Question: What did Obama say to make you believe that what was broke would be fixed by now?

[uponit7771]

I asked my cousin the other day this exact question and her answer basically boiled down to she thought Obama had everything he needed to make everything happen quickly because of the 60 votes in the senate.

I reminded her that LBJ had a 68% dem senate (88th congress) and FDR had an 83% (75th congress) dem senate and they still had to fight for health care and civil rights while Obama started out with a 57% dem senate with a good number who voted along DLC\GOP lines for the last 8 years and never stood in the way of Bush's agenda like the GOP is standing in the way of Obama's

...her perspectives changed when facts entered the equation...

I'm looking at the FACTS (www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/ ) to keep things in perspective and I'm still expecting that AT LEAST the country gets pointed in the right direction and that's happening IMHO...on the major issues I voted on (The wars, econ policies, HCR, energy,) there's has been notable progress under Obama. While I'm not totally happy he's earned the benefit of the doubt with me.

What did Obama say to make you believe that what was broke would be fixed by now?

Do you feel there has been progress on those fronts or have we gone more backwards than forwards?

TIA for a fact based discussion

[LWolf]

1. Nothing.

He said and did many things that lead me to believe I'd be unhappy with an Obama administration, though.

I was right.

[timeforpeace]

85. Maybe the OP is claiming, once again, that it's our fault, not his fault.

[LWolf]

87. Of course.

Blame others, rather than be accountable.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. 1. Gittmo

He said it would close in a year.

It's been a year.

2. War. Granted he didn't say he would end it but most of us didn't expect it accelerated as he has done.

I can think of a few others but I am late for work.

[uponit7771]

3. Do you feel there has been progress on those fronts or have we gone backwards?

[proud2BlibKansan]

55. No progress

Gittmo is still open. And Obama asked for more $$ for war.

[AndyA]

4. I didn't expect that Obama would have had everything fixed by now.

I also didn't expect that he would spend a year appeasing the Republicans in Congress. They have blocked or delayed everything they possibly can. They are on record as stating their intent is to crush Obama's Presidency. Yet he still tries to work with them, and gives in to them despite not getting one single GOP vote by doing so.

I expected Obama to be smart enough to realize within a short period of time the Republicans were not going to work with him. At all. And then to move forward without them.

I expected Obama to give us the transparency he promised. Not to continue to cover up the crimes of Bushco, torture, and holding prisoners indefinitely without being charged.

I didn't expect Obama to retain some of the very people who were involved in the Wall Street collapse. I rather thought some fresh blood without conflicts would have been the best choice.

Obama continues to find money for wars, but he can't find the money to help people with health care. That seems to be a rather obvious problem.

Obama has done many, many good things while in office. But he's also made some very bad moves as well.

Now he's losing his base, and doesn't seem to realize it. If he does, he's just lately come to that conclusion. I would have hoped it wouldn't have taken him a year to figure this out, but apparently it has. I hope he comes back stronger than ever now, and he's going to need to if he plans to make up for the time he's wasted trying to work with the GOP.

[uponit7771]

10. appeasing republicans = 95% Obama promise meter? See, I don't understand these perspectives....

...about Obama, I'm not willing to demonize the guy by calling him a reThug appeaser.

[AndyA]

11. The facts speak for themselves.

Look at the events of the past year. How much time has been wasted due to coddling to the GOP? The Democrats will never get that time back.

The Republicans are in the minority, and yet they are still calling the shots and setting the agenda. Bush accomplished a lot more with less of a Republican majority. If that isn't appeasing the Republicans, I don't know what is.

Meanwhile, people are dying due to lack of health care. No rush, though...take your time.

[uponit7771]

33. I have looked at the events and again, his promise meter is 95% not 19%

[DrDan]

5. Guantanamo

was to have been closed by 1/22

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/22/guantanamo.order...

[babylonsister]

9. Yes, he did. Poor us. He might not have expected the backlash from

Dems and rethugs in placing detainees in US prisons. And he surely didn't expect the X-mas bomber.

But he lied, dammit!

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jaxx]

6. Nothing, he never promised me instant gratification.

What he said was this:

<snip> Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/20/obama.politics/

[VMI Dem]

7. Nothing. And he hasn't disappointed.

Meets expectations.

[deacon]

8. Ironically, a little over a year ago we were discussing how it would take 50 years to undo the

the damage done by the bush administration and GOP spending. A year later everybody wants everything fixed in a year. The MSM and GOP certainly have got into peoples heads.

Those that think bush abominations can be fixed in the snap of the fingers must be the ones that really thought he was the Messiah.

