in jail, in a cell between Bush and Trump.

But even if you don't agree with me, if you want a strong and globally active America, he was a failure. He oversaw the continuing decay of our military, while squandering it's capability to little effect. He failed to counter Russian or Chinese expansionism, and left the nation ill-prepared to do so in the future. Sure, he left our economy better than he found it, but you can say the same about Putin, and I'm not going to sing his praises either.

The most you can really say for him is that the creaky, corrupt, decaying machine that is the American establishment didn't completely break on his watch. He even shined it up really nice. But he certainly didn't do anything revolutionary, or even to change where the US is headed.  And he did set the stage for Trump. He seems good to us now only because anyone would look good in comparison to Trump.

I've written before about the metaphor of the nation as a bus, with Trump as the crazed, intoxicated passenger who seized control, waves around his gun (and appears to be wearing a bomb) and is drunkenly accelerating towards a cliff.

Obama, by contrast, was a nice, clear spoken and polite man. He explained that he'd recently gotten his commercial license, and if he could please drive, he'd take us where we want to go. But once in the chair, he was a pleasant driver, but he kept us on the road to the same place Trump is going, just at a slower and more sedate pace.

I'm curious, who was the last president who would get a grade higher than an F from you?

No president will ever be good enough for the tea party of the left.

[136or142]

Domestic policy

Biggest positive: Helping get the United States out of the 'Great Recession' which, at the time, there were genuine fears it would end up worse than the Great Depression


Biggest negative from the right: After the economic recovery did not do enough to cut the deficit.

Biggest negative from the left: Allowing Eric Holder and the person in charge of white collar crime to not seriously pursue criminal penalties against the bankers who everybody knows committed fraud.
The PBS program 'Frontline' did an excellent episode on this.

Overall biggest negative: not tending enough to the Democratic Party base.  I don't know how true it is that Obama ignored the Democratic Party and left it to its own devices in the 2010 and 2014 midterms, with obvious negative consequences on the Obama Presidency, but that he appointed the hopeless Debbie Wasserman Schultz as DNC Chair is a huge piece of evidence that there is a lot of truth to that claim.

[Wrong about 2024 Ghost]

F- It seems to me that Obama was a disaster. As a far lefty (by American standards) who wants less corporatism, a less corrupt government, more respect for basic rights, less foreign intervention, and a stronger social safety net, Obama was a sellout and an enabler of everything I don't want the government doing, and did little I do want to see happen.

Weak on global warming and green energy. Socially liberal mostly when he was pushed into it. Missed a clear opportunity to revitalize our national infrastructure. His signature piece of legislation was Cato Institute health care plan. He aided and abetted the Bush Administration's regime of torture and illegal spying, giving the criminals a free pass and setting a terrible precedent. He did the same for the  crooks profiting from the 2007 economic crash. He didn't even try to fix our most pervasive and dangerous problems.  He trashed Libya and continued all of the Bush administration's worst offenses. He belongs in jail, in a cell between Bush and Trump.

But even if you don't agree with me, if you want a strong and globally active America, he was a failure. He oversaw the continuing decay of our military, while squandering it's capability to little effect. He failed to counter Russian or Chinese expansionism, and left the nation ill-prepared to do so in the future. Sure, he left our economy better than he found it, but you can say the same about Putin, and I'm not going to sing his praises either.

The most you can really say for him is that the creaky, corrupt, decaying machine that is the American establishment didn't completely break on his watch. He even shined it up really nice. But he certainly didn't do anything revolutionary, or even to change where the US is headed.  And he did set the stage for Trump. He seems good to us now only because anyone would look good in comparison to Trump.

I've written before about the metaphor of the nation as a bus, with Trump as the crazed, intoxicated passenger who seized control, waves around his gun (and appears to be wearing a bomb) and is drunkenly accelerating towards a cliff.

Obama, by contrast, was a nice, clear spoken and polite man. He explained that he'd recently gotten his commercial license, and if he could please drive, he'd take us where we want to go. But once in the chair, he was a pleasant driver, but he kept us on the road to the same place Trump is going, just at a slower and more sedate pace.

I'm curious, who was the last president who would get a grade higher than an F from you?

That's a fair question. Grading on the same basis as I did Obama, which was a mix of both personal politics and attempted objectivity with a lot of weight on long-term effects... Dubya gets an F, too, of course. Off the cuff, I'm not confident that Clinton deserves anything better, either. So let's say Poppa Bush gets a C-. His politics aren't ones I agree with,  and he did not take the GOP off the track that leads to today. But he was, to the best of my knowledge, not the complete failure that his successors all have been in various ways.

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

The atlas looney far left is really exposing their bare ass in this thread.

