Is this the change you voted for?

[Cail]

OK, so 2 years from now both the DNC and RNC will be over, and we'll be counting down to the election in November. It's my opinion that the last 20 months have been an unmitigated disaster for this country.

Health care is a bust. Yes, something passed through Congress and got signed into law, but we're still trying to figure out what it is. It's not single-payer and it doesn't insure everyone. What it does do is force everyone to purchase health insurance. It's a windfall for insurance companies and Big Pharma, and it was chock-full of closed-door backroom deals. That's in stark contrast to the transparency that was promised.

Foreign policy is a bust. Gitmo's still open, we're still fighting two wars (regardless of Obama's very own "mission accomplished" speech). We're still torturing and renditioning. In fact, there's no noticeable difference between Obama's foreign policy and Bush's......Except that Bush probably wouldn't have kept so quiet about the election rioting in Iran.

Personal liberties are a bust. Obama hasn't fought to roll back the more distasteful pieces of the Patriot Act. He's shown no leadership in repealing DOMA or DADT. His justice department is still waging a futile war on drugs in states that have voted to decriminalize pot.

The economy's in the tank. Obama used TARP money to bail out GM and Chrysler, money that was never meant for that. He's also pushing GM to release their IPO just before the November elections (and will bend the rules to do so). The housing market is a mess and not getting better. Wall Street and the banks have been given money to stay liquid, but that hasn't translated into either jobs or loans. And guess what? Subprime lending is back!

And then there's the political climate in the country. We were promised a new kind of politics and presidency. What we got was a far more divisive leadership that calls cops stupid, and attacks everyone who dares speak against them.

I live in (arguably) one of the most Liberal areas in the country, and people around here are pissed. Even the extremely liberal Washington Post is running articles about the very real possibility that the GOP takes over control of both houses of Congress (I personally don't see it).

Now with all this said, I don't think there's a Republican that can beat Obama in 2012, and truthfully I'd be worried if one did as they'd probably take that as a sign that the country wants to be run by the far-right fundie wackos that seem to be (in the guise of the Tea Party) running the GOP.

I'm seriously starting to pray that a reasonable Democrat challenges Obama in the primaries.

So is anyone happy with the job Obama's doing? Seriously, what can anyone point to (other than rescuing that couple from the Somali pirates) that Obama's done right?

[Cybrweez]

Maybe he can start by extending all the tax cuts that are set to expire end of year. That would be a good start.

[Vraith]

What I think is that Obama is...on most of the current major concerns...in a lose-lose situation...I think whoever had been elected would have been in the same situation...the failures/broken promises list would contain different items [the economy would have been on both...and worse with any of the Reps...but for different reasons, the war probably too].
The thing is, people keep saying Gov't is broken. What's really broken is the freaking people.
I'm not pleased with Obama in general...but there are people I'm way, way angrier at than him.

I think there are a couple Rep's that could [possibly] beat him...but those ones would only make things worse, not better.
My first thought [and not mine only] when Bey [sp?] left office that he might do just what you suggest...seems unlikely now, though.

[sgt.null]

i see the dems losing both the house and the senate. and whoever runs against obama trouncing him.

unless obama starts listening to the american people - and i think he is too far above us common folk to ever do that.

who was the last sitting president to face a serious challenge from his own party?

[Savor Dam]

who was the last sitting president to face a serious challenge from his own party?

Jimmy Carter, challenged by Ted Kennedy in 1980 primaries.

[sgt.null]

who was the last sitting president to face a serious challenge from his own party?

Jimmy Carter, challenged by Ted Kennedy in 1980 primaries.

thanks i thought it was that. Franklin Pierce (from New Hampshire) is the only sitting president not to get his own party's nomination for a 2nd term.

[Avatar]

Well, I didn't vote obviously, but so far, I'm not impressed with him at all. Not that I think he's had an easy time of it, but his policies haven't exactly been the new broom he appeared to suggest.

Duci novo, similis duci seneci!

--A

[sindatur]

I think both Houses of Congress will have Republican gains, and possibly take control of one in 2010. I am concerned about 2012, because I think those gains may continue and the Republicans take control of both Houses and I don't want a Republican MOnopoly of all 3 Houses anymore than I wanted the Democrats to in 2008. I think President Obama may actually be a pretty decent President with a more Conservative Congress, personally considering his desire for compromise all the time.

[wayfriend]

According to Politifact:

Promise Kept ........ 121
Compromise .......... 39
Promise Broken ...... 22
Stalled ................... 81
In the Works ........ 240
Not yet rated ........... 3

PolitiFact has compiled more than 500 promises that Barack Obama made during the campaign and is tracking their progress on our Obameter.

[details on specific promises]

[Vraith]

I think both Houses of Congress will have Republican gains, and possibly take control of one in 2010. I am concerned about 2012, because I think those gains may continue and the Republicans take control of both Houses and I don't want a Republican MOnopoly of all 3 Houses anymore than I wanted the Democrats to in 2008. I think President Obama may actually be a pretty decent President with a more Conservative Congress, personally considering his desire for compromise all the time.