[calico1]

12. I did not expect for Bush's mess to be

fixed by now. But I did expect to see some progress toward that end. I expected to see leadership, decisiveness and evidence of things starting to change. I expected him to act and lead like someone who won an election in a decisive way.

[deacon]

14. I think it's reasonable to at least wait to see how he responds to the wake up call too.

I think the guy needs to be given a fair chance. The MSM and the party of "no" don't want that.

[calico1]

22. Well we will see. I am hoping that with

Plouffe advising him again he will get better advice than what he has obviously been getting. But if he doesn't turn this around soon it isn't going to be looking good for us. Somebody has got to make him realize that cowtowing to Republicans is a disaster. The people that elected him and were overjoyed when he won wanted to leave the Bush years behind which is why some of what he has done in the past year is just incomprehensible to me..

I think one of the problems he probably has is he is being too sheltered by his advisors as to what people really think. Hope this changes. He has to get tough and realize that you can't be a perfect gentleman and succeeed as a politician. It is dirty work and he has to be willing to get his hands dirty.

[uponit7771]

34. There has been NO progress in fixing Bush's mess? TIA

[BarbaRosa]

59. Unfortunately, as per the SCOTUS decision,

the bush mess is as yet ongoing.

[madokie]

13. Obama is not the problem the pukes in congress are

the ones who wear Democratic clothing, the worst. Like my representative danny boy boren never met a he didn't like. In way over his head and selling us down the river. And you can ask him today what is he doing it for and I'll guarantee you that he will have no answer, just a blank faraway stare. Yep, in way over his head as many of the, hell most of the congresscritters are.

I think Obama put it best when he said the change we are looking for is us. We need to get off our asses and put a stop to this lying ass, corporate greed or it'll be the death of us all.

[deacon]

17. The son of a bitches haven't even treated the crisis like a crisis. They refuse to contribute

one idea that may help because God forbid it's a good one that would actually help people and make Obama look good. They don't give a damn about people. All they care about is their power.

Too, they don't contribute any ideas with the cowardly lame excuse of 'it won't even be considered since the dems hold the majority' yet they can get together and work to stop anything that may help.

Yellow bellies.

And, if they actually did offer an idea or solution they are they would have to take the criticism. They're afraid of it. Chickens that start wars and don't fight them.

[uponit7771]

32. Yeap, them and a handful of dems are fuckin it up for the rest of us

[Skidmore]

52. Exactly.

[Therellas]

16. "change".(some body said that word at some point i think.)

I didn't think everything would be "fixed" ,however i did think because the country elected him it meant that we would at least start a conversation.
No one is really even talking about the "changes" that the majority of Americans seem to want.
change has dissolved into infinite distractions.
I'm all for health care for everyone but its a spiritual shift in perception that should have facilitated that particular change.
not this fiasco.
this is insult to injury.
I realize that hes mired in Washington (blah blah blah)
but there isn't even any acknowledgment from anyone only democrats and the white house on the defense.
I'm definitely not hearing what i want to hear from anyone who needs my vote.
the whole thing was a farce and om stupid for not realizing that i just need to give up hope.
and its probably my fault for believing in the first place.
I blame my parents and the sixties.
just kidding.
oh well anyway you look at it joke was on me again huh.
ok so everyone start beating me up.

[donco6]

18. It's not an "everything broken will be fixed" issue.

It's a "bad choices all along the way that indicate no desire to attend to the problems at all" issue.

[jaxx]

19. That is a wrong supposition.

There have been many things attended to, some made it and some didn't. What you are saying is that he said tough shit and never addressed the problems.

[donco6]

21. Pretty much - at least on the issues (note: multiple) that I care about. n/t

[jaxx]

25. No comment.

[donco6]

28. Seeing how the comments are going, I wouldn't either. n/t

[jaxx]

64. Uh I wasn't scared off. I'm sick of the whining.

[ourbluenation]

69. Me too. And I got where you were going with the "no comment" comment.

the whining around here is deafening.

[donco6]

73. No whining here

Just regular expectations.

[ourbluenation]

68. Obama's winning streak on hill unprecedented

In his first year in office, President Obama did better even than legendary arm-twister Lyndon Johnson in winning congressional votes on issues where he took a position, a Congressional Quarterly study finds.

The new CQ study gives Obama a higher mark than any other president since it began scoring presidential success rates in Congress more than five decades ago. And that was in a year where Obama tackled how to deal with Afghanistan, Iraq, an expanding terrorist threat, the economic crisis and battles over health care.

