Was Obama all talk?

Wasn’t his main priorities to end the War? Instead he’s sending more troops. I don’t understand.

Still very optimistic. Obama is dealing with the nightmarish forces of a recalcitrant Senate, hawks all over the place, stupid people coming out of the woodwork. He is doing great. Just wait and see.

@cyndihugs Uh huh.

@skfinkel You calling me stupid? And a worm?

A few more years and maybe he can become a greatly accomplished humanitarian like Jimmy Carter. I think there will be a lot more to his life and what he can affect by who he is after the Presidency.

He was nothing but talk when he was in Illinois, now everyone else is finding out he’s nothing but hot air. He accomplished nothing in Illinois, now he is doing more nothing on a grander scale. He has earned his name Obamanation.

Well one-quarter of his term is over. I don’t think he has made any progress. I was surprised when I realized one year had gone by judging by how little he carried through.

Mark this on your calendar…..

He will not pull anyone out, until it gets closer to election day. Then he will make a token effort to harvest votes

I think he thought when going into office he could just end it all, and he has now found out that it wont end like that because if we just leave they will just come to us people, we need more troops to stabilize once it is stabilized and all major threats taken care of then we can pull out I think 2011 will probably be the year we can finally end all of this

@master_mind413 Welcome to fluther and thanks for your response. Hope to see you swimming about.

All political proposals are ‘nothing but talk’ when they are first proposed. Now comes the hard part, implementing them successfully.

I understand Canadian troops will be expected to live closely with citizens of Kandihar, and also encircle it with some American troops to be under Canadian command. This will increase the risk to canadian troops in the city. But it think it is wise to get out of Iraq ans sendthose troops to deal with Tallibad.

I’ve thought so since he voted for FISA prior to the election, and since he didn’t say boo about journalists and protesters being detained under the Patriot Act at the DNC.

Obama channeling Bush

@Zen_Again, Iran Contra?

My first vote ever cast went to this man and I’d like to remain positive, but I never held any illusions that he would accomplish all he promised. You know the old saying, though: shoot for the moon so you at least land among the stars, or something banal like that.

Now though I’m especially unhappy with his relative silence/uncertainty re gay rights and the fact that, despite using transparency as part of his ‘platform’, he has not been entirely transparent (esp. re ‘emergency Internet control’, which has always scared me).

As for the Nobel Peace Prize, I was very amused. I don’t think it was a justifiable choice but that’s not his fault. I consider it collateral or something. Let’s hope he makes good on it.

Overall I’m not dissatisfied. But I’m not real happy, either. I understand it’s harder to implement, though, like @YARNLADY said. I guess I’m ‘cautiously optimistic’, to borrow that trite idiom.

Was Obama all talk?

Yes.

Am I still optimistic?

I’m always optimistic. I was optimistic with Clinton. (Bill)

what did that get me him? a stain on a blue dress.

I think he had a lot to say when he was going for votes, but now when reality hit he realizes it not as easy as he claimed it would be.

You simply can’t just pull out of a country. You can’t just demand the healthcare system change to exactly what you envision it. There were a lot of things he proposed that were impossible, people should have seen this coming.

puts on flameproof suit…

@MissAnthrope located this the other day, which for many people is a first step in the right direction.

I think Obama stopped our economy from descending further into the sinkhole. That should count for something; things were looking pretty bleak there for a few months…

@drdoombot hahaha, i’m sorry but obama has furthered the descent of the economy. have you not seen the numbers? these are the bleak days.

to the op: i had little faith in obama to begin with and the past year has just cemented that.

Obamacare: He was weak throughout most of the precursor debates. As President, I expected a bit more interaction and push from him to Congress. I certainly wouldn’t be upset of someone said he was “all-talk” regarding this matter, but it’s still wildly inaccurate. A President can’t pass a bill by himself.

Iran: I wanted so badly for Obama to strong-arm Iran regarding the protests. He certainly failed here. Utter disgust when I think of how we turned a blind eye on Iran when the people cried “liberty.” All talk is applicable here.

Iran-Contra and terror: to what regard did he fail here?

Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: War in Iraq has started a massive scaleback, just as he said he would. He ordered two more Battalions to Afghanistan during the start of his term, and 30k more troops recently… just as he said he would. Obama has always been in favor of a war in Afghanistan. What you asked for is what you get.

Pretty much anything else: Like? The Obama stimulus plan created or saved an approximate 1.6 million jobs, cut unemployment by about a percent and boosted the overall economy anywhere between 1.2 percent and 3.2 percent, according to a recent Congressional Budget Office report – despite what @sailor would tell you (which, by the way, I’m interested in seeing these “numbers” you speak of. Do pass them on). His gay rights push has been noticeably lax – he’s said that he’ll push for more in the coming months. We’ll see.

He lifted the ban on certain strains of embryonic stem cell research that have been otherwise banned. That’s a good thing. Started to close Guantanamo, and is intent on bringing the 9.11 minds to justice – real justice. That’s another good thing. Things he said he’d do.

Do people think that a President enacts legislation all by himself? I wouldn’t want to live with that kind of government.

People run for President with the platform of ideas that they would like to enact, would like to see changed. If you agree with his or her ideas, you vote for them. But you’re only voting for the person; it’s no guarantee that they will be able to put the ideas into practice. You need Congress to do that for you, because they’re the legislative body – the President is the head of the Executive branch – they execute the laws that Congress makes.

