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If I say I don't understand why so many people here despise Obama, I will be labeled an idiot or ignorant or any number of other epithets the right wing resorts to when it can't adequately explain something to another person.
But I really do not get what all the fuss is about.
Spoiler
During Bush's tenure in office, I was afraid. We started off with a botched election. We found out the voting machine manufacturers claimed in 2004 that they'd give Ohio to Bush and we learned that practically anyone could hack into the counting. Our elections became a sham but we did nothing. We watched as buildings fell on 9/11 and allowed our government and a complicit media to make monsters out of 20% of the world's population, in effect, justifying war against a vast portion of the globe. We had our doubts about all of this but had to scream when the President said that he'd testify about what happened on 9/11 but without being sworn to tell the truth and with no one able to take notes. My suspicion catapulted before the dust even settled in lower Manhattan. These actions sealed it for me.
We watched as Cheney held secret meetings with energy companies and then sat back while electric rates in California went through the roof just to prove that large corporations could do whatever they wanted in search of profits. We saw how all environmental laws were cut back or dismantled. We saw the western landscape torn up by trucks installing countless oil and gas wells on formerly pristine landscapes. Mountaintop removal, an egregiously destructive process practiced by mining companies became the new normal.
We saw the government encouraging its citizens to spy on each other and turned our backs while illegal wiretapping of everyday citizens went viral and unmanaged. We saw how our troops followed orders from our top officials and conducted experimental and internationally illegal acts of torture on people that a) were known at the time to be innocent and/or b) were deemed to be less than worthy of basic civil rights. We incarcerated and force fed innocent people that were sold to our troops as terrorists knowing full well they had done nothing. Some were mere children.
Nothing that happened in the Bush years made me feel confident or secure. I saw corporations rape our resources and land, I saw them raping our bank accounts, I saw rights being trampled. I lived afraid that the government would, because of the powers granted it by an unread Patriot Act, forcefully inoculate me against my wishes just to keep me 'safe' in some future emergency. Protesters were kept at distances from events that made the whole act of protesting rather pointless. Police were given additional and special powers and the jackboot of authoritarianism walked the streets.
So, with Obama, I see that he hasn't fixed the economy which was in serious decline in the years before he took office. I see that unemployment is still high. I see that corporations and especially banks still get VIP treatment. And I see useless budget-busting wars continue for no reason that makes any sense.
Same old same old.
So why is there such hatred of Obama when practically nothing changed from the prior Administration? Bush spent trillions on war, a total waste of money. Obama supported a stimulus that didn't work, another boondoggle and waste of our money. He wants universal health care, a goal supported by the majority of our population, but wimped out under pressure from the medical establishment and insurance companies that couldn't stand that they might suffer a loss of profit.
If you hate Obama so much, where the hell were you when Bush was in office? Back then I lived in fear and watched everything go to bust, every value I held as an American was crushed.
I've been unemployed for almost six months without a single interview. Do I blame Obama? No. Fortunately, I sold my home in 2004 and made a profit so I'm not in the group of homeowners who are underwater. But if I was in that boat, I wouldn't blame Obama either.
Explain your fear and/or hatred in these times with real, NOT perceived threats. I had enough perceived threats under Bush. The world didn't appreciably change with the election of Obama, so why did your view of reality?
(Edit: Mind you, I have a lot of people on Ignore, people that can't argue effectively or are too partisan for discussion. I never thought Ignore was a good idea, but my blood pressure is more valuable to me now than whatever I might glean from those whose opinion is never anything but extreme. Sorry.)
Obama: “They Bring a Knife…We Bring a Gun”
Obama to His Followers:“Get in Their Faces!”
Obama on ACORN Mobs: “I don’t want to quell anger. I think people are right to be angry! I’m angry!”
Obama to His Mercenary Army: “Hit Back Twice As Hard”
Obama on the private sector: “We talk to these folks… so I know whose ass to kick. (http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/06/obama-opens-can-its-hope-kicka-time/ - broken link)“
Obama to voters: Republican victory would mean “hand to hand combat (http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/10/thug-in-chief-if-republicans-win-therell-be-hand-to-hand-combat/ - broken link)”
Obama to lib supporters: “It’s time to Fight for it (http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/10/thug-in-chief-its-time-to-fight-for-it-video/ - broken link).”
