Reply #47: Yeah that was certainly a divisive move as well...

[Bjorn Against]

I was really upset about his vote on FISA, but I would say there was a big difference in that case in that it was a bill that he was voting on and it was a case in which he only had two choices he could have possibly made, to vote for it or vote against it. I think he made the wrong choice, in fact I think the choice he made was completely inexcusable. If he would have made the other choice however then another group of people would have been very upset. When it comes to legislation there is usually not a unifying choice, no matter what way you vote you are going to upset some people.

Choosing speakers for the inauguration is a bit different in that there are thousands of possible choices he could have made, and he chose one of the worst possible choices out of those thousands. Sure an inauguration speaker will probably not have the long-term social impact that a bad piece of legislation would have, but there were many more choices available to Obama which would not have been nearly as divisive and because there were so many other choices I think that makes it harder for some people to forgive.