Unprecedented Success Rate

Obama has been no different from his predecessors in that he's always ready to send a firm message to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue as he "urges members of Congress" to come together and act. All presidents demand specific action by Congress — or at least they ask for it. But when you look at the votes of 2009 in which Obama made his preference clear, his success rate was unprecedented, according to John Cranford of Congressional Quarterly.

"His success was 96.7 percent on all the votes where we said he had a clear position in both the House and the Senate. That's an extraordinary number," Cranford says.

The previous high scores were held by Lyndon Johnson in 1965, with 93 percent, and Dwight Eisenhower, who scored 89 percent in 1953. Cranford notes that George W. Bush's score hit the high 80s in 2001, the year of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. But Obama surpassed them all, Cranford says.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12...

[last1standing]

20. Question: What did he do to make you think he was the Messiah?

Was it when he expanded illegal wiretapping?

Was it when he secretly met with Big Pharma and made a deal to allow them to continue raping their customers for their support of his health care plan?

Was it when he refused to push for the public option he had campaigned on?

Was it when he denied campaigning for a public option?

Was it when he sent Rahm to tell Harry Reid to give LIEberman whatever he wanted with regards to health care?

Was it when he gave trillions of dollars to mega-banks with no oversight while letting them continue to foreclose on families' homes?

Was it when he refused to become that "fierce advocate" for GLBT rights he had promised to be?

Or was it some other right wing turn that really made you think he could do no wrong?

TIA for a fact based discussion

[uponit7771]

30. Freepers said he was the messiah to raise the expecetations to the point of failure.

[last1standing]

39. Yes. It's difficult to successfully argue something you never claimed, isn't it?

You know, like when someone posts something like: "Question: What did Obama say to make you believe that what was broke would be fixed by now?"

When no one is complaining that Obama isn't doing enough, you are doing nothing more than setting up a strawman while issuing a broad brush attack.

If everyone would stop with they petty little games and actually start discussing the issues that are important to all of us, perhaps this place wouldn't be such a cesspool. Unfortunately, the propagandists have to support their cause at the expense of reason and civility.

[uponit7771]

48. "When no one is complaining that Obama isn't doing enough"...this absolute statement is false on its

...face....there have been PLENTY of people on GD and GD complaining about Obama not doing enough or not fighting enough or not punch republicans in the mouth enough.

[last1standing]

56. No one is saying that Obama isn't working. He's just not working for us - Democrats.

He's working very hard for bankers, insurance executives, big Pharma, the CIA, the religious right, etc...

But you're not interested in that. You just want to feel better about yourself by insulting others. Did it really make you feel better?

[uponit7771]

58. Again, Obama promise meter tells me the facts ......no conjecture. Just because you make a statement

....doesn't mean it's true

[last1standing]

74. Does you're "promise meter" measure what I've listed? Nope.

Just because you've found a place on the internet that sucks up to Obama as much as you do doesn't make it fact, either.

[treestar]

81. that's just dumb

It is much more sensible to at least limit the criticism to ineffectiveness at getting what he wants done.

You're in tinfoil hat territory here.

[Little Star]

35. This needs to be an OP. I'd like to hear the answers to your questions.

[last1standing]

40. The sad thing is there might be some good answers but we'll never know.

The propagandists are too busy throwing up strawman arguments and trying to shut down any debate or discussion to actually look into it.

[uponit7771]

49. ...and the haters are too busy using RW TP's to excuse their Obama bashing...

[last1standing]

53. In other words, you can't refute a single point I made. You can only insult.

That shows how little you actually know about what your hero is doing to this nation and its people.

[uponit7771]

63. You prefered statements of opinion not facts, Obama promise meter is facts could you please....

...at least come with facts

[dionysus]

80. nah, he's too busy getting a good pamper fill in.

[Little Star]

50. true.

[dionysus]

61. throw in a cult or two, you know you wanna.

[last1standing]

79. If it quacks like a duck...

n/t

[kstewart33]

23. Stupid question, nonsensical discussion.

Despite your good intentions, this is just another opportunity to bash Obama.

DU has become its own worst enemy.

[uponit7771]

31. Unnn, if anything I would classify myself as a semi chearleader who thinks the DU Obama hate is

...orchestrated.

I wanted to shut the haters up, they seem to be freeperish

[last1standing]

44. I always thought it was "freeperish" to shut your critics up instead of talking to them.

Strange how the talking points change...

[uponit7771]

47. True, ediited

[last1standing]

51. So you have no interest in actual discussion, just spewing insults and strawmen.

Too bad, really. There's a lot that could be discussed but you choose to just throw out words like "haters" and "freeperish".

