Is Obama a Great President?

[DonViejo]

A Brookings survey of political scientists finds that President Obama ranks 18th overall among presidents, “but beneath the surface of the aggregate figures lurks evidence of significant ambivalence. For example, those who view Obama as one of the worst American presidents outnumber those who view him as one of the best by nearly a 3-1 margin. Similarly, nearly twice as many respondents view Obama as over-rated than do those who consider him under-rated.”

“One area where there is significant expert consensus about the president, however, concerns how polarizing he is viewed as being – only George W. Bush was viewed as more a more polarizing president.”

“Next, Obama does not perform well on more specific dimensions of presidential greatness, often viewed as average or worse. For example, he is the midpoint in terms of both personal integrity and military skill (e.g., 10th of 19 in both categories), but falls to 11th when it comes to diplomatic skill and 13th with respect to legislative skill.”

###
http://politicalwire.com/2015/02/16/obama-great-president/

[vt_native]

1. No

But he is a great disappointment.

Ran as a Progressive, governed like a Bush.

(on edit: didn't govern like a Bush, but was a huge disappointment on banksters, drones, healthcare, offshore drilling, prosecuting war criminals)

[MineralMan]

2. Oh, for pete's sake!

Uff da!

On edit: Your edit doesn't help.

[vt_native]

6. Okay

[Capt. Obvious]

3. Is Obama a great President

or the greatest President?

[MohRokTah]

4. Greatest president of my lifetime. eom

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

17. EDIT: Let's see, I'll modify this standard. So I get to choose from:

Presidents during my lifetime whom I followed in real time. So that would be Reagan on.
Johnson (too young)
Nixon (too young)
Ford (too young)
Carter (I remember a little bit about him)
Reagan
Bush Sr.
Clinton
Bush Jr.
Obama

Yes, I'd say the same, Obama is the greatest President of my lifetime!!!!

I bet many of you never thought you'd hear that coming from me.



Think about that! I was on my 4th President at age 10!!!

[MohRokTah]

20. Add Kennedy, too.

The potential was there, but there wasn't enough time to experience the greatness.

[Scuba]

5. The survey is bullshit if it labels BHO as polarizing. He bent over backward in the ...

... interest of bi-partisanship.

Perhaps the survey defined "polarizing" as being black in a country half-full of racists.

[spanone]

7. i think your last sentence nailed it.

[madokie]

11. I know that last sentence nailed it

[safeinOhio]

8. He is the Jackie Robertson of Presidents.

While he was playing baseball, half the country(white folks) could not stand him(because he was the first black man). He took all kinds of verbal abuse, yet never went to that level himself. Just did his job and got it done.

Just like Obama is doing and 50 years from now he will be seen as one the best ever.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

15. Jackie Robinson and I rate Barack Obama highly./NT

[RiverLover]

9. There's good & bad, including "more wealth destruction of people of color than anyone in American

history", according to policy director AFL-CIO.


~

A Needless Default
American Prospect
Winter 2015 issue

...President Obama will carry several legacies into his final two years in office: a long-sought health care reform, a fiscal stimulus that limited the impact of the Great Recession, a rapid civil rights advance for gay and lesbian Americans. But if Obama owns those triumphs, he must also own this tragedy: the dispossession of at least 5.2 million U.S. homeowner families, the explosion of inequality, and the largest ruination of middle-class wealth in nearly a century. Though some policy failures can be blamed on Republican obstruction, it was within Obama’s power to remedy this one—to ensure that a foreclosure crisis now in its eighth year would actually end, with relief for homeowners to rebuild wealth, and to preserve Americans’ faith that their government will aid them in times of economic struggle.

Faced with numerous options to limit the foreclosure damage, the administration settled on a policy called HAMP, the Home Affordable Modification Program, which was entirely voluntary. Under HAMP, mortgage companies were given financial inducements to modify loans for at-risk borrowers, but the companies alone, not the government, made the decisions on whom to aid and whom to cast off.