Crazy how unrepresentative this forum is of anything remotely resembling real life

[Cassandra]

F

Obama began his term in office by doing nothing substantial to fix the policy failures which led to the financial crash. Then he pushed through a terrible healthcare "reform." Then, as Averroës points out, he "exposed DREAMers to Trump-era deportation because of executive overreach." He continued a disastrous and unethical foreign policy which saw the expansion of drone assassinations and the embroilment of the United States in numerous wars. And his actions to combat climate change, the biggest threat facing our species, were unforgivably weak.

You can't credit Obama for economic expansion that his terms happened to coincide with. Which is a mixed statement anyway, given that expansion was one that missed most of the US; just look at how stagnate wage growth has been (for decades). I struggle to think of anything positive Obama did, other than repealing DADT and initiating the thaw with Cuba.

[Kyle Rittenhouse is a Political Prisoner]

The atlas looney far left is really exposing their bare ass in this thread.

Crazy how unrepresentative this forum is of anything remotely resembling real life

Obama was a good president, although he fell somewhat short of great. Complaining that he didn't usher in a communist utopia is moronic beyond belief.

[Zaybay]

Again I will try to be as fair as possible

Domestic Policy: B-

Economy: C-
Trade: B-
Crime: B-
Immigration: B-
Race Relations: B
Environment: A-
Healthcare: B
LGBT rights: A+(he did help to create the rights in the first place)

Foreign Policy: C+

Afghanistan: C
Cuba: B+
China: B-
Iran: B+
Syria: C-
Libya: D-
Iraq: C+
North Korea: B
Russia: B-

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

Crazy how unrepresentative this forum is of anything remotely resembling real life

This is a great point. Racism of nonwhites against whites is very real. I would know, as someone who went to a 12% white high school and has the scars of anti-white racism. My tall, extremely masculine stature made me a prime fit for basketball, but I was always selected second or third in basketball. One time I even heard one of the blacks say "He's good, but he's white", and I felt unsafe for a few weeks, especially around the awful rap music the neighborhood kids would play.

Crazy how unrepresentative this forum is of anything remotely resembling real life

Crazy how unrepresentative this forum is of anything remotely resembling real life

Crazy how unrepresentative this forum is of anything remotely resembling real life

Crazy how unrepresentative this forum is of anything remotely resembling real life

Crazy how unrepresentative this forum is of anything remotely resembling real life

Crazy how unrepresentative this forum is of anything remotely resembling real life

I thought "tall, extremely masculine stature" was a clear giveaway that was a joke post, along with the other ridiculous contents of this post, but I suppose far-left nutters who give Obama an F on race relations despite being "progressive" are so utterly detached from reality they are unable to comprehend simple posts.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Crazy how unrepresentative this forum is of anything remotely resembling real life

This is a great point. Racism of nonwhites against whites is very real. I would know, as someone who went to a 12% white high school and has the scars of anti-white racism. My tall, extremely masculine stature made me a prime fit for basketball, but I was always selected second or third in basketball. One time I even heard one of the blacks say "He's good, but he's white", and I felt unsafe for a few weeks, especially around the awful rap music the neighborhood kids would play.

Crazy how unrepresentative this forum is of anything remotely resembling real life

Crazy how unrepresentative this forum is of anything remotely resembling real life

Crazy how unrepresentative this forum is of anything remotely resembling real life

Crazy how unrepresentative this forum is of anything remotely resembling real life

Crazy how unrepresentative this forum is of anything remotely resembling real life

Crazy how unrepresentative this forum is of anything remotely resembling real life

I thought "tall, extremely masculine stature" was a clear giveaway that was a joke post, along with the other ridiculous contents of this post, but I suppose far-left nutters who give Obama an F on race relations despite being "progressive" are so utterly detached from reality they are unable to comprehend simple posts.

You are arguing with a guy who said that we should stop talking about Russia because Joe Sixpack from Redneckville, Missouri, doesn't care about all that.

[Wrong about 2024 Ghost]

Again I will try to be as fair as possible

Domestic Policy: B-

Economy: C-
Trade: B-
Crime: B-
Immigration: B-
Race Relations: B
Environment: A-
Healthcare: B
LGBT rights: A+(he did help to create the rights in the first place)

Foreign Policy: C+

Afghanistan: C
Cuba: B+
China: B-
Iran: B+
Syria: C-
Libya: D-
Iraq: C+
North Korea: B
Russia: B-

How is giving white-collar criminals who trashed the economy a free pass worthy of a B- on Crime? How is letting China seize by force of arms the territory of a US ally with barely a peep (leading to that nation breaking with the US and electing a pro-Chinese demagogue) a B- on China?

[Pyro]

Largely agree with Averroës and the above quoted Runeghost post.
Pres. Obama simply served the interests of the wealthy elite from the start to the end.

Anyone deifying Obama must have been totally disconnected during his entire administration.