You're probably right...but what I wish is that if people want change, they should make change. For the last 2 decades, approval of congress has averaged @30%, no matter which party held it. So the voters should stick by their supposed opinions. At minimum, 70 senators [over next 6 years] and 305 housemembers [upcoming election] should lose their jobs. And none of the replacements should be Republicans or Democrats, since the disapproval applies to both parties.

[sindatur]

The problem is, as an entity, people are indeed dissatisfied with the Congress/Senate, but, often they don't believe their guy is the problem (or think the problem is their party just doesn't have enough seats)

[Zarathustra]

According to Politifact:

Promise Kept ........ 121
Compromise .......... 39
Promise Broken ...... 22
Stalled ................... 81
In the Works ........ 240
Not yet rated ........... 3

PolitiFact has compiled more than 500 promises that Barack Obama made during the campaign and is tracking their progress on our Obameter.

[details on specific promises]

This list is bullshit. Let's take a few of the Top 25 promises, according to Politifact.

"Reform mandatory minimum sentences" Politifact puts this one in the "Promise Kept" category.

Wow, that sounds pretty good! Mandatory minimum sentences are a travesty of justice, usurping judicial power with a one-size-fits-all sentencing scheme that winds up putting nonviolent drug users in jail longer than rapists and murders. If Obama has actually reformed mandatory minium sentences, that would be a big deal! I would praise him loudly. You’d think that would be all over the news!

However, the truth is in the details. From Politifact's own commentary on this promise:

"It doesn't mean they are going to do away with mandatory sentencing. We need to have current data on its impact on sentencing, the amount of inmates incarcerated and the impacts on crime. If we have all that data, we can begin have a reasonable congressional discussion about it."

All the government did was pass a law which calls for a review of sentencing … i.e. they’re going to compile a report. They haven’t conducted the review, nor have they said this review will lead to the end of mandatory minium sentences. They’re going to crunch some numbers. That's it. Not a single thing has changed. Congress will begin to have a “discussion” once the report is complete. And this counts as “promise kept” for reforming mandatory sentences! At the end of the day (or year or two), it’s possible that not a single thing will have changed, but we’ll spend months or years and 1000s of dollars of tax payer money paying peole to write this report.

And that counts as “promise kept.”

What about Securing the Border? According to Politifact, Obama is well on his way toward this lofty goal, putting it in the "In the Works" category. I had no idea!

“... analysts along the Southwest border has tripled. Thirteen additional cross-trained canine teams were also deployed to the region, according to the report.”

President Obama also announced in May 2010 that he would deploy 1,200 national guard troops to help secure the border.

Ooh, analyists? That should stop people walking across the border. Let’s analyze them! 13 canine teams? Wow! That’s about 1 team for every 153 miles! How will the illegals possibly outrun them? 1200 national guard troops? That’s about 1 man for every 1.6 miles! (Most of these will be desk jobs, not actually on the border).

"Although opinions may differ, I do not see any of the immigration enforcement changes pursued by the Obama administration as having a long term impact on the undocumented immigrant population," Kevin Johnson, Dean of the University of California-Davis Law School and an immigration policy expert, wrote in an email. "Where the administration's enforcement efforts might prove to be -- but have not yet proven to be -- 'significant' is if they help convince members of Congress that the border is secure and it is time to reform the laws.

Politifact is counting this as “in the works” even though it quotes people who say it won’t work … except as a means to fool Congress (i.e. Republicans) into passing amnesty for illegals. It is supposed to undermine the criticismof Reps who say you have to secure the border before you give them all amnesty, and provide cover for Dems so they can say, "See? Border secure! Problem solved!"

This list even put Closing Guantanamo Bay Detention Center in the “in the works,” category, even though Obama has clearly broken his promise on the very specific deadline. The reason for ignoring this promise? “During the campaign, Obama gave himself no such deadline, and we're judging him here on his campaign promises.”

So the promises of a candidate are more important than promises he makes as President?? (One could argue that he’s still a candidate … we assume he wants to get reelected). This is one of the most glaring broken promises he has made, and yet this list obscures it on a technicality.

In the list of top 25 promises, I didn’t see the most repeated campaign promise: not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 … which was broken by the health care bill, which forces people to buy a product, enforced through the IRS code. They admitted it was a tax so that they can skirt Constitutional challenges.

As I said, this list is bullshit. The public can plainly see that Obama has lied and broken his most important promises. He's out of his league, inexperienced, has no idea how to revive the economy, no idea how to lead, and clearly never intended to keep his promises because he began breaking them in some of the very first legislation he signed.

[Cybrweez]

That's too bad, I thought the breakdown would've been cool, do that for all of Congress, through the years, we'll have a good picture of how bad they are all liars. But, whoever determines whether the promise was broken is biased, so that makes it untrustworthy. I see potential tho.

The tax raise on under $250K people might get worse if Bush tax cuts aren't extended. I think I heard they're talking about extending for under $200K, but nothing happening yet.

[wayfriend]

I just thought I'd point out that an argument about Obama not keeping his campaign promises is pretty stupid when you cherry pick which promises to consider. As opposed to one which doesn't.

Please feel free to come up with your own references as to which promises he kept and which he didn't.