I notice you haven't come up with a single comment to refute my earlier list on what Obama HAS done in the last year. That would be an interesting discussion. Nope, just insults and strawmen.

Too bad.

[kstewart33]

57. Actual discussion is a valuable thing. But

I wouldn't characterize the majority of posts by Obama critics in that way. It sounds more like petulant whining and eviscerating the guy because they're not getting everything they want.

And that position is exactly like the freepers.

I've come to realize that the far left is as destructive as the far right because neither end of the continuum is willing to compromise.

True ideologues. Standing for their principles. With no exception. Even if it means bringing a president down, and in the case of the hard righters, bringing down the country.

[last1standing]

77. If you'd like a real discussion I'd be glad to have it.

Unfortunately, the OP was only interested in insults and propaganda. He's proved that by dismissing anything he doesn't like to hear as not being factual without checking it out.

Regardless, the "left" and the "right" are vague terms when applied to this debate. There are people in the left, right and center with legitimate gripes about Obama's performance and there are those who do just want to complain, just as there are those who are completely hung up on idolizing a personality regardless of his ability or actions. That's the way it is and the way it will always be. However, it is very easy to sort out the cheerleaders and whiners by looking at what they say. If someone posts a thread just calling Obama names without a reason, that person is a whiner. If they post a thread dedicated to trashing other people who aren't satisfied with the performance of the president, that person is a cheerleader.

This OP is a cheerleader. He has shown no interest in discussing real issues that affect all of us, only in getting off a bit of flamebait.

[uponit7771]

62. Ignoring facts and making factless statements doesn't sound like "dicussion" either

[last1standing]

75. Nothing I stated was unfactual, but that's the great thing about "believing".

You can just claim that it can't be so because that would be against your faith.

[stray cat]

24. I didn't see any quick painless fixes on the horizon and thought he would last one term

because people would expect him to solve all of W's messes and that wouldn't be possible. One can't set reset on time.

[lamp_shade]

26. He promised me a rose garden. Where the hell's my rose garden?

[Union Yes]

27. 'Change'- to me that meant changing the status quo. nt

[uponit7771]

36. Obama Promise meter is lying? TIA

[MadHound]

29. I never thought that anything that was broken would be fully fixed by now,

In fact I didn't think that most matters would be anywhere close to being fixed. I did however expect him to make progress towards fixing this country. Instead, it seems as though we're digging the hole deeper and deeper.

[uponit7771]

37. Again, there's been NO PROGRESS at all?! Come on, factually that doesn't square with the truth

[MadHound]

45. One step forward, two steps back, that's the sort of progress we've made.

On the economy, he gives a stimulus package, but in an misguided effort at being bipartisan he loads it down with nearly forty percent in tax cuts, the most ineffective way of stimulating the economy around.

On the wars, he promises to withdraw a bunch of troops from Iraq, but certainly not all of them and we're going to have a military presence there on an indefinite basis. Meanwhile, with this country hemmoraging red ink, he doubles down not once, but twice on another illegal, immoral war in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region, another war that we can't win, but that can destroy us.

On healthcare "reform" he and the Democrats actually come up with a bill that is worse than doing nothing at all.

The LGBT community is left out in the cold.

Women and women's rights are under attack again (see the health care reform bill)

Gitmo is still not closed, but even as it winds down, Bagram AFB is cranking up. More torture, just not so close to the American shoreline.

Bailouts for Wall Street and Corporate America, but the rest of us are still suffering. Yet despite the dismal job outlooks, they have the gall to say that the country is in "recovery". Yeah, right.

Justice for the crimes committed by members of the Bush administration, not happening. Rollback of all those illegal, unconstitutional invasions of privacy, not happening. Repeal of the Patriot Act, not happening.

Education is being decimated, privatized thanks to Obama and Duncan, neither of which have any real life experience in education. But hey, it makes money for corporate America. Never mind that we're destroying an entire generation of kids.

I could go on here, but you get the idea. You may not like it, but the fact of the matter is we're not making progress, we're regressing, back to the Gilded Age. What little progress has been made has been completely overwhelmed by the serious regression we're undergoing.

[harun]

38. People are not pissed because what is broke is not fixed, people

are pissed because they don't see Obama fighting for what he believes in.

[uponit7771]

42. What's he supposed to do? Punch Reid and Lieberman in the mouth? I see he fighting with what he has

...on the other hand people saw Bush fight with what he didn't have.