Eight years launching bombing raids and drone strikes against seven countries: a dramatic, seemingly permanent expansion of the wars started by his predecessor and a massive growth of the military budget to accompany it. The sheer amount of civilian children murdered during his nonchalant wars should disqualify President Obama as a "wonderful man" in any respect imaginable - plus his incessant persecution of whistleblowers revealing these atrocities to the world. This is not to even mention his destruction of basic civil liberties and willingness to do nothing as the groundwork was laid for the Trump administration. The Obama Age opened the door to media monopolization and the end of any semblance of privacy law in an increasingly threatened neutral net. He sat on his hands as the police emerged as a military-like apparatus operating with impunity: cracking down on protests from Occupy to DAPL, forever silencing unarmed black men (and women) and presenting this issue as if "both sides" had reason. No serious steps on the climate crisis, income inequality, or infrastructure.

President Obama's crowning achievement was instituting the healthcare plan of the Heritage Foundation. As if to symbolize the president's political life, "Obamacare" was everything the Republican Party could have dreamed: A Republican health plan with its only saving grace being the meager expansion of Medicaid. This push to compromise resulted in a Republican-lite presidency and a governing style favoring the interests of the wealthy few off the backs of a largely working class voter coalition. The Grand Bargain is Barack Obama all wrapped up in a blue ribbon. Its end result is, and has been, a despondent, outraged Left and a reinvigorated right-wing.

But, yes, he did have charisma. Joy.

[For Trump, everything. For immigrants, the law]

Domestic Policy: B

Economy: A-
Trade: C+
Crime: B
Immigration: D-
Race Relations: C
Environment: A
Healthcare: A-

Foreign Policy: C-

Afghanistan: C+
Cuba: A-
China: B-
Iran: B
Syria: D
Libya: D-
Iraq: C-
North Korea: C
Russia: D

Overall: C+

[Calthrina950]

It amazes me how some of the far-left posters on this forum consider Obama to be as bad as Trump. These posters probably want a President who is a full-blown socialist, or at least a "democratic socialist" like Bernie Sanders.

[HisGrace]

Domestic Policy: D

Economy: D
Trade: C+
Crime: C+
Immigration: B-
Race Relations: B
Environment: C
Healthcare: D

Foreign Policy: B-

Afghanistan: C+
Cuba: B
China: C
Iran: A (not penalizing him for Trump blowing up his deal)
Syria: D
Libya: D
Iraq: C+
North Korea: C
Russia: C

Overall: D+

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

It amazes me how some of the far-left posters on this forum consider Obama to be as bad as Trump. These posters probably want a President who is a full-blown socialist, or at least a "democratic socialist" like Bernie Sanders.

They don't have any allies because they hate everything that doesn't exactly conform to them.

They're totally detached from society. In the real world, you often have to interact with people who only agree with you 70 or 80% of the time.

[Sic Semper Tyrannis]

D to d-

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I'll start with foreign policy:

Cuba: A+
Iran: A (without a plus, since it turned out to be easily reversible)
Russia: D (naivety of the Reset policy, followed by only half-hearted political response to the Ukrainian crisis)
Syria: D (I will give Obama credit for learning from Libya not to just rush in charging without any plan. However a lack of serious ideas at the administration's part was clear)
Iraq: B (seriously, a limited re-commitment was just unavoidable after the rise of the ISIS)
Libya: F (no person with more than three brain cells left intact can claim Libya was anything but failure)
North Korea: B (avoiding serious tensions was a good policy in longterm)
Yemen: F (Democrats only now noticing (when he's is no longer President) a U.S. criminal complicity in Saudi-led war in Yemen tells volumes about their hipocrisy)

Overall: C- to C

[Zaybay]

Again I will try to be as fair as possible

Domestic Policy: B-

Economy: C-
Trade: B-
Crime: B-
Immigration: B-
Race Relations: B
Environment: A-
Healthcare: B
LGBT rights: A+(he did help to create the rights in the first place)

Foreign Policy: C+

Afghanistan: C
Cuba: B+
China: B-
Iran: B+
Syria: C-
Libya: D-
Iraq: C+
North Korea: B
Russia: B-

How is giving white-collar criminals who trashed the economy a free pass worthy of a B- on Crime? How is letting China seize by force of arms the territory of a US ally with barely a peep (leading to that nation breaking with the US and electing a pro-Chinese demagogue) a B- on China?

1. Wall street, and economy thrashers would go under economy, which I gave him the lowest grade for.
2. Crime rates declined substantially over the O years, and new forms of policing were tried, such as the body camera
3.It would help if you mentioned which country, Im guessing the Philippines. They have not broken with the US, they have just distanced themselves, and have sought more positive relations with China and Russia. These are all Rodrigo's policies, and so were not Obama's fault. The territory clash had little to do with his ascension, and the territory seized was rather minor and insignificant. And even then, we still enjoy great relations with the nation.

And even if this was a big deal, that would not push Obama that far down. There are multiple parts that go into a grade, one homework assignment doesnt make or break. Obama sought peaceful relations with China, and caused greater co-existance between the two. China was put under check, and was happy. Of course, there are the negatives, the trade deficit, the SCS, NK, which is why I gave him a B-.