Obama to Latino supporters: “Punish (http://gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com/2010/10/thug-in-chief-to-leftist-latinos-punish-your-enemies/ - broken link) your enemies.”
Obama to democrats: “I’m itching (http://gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com/2010/12/thug-in-chief-obama-im-itching-for-a-fight/ - broken link) for a fight.”
The government doesn't create jobs; the private sector does.
The way the government can help is to keep taxes low, not spend us even more into debt.
I agree tax cuts are important, and Obama provided 98% of Americans with tax cuts and a HUGE chunk of the stimulus was tax cuts. It all sounds good, but it's not enough. And, the fact is, in times of crisis government can and does create jobs - 3 million this time, in addition to the actual jobs of government that millions upon millions of people have in military or civil service.
It's not a long term solution, and Obama is clearly shifting now toward giving power back to the markets now that they've stabilized.
Obama is a dishonest, manipulative liar who actually is pursuing an agenda that he hopes will take America off the international leadership stage. He wants America to fail so that the vision of Internationalist socialists can be realized. America is hated by the elite intellectuals of the world because we have been the single biggest roadblock to their plans to establish a one world governing system with them in charge.
Will Obama ever accept responsibility for something... - anything
You have any facts to back your rant up with? Fact of the matter is he's stabilized and begun expanding the economy, working with businesses and the international community.
In sharp contrast to your belief, Obama has taken responsibility for everything. I've never seen a president more willing to chirp up with a "buck stops here" statement, even if he had nothing to do with some failing far beyond his reach in government.
I've never seen a more inaccurate portrayal. Do you just listen to Hannity's spin or do you actually listen to your president? It's really scary that an educated person could believe what you believe.
I didn't read the whole thread so I don't know if any Obama "haters" copped to their real reason: Racism.
Prior to the elections, I, like many others I imagine, was on the receiving end of venomous, racist emails, depicting Obama as a monkey, or worse . . .and these emails came from my clients - people I THOUGHT were reasonable people . . .
No one is going to cop to the truth - they will hide behind all kinds of deceptive "reasons," but the real reason is hatred of black people. The hatred may not even be conscious.
There is no reason anyone could possibly hate Obama for any other reason. He is a decent, smart man, who inherited a complete mess.
Last edited by imcurious; 01-11-2011 at 07:08 PM..
I agree tax cuts are important, and Obama provided 98% of Americans with tax cuts and a HUGE chunk of the stimulus was tax cuts. It all sounds good, but it's not enough. And, the fact is, in times of crisis government can and does create jobs - 3 million this time, in addition to the actual jobs of government that millions upon millions of people have in military or civil service.
It's not a long term solution, and Obama is clearly shifting now toward giving power back to the markets now that they've stabilized.
How could he have provided 98% of Americans with a tax cut when 47% of Americans don't pay taxes?
What were the 3 million jobs the government created?
How could he have provided 98% of Americans with a tax cut when 47% of Americans don't pay taxes?
What were the 3 million jobs the government created?
False. You've been deceived by political propaganda:
FactCheck.org: Do 40 percent of Americans pay no taxes? (http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/do_40_percent_of_americans_pay_no.html - broken link)
I did make a mistake, though. The accurate phrase is "98% of working families", which focuses only on those already paying taxes (including payroll, which is excluded from your 47% figure and is no different than income tax).
Those approximately 3 million jobs consist of many occupations. I'm not capable of listing them all, but the fields with the most job creation include: construction, conservation, medical information technology, education, and federal grants administration for those projects. A number of state and local governments were able to keep basic services functioning because of stimulus, preventing a collapse into utter chaos.
Are you asking that seriously, though? Have you honestly not seen ARRA signs all over the place? I've personally seen at least a couple thousand stimulus workers just in my various travels. I've know quite a few hard working, educated and skilled people who have had stimulus jobs to carry them through a drought of unemployment.
Consider yourselves enlightened by a wise Obamacrat.
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