In the end, HAMP helped only about one million homeowners in five years, when ten million were at risk. The program arguably created more foreclosures than it stopped, as it put homeowners through a maze of deception designed mainly to maximize mortgage industry profits. More about how HAMP worked, or didn’t, in a moment.

HAMP cannot be justified by the usual Obama-era logic, that it represented the best possible outcome in a captured Washington with Republican obstruction and supermajority hurdles. Before Obama’s election, Congress specifically authorized the executive branch, through the $700 billion bank bailout known as TARP, to “prevent avoidable foreclosures.” And Congress pointedly left the details up to the next president. Swing senators like Olympia Snowe (Maine), Ben Nelson (Nebraska), and Susan Collins (Maine) played no role in HAMP’s design. It was entirely a product of the administration’s economic team, working with the financial industry, so it represents the purest indication of how they prioritized the health of financial institutions over the lives of homeowners.

Obama and his administration must live with the consequences of that original sin, which contrasts with so many of the goals they claim to hold dear. “It’s a terrible irony,” said Damon Silvers, policy director and special counsel for the AFL-CIO, who served as deputy chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for TARP. “This man who represents so much to people of color has presided over more wealth destruction of people of color than anyone in American history.”...

Read much, much more here~
http://prospect.org/article/needless-default

[Bandit]

10. I once thought so

Not so much any more..

[walkingman]

12. Mediocre

Much better than "W" but that isn't saying much. I agree with a lot his philosophy but totally disagree with his war mongering - strange for a Nobel Peace Prize winner. I think he is a terrible negotiator but the fault could be that he is pretty much on his own with very few allies in Congress.

[DrDan]

13. probably a question better asked once he finishes his second term and a bit of time passes . . .

or probably even better after the current generation passes on and an objective evaluation can be done.

A lot can happen in the next year+, particularly with a nebulous war powers resolution on the table.

My early guess, for what it is worth, he will probably move up a bit . . . but not to the lofts of greatness.

I do find it really funny that he was declared "all-time greatest" here within a week or so of taking office first term.

[Cha]

14. "Most Admired Man in the world, AGAIN".. The World and I appreciate President Obama.. and I

couldn't care less what those who don't appreciate him have to whine about.



http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hillary-clinton-barack-obama-most-admired-people-again/blogEntry?id=27881106&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

I'll take Paul Krugman's analysis over this stupid poll..



Rolling Stone: Obama Is One Of The 'Most Successful Presidents In History' - Krugman Tells Why

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/12/1336103/-Rolling-Stone-Calls-Obama-Most-Successful-President-In-History-Krugman-Reiterates-In-New-VIDEO#

My choice for most admired Women would be First Lady Michelle Obama.


First Lady Michelle Obama hugs Betsy (L), age 5, and Sophia, age 7, children of Louisiana Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao (R-LA), as she helps pack Healthy Lifestyle Kits for District of Columbia area children at a Congressional service event at the Kennedy Recreation Center in Washington on June 8, 2010. UPI/Alexis C. Glenn

http://theobamadiary.com/tag/sophia/

[Egnever]

16. Best pres in my lifetime

Hands down.

I started with Johnson.

[JaneyVee]

18. Best prez of my lifetime so far.

[roamer65]

19. Mediocre at best.

But mediocre seems like a mountain when compared to the Shrub.

[woo me with science]

21. A corporate Trojan horse serving Wall Street donors.

Ran on one agenda, governs on another. Complicit in entrenching and expanding the Bush policy agenda/corporate coup of America which is systematically dismantling democratic protections including our free press, right to protest, due process...and replacing it with a disturbingly secret, increasingly authoritarian, profit-centered corporate government that engages in mass surveillance and mass campaigns of propaganda targeted at its own citizens to minimize and deny the changes listed above.

A dangerous presidency reflecting the severe corruption of our government, both parties, by corporate money flooding Washington, and the continuation of the passage of our nation from democratic representative government into bipartisan authoritarian oligarchy.