Do you agree with the Washington Post suggestion that Obama not run for re-election?

Why should he be expected to do that?

He didn’t decline the Nobel Peace Prize so it could go to the more deserving individual.

To help the country I think he sould resign now and give the next two years to someone else and never run again.

I think it is some of the weird navel-gazing that goes on in Washington. I don’t think declaring that he would not run again would guarantee what they think it will.

Why should he do that when he has an excellent chance to be re-elected and to get a Democratic Congress to boot?

Well, about the only problem I see with that is the prospect that Hillary Clinton will use the opportunity to once again try for the big chair, and I can think of nobody that is more polarizing that Hillary Clinton.

I think it would be bad form for the U.S. President to fail to run for a second term. It’s as if to say he should not have run for the first term, and a man should know deep in his breast if he is fit to run this country before he takes an oath to perform so.

Do I like, or agree with him? No, not in the slightest. He should hold to his moral bearing, socialist as it is, and give it his best shot at reelection. It would be cunning, political, and lower than the office for this man to bow out after a first term, unless he had some other very pressing engagement, or family crisis.

A resignation would be better, but not much. I say he should finish out his term, and attempt the nomination. The democratic party should then simply nominate someone else. This may seem like a bigger insult than simply bowing out, but at least he didn’t give up. It shows that the ideals he supports are something he has the will to follow through with right to the end. That, in its turn, shows the rest of the world that Americans, regardless, of their viewpoint on politics, believe things, and will follow through with them regardless of how hard the road becomes.

I am a staunch GOP, card carrying, Republican. That said, I believe this man can turn his presidency around, change his mind, and create a new day in this world. He can do this by doing a number of things, that he most certainly will not likely even consider.

1. Help in bringing Republicans to table to discuss the healthcare overhaul, and giving every aspect of that sweeping legislation a close look. With both sides and both viewpoints respected and heeded. (easier said than done, but it must be done!)

2. Using his political capital as POTUS to reach out to corporate industry leaders and let them know it is safe to free up their real dollar capital. How? By swearing away getting rid of the bush tax breaks. By addressing the rising debt, and cutting federal programs. By swearing to never allow cap and trade.

3. He can turn this around, and be/do Clinton 94. He must meet the Republicans on the issues, with agreeable solutions. If not, he fails.

I agree with @Ltryptophan .

It’s an interesting premise, and one that might work the way the authors are suggesting… but my guess is that it won’t. Not in today’s political climate. The Republicans would immediately call him a quitter (even though it wouldn’t be quitting), and vilify him for it, saying he deserves it (especially in light of Sarah Palin’s resignation and subsequent bashing).

In addition, even though he would no longer be worried about getting re-elected, every one else will be. Thus, the pandering to special interests would continue on without him. It really makes me sad, actually. What could be a noble undertaking would surely be turned into a circus.

It’s not failure to only serve one term. We don’t remember Adams as a bad President (party because he was a founding father), and alot of people respected Polk for saying he would only run 1 term and then doing it. Dem’s should definitely consider this, all the blue collars who are pissed at Pres. Obama right now would probably flock back to the party if they ran Hillary in this next cycle and not O.

@augustlan But if you consider what it would require of our President to wage even a respectable campaign for re-election you can kiss goodbye the next 2 years as he would be tapped out backpedaling on the campaign trail for all that didn’t get done and blow another 2 years doing so. Major Catch 22 for him. If he loses re-election, he will make Carter look good OR he could tough it out in the trenches….ride the wave of a recovery, own up to the responsibility of promises not kept but he fought to the end for what we were able to do and come out looking like a champion for the everyman and seal his place in the history books without a re-election.

The whole world would be very disappointed.

@mattbrowne? The whole world? You really think that?? In what way

Since I really wanted Hillary, and still do, the idea that she would have a shot at the next presidential run sounds good to me, but I do not think Obama saying he won’t run is a good idea. Instead of stregnthening his image, I think it might diminish it. I do not think it will reconcile the Republicans and the Democrats, I don’t think it would build any bridges. What would be his reason to the public for not running? Family reasons? Not good enough. To focus on governing rather than running? Good governing should be one of the best selling points pf being a second term president. The other side will turn it into, he knew he probably wouldn’t win, at least that is what I think.

@Cruiser – Well, the Bush administration treated all foreign countries including all allies as vassals, telling them you are either with us or against us. Bullying was the norm.

Obama promised to treat other countries as partners. And the bullying did in fact stop.

@mattbrowne I agree with that. But in the US the hard core Bush supporters focus on Israel and the Palestinians, Iran being a threat, our war in Afghanastan. What they see is even with Obama trying to accomplish something between Israel and the Palestinians, nothing has really changed. And, that even though Obama seemingly extended a hand to Iran, the Iranians continue as before (although the Iranian president sees it differently, I have seen him state that he feels he extended himself to the US and we have been stubborn). And, Obama has continued in Afghanastan, actually sending more troops, which actually all Americans wanted Bush to do that, but it seems Osama is most likely out of Afghanastan, so we should not be there. These same people, for the most part, don’t care at all if European and Asian countries like America and our president; it means nothing to them. They feel secure in our super power status, think of the world as a big place, and think we can take care of ourselves just fine. I don’t tell you this to argue with you, as I said, I agree with your statement. I only tell you to maybe give you insight you might not have being outside of the country.

@Cruiser would you agree with that? I am not saying you are one of those people, but don’t you think there are people in America who really don’t care if foreign countries like and support us? So that value that Obama brings means nothing to them?

@JLeslie For me your question is a 2 edged sword! I have cringed at much of how Obama has mangled handled things diplomatically overseas, particularly with Russia, China, Korea, Israel, and with Great Briton and our joint efforts with the war on terror. His “currency” and our countries stature is pretty high though with the Arab Nations and other 3rd world emerging market type environments where we stand to gain much economically by our relationships there but I am not happy with his ease of making concessions for these gains.

@JLeslie – Obama can’t work miracles. But

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_New_Beginning#Speech

was a significant improvement over Bush. The Middle East conflict can only be solved if the West strengthens moderate Muslims.

@Cruiser Did you feel Bush handled those countries better? I am not trying to tit for tat Obama and Bush, I am just curious about your perspective.

@JLeslie Yes, I do think Bush did a better job diplomatically. As hard as it is to say, IMO he came off more “Presidential”. Obama seeming to find pennies at the feet of so many foreign heads of state and him giving Putin DVD’s as a “Hi nice to meet you” gift blew my mind!

But that being said….I am convinced Bush’s chest thumping saber rattling support of Israel day one in the Oval Office is what put that bulls-eye on our countries back and I feel strongly as to why we have had so much trouble in the Middle East.

@Cruiser Interesting.