[harun]

66. He has many tools at his disposal he can fight with.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

78. Hmmm, how about this for a suggestion:

Having a nationally televised conversation with America that went a little something like this:

"This is President Obama. I am asking members of Congress to submit a Health Care Bill to me to sign that (insert your best choice -- mine being for right now Medicare for all with full prescription coverage, plus dental, and vision). There will be much opposition to this bill by powerfull lobbies and by many members of the Congress who are unwilling or too afraid to pass such landmark legistlation.

To get this done I need your help. I need each and every one of your to contact your representatives to let them know you support such a bill and want them to support it too.

This is going to be a long, hard fight for us to make this happen, but I promise you yes we can!"

Followed by townhall after townhall across the country highlighting this new bill. And while he was at it, he could sicc Rahm on the Blue Dogs/New Dems Rahm helped created to do some kneecapping to force any waivering votes.

That is what he could have done. For starters.

[proud2BlibKansan]

60. And I feel like I no longer know what he believes in

[treestar]

82. I dunno

I think if you had the office and did all the "fighting" you want to see, things would be way worse.

All this talk of "toughness" and all that crap - people want to see a show, but the show might not be so good.

If Obama were out there dissing Lieberman in strong terms he'd get the angry black man meme thrown at him and no further cooperation from Lieberman, who might become the R he really is.

If people in the US want progressive policies, they'd better learn to elect progressives to the Senate.

[TexasObserver]

41. Why don't you tell us what he's done that he said he would do.

That's a much, much shorter list than the one you've requested.

He's talked a lot, but what has he DONE?

[uponit7771]

43. Again, Obama promise meter tells me the facts ......no conjecture. I posted a link to back up my ...

...assertion, do you have one to back up yours?

TIA

[TexasObserver]

54. Again, what has he done that he said he would do?

You have made the assertion, so back it up.

GFY

[LynneSin]

46. I wasn't going to make a decision on Obama until he served a term

Even Clinton didn't really reach his stride until about his 5th year in office.

[NYC_SKP]

65. +1 n/t

[ourbluenation]

67. Nothing. And he's not a king, thank goodness, who can just wave a wand,

He can't do an end-run around those pesky people in congress.

[change_notfinetuning]

70. Transparency, transparency, transparency, for one! Transparency goes a long

way towards true representative democracy. A light will at least expose all those cockroaches. And boy would those Congressional (and administration) cockroaches scatter. Obama's administration has been as transparent as a bank vault. And that was one of his big issues in the campaign.

And he has never listened to all sides, unless you think all sides is "business as usual". Listening to all options and ideas may provide potential solutions to today's most pressing problems. Listening to the tried and proven wrong, which is Obama's expertise, has impeded real change. Sorry to say, but to me, Obama is like an ostrich with its head in the sand.

[Ganja Ninja]

71. Nobody expects everything to be fixed by NOW and that's beginning to

sound like a right wing meme.

What we do expect is to see the president involved and for his administration to look like it's fighting for the change we're suppose to believe in. Instead we have a GQ president that appears to be worried about his own image and how it could be damaged if he were to actually involve himself and lose. That and his presidential cabinet which is staffed with wall streeters, ex-Bushies and Conservadems that doesn't inspire confidence that they're fighting for the little guy at all.

[Toasterlad]

72. So Sick Of This Disingenous Argument

No one expected Obama to make everything better overnight. What we expected him to do was to expend some effort into making things better. In short, we expected him to lead. Instead, he has caved on nearly every significant issue that's been put before him. His blatant eagerness to grovel to corporations shocked even me, and I never expected much from him.

Of course, that's when he's not flat out lying about his campaign promises to get us a public option and help the gay community.

Obama is an epic failure as a president.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

76. I'm didn't expect things to be "fixed" by now ---

I simply hoped that they would be on the right track.

Unemployement is not on the right track.
HCR is not on the right track.
Stopping foreclosures is not on the right track.
Gay rights is not on the right track.
Civil liberties is not on the right track.

I could go on....

[treestar]

83. I think you are right

I didn't really understand the filibuster rule until now.

And Lieberman is not a Democrat. So we had 59 at most.

Just shows how uninformed we can all be. Now we know that if we want progressivism, we have to get the Senate and find a way to get more progressives elected. And that involves persuading the voters, especially in the states with lower populations, who get disproportionate representation in the Senate.

[timtom]

84. I, for one, do not believe that we are headed in the right direction.

Getting the financial criminals back into the Fed is not a move in the interests of the American people.

[TheKentuckian]

86. I'm patient with fixing being ongoing but it is expected to be started

I was on a 20 year plan for a real turn around but Obama seems to be making the horizon more distant not less.

His "solutions" are all either far too weak to move the needle, counter-productive, or even both.