As such, I am tickled pink that Obama is trying so much stuff that he promised to try to do when running for office. He’s trying to overhaul health care, run two wars, and listen to science instead of faith on many issues. I’m sure that when you get to be President, you are privy to information that you might not have had when you’re just running for the job, and you have to adapt your strategy as you learn more. That’s a good thing, too – I’d rather have a thinking President than a stay-the-course-at-all-costs guy.

In short, I’m still very happy with him. I’m a HECK of a lot happier with his performance than I ever was with his predecessor. And anyone – Obama, you, me, anyone – can only do so much all at once. He has a lot of time left and I’m interested in seeing what he does with it. A President who knows how to prioritize is also a Good Thing. But remember – he does not run the country alone. He can’t “just make laws.”

@laureth If I could give you more than one GA for that, I would. I couldn’t agree more!

@sailor, I care less about what you personally think about the stimulus harming the economy than I care about a consensus of economists who say it’s working:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/21/business/economy/21stimulus.html

On what basis do you think Obama’s policies are harming the economy?

For everyone who’s saying Obama is “all talk,” I’d appreciate it if you could provide some actual instances where he’s contradicting himself. He was never against the war in Afghanistan, and his recent announcement isn’t an open-ended escalation at all. And while I’d like to see Obama do more on health care and gay rights, there are, rightfully, limits to his power—something that his predecessor often ignored.

Obama is actually involved in at least three wars right now, not two. Since he has taken office, we have started drone attacks Pakistan.
The biggest misconception about Obama, was that he was running on a peaceful platform. He never said he was going to end the wars, all he said was he would pull troops from Iraq, which he did do. Unfortunately, contractors have been being sent instead. If you take a look at his advisors, especially Zbigniew Brzezinski, you will see that it is impossible for Obama to keep peace.
Also, take a look at his financial advisors. Again, no way things will change, when you put a bunch of people from wall street firms to “run the economy.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/03/matt-taibbi-obamas-big-se_n_378705.html

We missed out chance at a peaceful president. Ron Paul was the only candidate talking about not only pulling out of not only Iraq and Afghanistan, but also the over 150 countries, in which over 500,000 troops are stationed.

Ron Paul is insane.

And while having wall street insiders for advisors does make me nervous, Obama has always signaled he would enact change through compromise, not overturning tables. I’m also curious as to what you would have done differently to deal with the financial crisis, and why you think it would work better.

I’m guessing your answers are “gold standard” and “magic.”

I’m still optimistic. In democracy things take time. Only in totalitarian countries can one person change things alone.

I am now aware that “most” American people choose their presidents for their “personalities” rather than the things they’ve accomplished before election day. BTW, Congress is by far more important and powerful than the president.

<—-leaving thread

Obama is all talk. Actually, because he is president, I am very scared.

If you oppose Obama’s stated policies, wouldn’t you prefer he be all talk and no action? Or is it his actions and efforts that scare you? And if it is his actions and efforts, he must be more than all talk.

@kariered, what is it like to live your life in a state of constant fear?

Do you remember a time when you weren’t ever scared of the world? Before the Islamofascists attacked us on 9/11, perhaps? Or were you terrified of welfare queens and moral decay under the Clinton regime back then?

As someone who isn’t particularly frightened by such things, I’m curious.

I am scared because our country is not the same anymore. We are not America anymore, we are becoming something else. Our freedoms are being taken away little by little and some people don’t even notice. This scares me more than Clinton, moral decay, terrorists and anything else you might decide to throw at me. Just because I am not a fan of Obama doesn’t mean I’m afraid of everything. I am afraid because when America dissappears, freedom will cease to exist. There will be no one to fight these types of things. Come on, I mean, seriously, would you agree to body scans in the airport? It still doesn’t catch everything. It’s all for nothing. Besides, I would not give up my personal freedoms in that way. Screw that.

I don’t know when you wrote the comment above, but I am going to assume that with the current state of politics concerning Obama, you’d probably take it back.

@kariered – good news, it’s still America, there are just people here who think differently from you, and sometimes they get the policies they want, just like sometimes you get the policies you want. I’m not sure what freedom you’re missing, but you can still vote, you can still speak freely, and you still live in one of the best countries in the world for so many things.

I’m surprised even now how so many people (especially from the Right, which is where I think you might be coming from) were just fine with such “anti-terrorist” legislation as the PATRIOT act, which allowed the government to snoop through your private conversations (and etc.) because they wanted to feel safe after 9/11, but now they are more mad about a thorough pat-down and video screening. I think some of this is just because the Right doesn’t like Obama and will complain no matter what he does. Remember what the Right said about the bugging and snooping – if you’re innocent, you have nothing to worry about. Wouldn’t that also be true about the pat-downs? The Right is also all about personal choice ,and you also have the choice to not fly anywhere.

As for losing freedom, well, I’m absolutely certain that people who will now have health coverage that didn’t before, and who will be able to feed their families a little longer because they haven’t found a job in so long that their benefits had run out (but they got an extension), the 9/11 first responders with throat cancer from breathing fumes at ground zero and who now can see a doctor about it, the proud gay folks in the armed services, women in the work force who now might have a better shot at equal pay, and scads of other Americans (including the very richest Americans who still got a bonus tax cut so huge that they could buy a new Mercedes every year) are happy with the freedom they’ve gained during the last couple years. In fact, even though the stimulus wasn’t quite enough to help us completely recover, I’m happy every day that my country still has a working financial system, and that I don’t have to stand in a bread line like they did during the Depression. Freedom means many things to many people. I’m sorry your brand of freedom isn’t covered, but I can’t think of a single one we’ve lost under Obama. Every freedom he’s been accused of removing from us was either a nonsense accusation, or was gone before he took office.

well put