Obama, game changer

[Angry Floof]

Has Obama changed how the political game is played in the US? If so, in what ways?

In 2008, I did have a lot of hope, I admit, but I wasn't emotionally attached to Barack Obama himself. I liked him and I liked his stances, but that's not what I mean. I felt like he had the potential to change not just the name on the Oval Office but the political landscape itself, our culture itself, in ways that were more important (to me) than the man.

I feel like Republicans have done so much more as far as how politics actually work in the US, although not for the better. I also realize that a great many other factors influence how we do US politics. One of my hopes seven years ago was that Obama had the capacity to raise the level of intelligent debate. W left a freakishly low bar, so I leave you to your own conclusions on whether anything's improved and whether Obama can take any credit for it.

But has Obama's presidency in any way rearranged the gears that render the American political world, in your opinion? Good or bad, intentional or not (for instance, his half-blackness itself has stirred the pot in ways that no white President ever could, maybe even a white woman President, in terms of social impact and the nature of our responses, and he had no say in that factor).

 

[rousseau]

I really like a phrase I heard recently, 'leaders are always the cox-swain, never the tide'.

Obama is a great leader given the context he's working in, but the US when Obama came to power was a product of history, and his presidency itself was indicative of a world that's changing for the better, at least socially, with or without him.

When his presidency is done the US is still going to be enmeshed in the same political gridlock as it was when he was in power, and the political landscape of the globe is still going to be dictated by factors that are more powerful than the people who are in power.

I'd predict that the US will continue to improve socially and politically, but I'd say that's mostly inevitable and not *caused*, so to speak, by Obama.

 

[fromderinside]

With Obama some gains. Now opposition has more to shoot at and our side has more to defend.

 

[dismal]

Obama and his style of politics has demonstrated a tremendous capacity to get Republicans elected at every level but his own. From what in 2008 was supposed to be the end of Republicans.

But who knows, with inspiring youthful candidates like Clinton, Sanders, Biden, Reid and Pelosi on the bench the turnaround may be coming.

 

[fromderinside]

But who knows, with inspiring youthful candidates like Clinton, Sanders, Biden, Reid and Pelosi on the bench the turnaround may be coming.

That probably true given the best the repubs have to offer are people like bobby from LA and the 'smart' Bush.

 

[arkirk]

Has Obama changed how the political game is played in the US? If so, in what ways?

In 2008, I did have a lot of hope, I admit, but I wasn't emotionally attached to Barack Obama himself. I liked him and I liked his stances, but that's not what I mean. I felt like he had the potential to change not just the name on the Oval Office but the political landscape itself, our culture itself, in ways that were more important (to me) than the man.

I feel like Republicans have done so much more as far as how politics actually work in the US, although not for the better. I also realize that a great many other factors influence how we do US politics. One of my hopes seven years ago was that Obama had the capacity to raise the level of intelligent debate. W left a freakishly low bar, so I leave you to your own conclusions on whether anything's improved and whether Obama can take any credit for it.

But has Obama's presidency in any way rearranged the gears that render the American political world, in your opinion? Good or bad, intentional or not (for instance, his half-blackness itself has stirred the pot in ways that no white President ever could, maybe even a white woman President, in terms of social impact and the nature of our responses, and he had no say in that factor).

Actually, Obama is just another chapter in the degeneration of the U.S. government. He has performed as his handlers wanted and will leave office having helped America take another step down from an already pretty low place. He has also behaved as his enemies would have him and failed to interfere in the Republican electoral cheating system. He appointed creatures like Summers and Ruben, and Gaithner and went along with the big banks to the dismay of people losing their homes and some losing their meal ticket. The problem with Obama is that he had outside sponsors who he was serving....just like the Republicans. His ME policy has played right into the hands of the military industrial complex. I regard him as an utter failure. That, after hoping there was more to him. It surprises me that he turned down the Keystone Pipeline...but it is a little late in his presidency to start acting responsibly.