Until you do .... until you demonstrate how he didn't keep any, or many ... you don't really have a rational argument, just a pure unadulterated smear pretending to be a rational argument.

[Zarathustra]

I just thought I'd point out that an argument about Obama not keeping his campaign promises is pretty stupid when you cherry pick which promises to consider. As opposed to one which doesn't.

The Politifact "cherry picked" promises which it thought were the most important, for it's Top 25 list. That's the list I looked at. I don't have time to look at all the 100s. The first few I looked at were suspect, making me have doubts about the rest. I think it is stupid to look at the overall results without examining the details.

Do you think it was stupid for Politifact to cherry pick promises, leaving off important ones like his tax promise off their list of "important" promises, and then including ones that no one has even heard of ... like the mandatory mininum promise?

Until you do .... until you demonstrate how he didn't keep any, or many ... you don't really have a rational argument, just a pure unadulterated smear pretending to be a rational argument.

Oh I have no problem admitting that I'm smearing Obama. If you can't tell, I don't like him.

[High Lord Tolkien]

I just thought I'd point out that an argument about Obama not keeping his campaign promises is pretty stupid when you cherry pick which promises to consider. As opposed to one which doesn't.

The Politifact "cherry picked" promises which it thought were the most important, for it's Top 25 list. That's the list I looked at. I don't have time to look at all the 100s. The first few I looked at were suspect, making me have doubts about the rest.

Yeah, you'd think the first dozen would be home runs for Barry.
It's pretty telling that there aren't.

[Zarathustra]

One more point about the "cherry picking." Another name for it would be "prioritizing." If you look at PolitiOpinion's list, 90% of those promises are things no one even heard of or really care about. Maybe PolitiOpinion included them for the sake of thoroughness ... or maybe they padded the list with Obama's relatively insignificant promises to make an argument of sheer numbers, rather than importance--to obsure the relevant facts with noise. And look: it worked. At least one person here thought listing those numbers was a meaningful rebuttal.

But Obama didn't get elected because of 300 or 400 little-known promises made once or twice in all the stops on the campaign trail. He got elected on the broad policies of his platform. Obama himself "cherry picked" which points to stress the most. It is only fair to judge him on his biggest promises. I certainly think closing GITMO, no new taxes on the middle class (not one dime!), reversing Bush's policies on the War on Terror, getting rid of lobbyist control of Washington, posting bills online before voting on them, transparency in the legislative process, new tone in Washington, no earmarks in bills, etc. loom large in his promises. If someone thinks that Congress writing a report on incarceration numbers of inmates (or any of the other insignificant promises he "kept") in any way balances out those glaring failures, then make the argument. Don't hide behind numbers. This isn't a numbers game.

[wayfriend]

I heard about a promise to get a stimulus package passed. One did.

I heard about a promise to lift the ban on stem cell research. It was.

I heard about a promise to reform health care. It was.

I heard about a promise to better regulate Wall St to prevent a recurrence of what happend. It is.

I heard about a promise to get out of Iraq. We are getting.

I heard about a promise to concentrate more on Afghanistan. We are.

I heard about a promise to boost green energy. We are.

I heard about a promise to get out of Guantanimo. It isn't going well, but it's going.

Those are the major promises that I remember. I'm not seeing so much failure as you are.

(And no, my position has nothing to do with supporting Obama. It only has to do with seeing what passes as truth weilded around here.)

Yeah, you'd think the first dozen would be home runs for Barry. It's pretty telling that there aren't.

Hmm... interesting. It's faulted for being biased. And then faulted for not being biased.

[sindatur]

I heard about a promise to get a stimulus package passed. One did.

I heard about a promise to lift the ban on stem cell research. It was.

I heard about a promise to reform health care. It was.

I heard about a promise to better regulate Wall St to prevent a recurrence of what happend. It is.

I heard about a promise to get out of Iraq. We are getting.

I heard about a promise to concentrate more on Afghanistan. We are.

I heard about a promise to boost green energy. We are.

I heard about a promise to get out of Guantanimo. It isn't going well, but it's going.

Those are the major promises that I remember. I'm not seeing so much failure as you are.

(And no, my position has nothing to do with supporting Obama. It only has to do with seeing what passes as truth weilded around here.)

I gotta disagree with Health Care reform, they didn't in any way reform Health Care, yes, they passed a bill, but, it didn't reform health Care in any way. There own numbers show there will still be 23 Million uncovered, which is the same number we start with, the President is now saying "of course we knew costs would rise", so there's not even a pretense anymore that costs are going to decrease

Gitmo - All I'm aware of, was his promise almost immediately after taking office, to close within one year. Is there something actually being done, that I am unaware of?

[Kil Tyme]

Nah, nothing is happening on Gitmo and probably won't; dumb promise anyway: days away from beginning KSM trial and the rest of the ilk and BO stops it. Health care and Stimulus promises (if the stimulus was a promise...can't recall), were unwise to begin with, too. Green energy: who doesn't promise that? Bush did, too. I think he was more Green than Bill.

One promise I know he has kept with himself is lowering his handicap. !!!!!!!!!