Which of these decisions by Obama do you think is his worst?

[Onlooker]

Poll question: Which of these decisions by Obama do you think is his worst?

[NightWatcher]

1. Other: Eric Holder as AG

[cali]

4. I think Dennis Ross is a much, much graver mistake than Holder.

[lame54]

30. here here

[cali]

2. I don't think there's any one distinct thing

I do feel disappointed in a few things he's done, but I didn't expect to agree with him on everything.

[Hissyspit]

3. Are you going to post a poll on his best decision so far?

You don't have to, but I think that would be interesting, too.

[babylonsister]

7. Don't hold your breath.

:hi:

[Skittles]

9. that would be his decision to run

[Hissyspit]

18. Well, I'm assuming that it would be 'post-election' or 'transition' decisions, since this poll

is about post-election decisions.

[ellacott]

20. That worked out pretty good for him

I think his worst decision is having faith in the American people.

[Skittles]

5. regarding the gimmicky tax cut stuff

I believe Obama is offering what he considers quick relief for average Americans to give them desperately needed hope that help is on the way but I do also think once he is sworn in he will be working on the deeper causes of the mess bush has left behind. I certainly hope so.

[Phoonzang]

6. Not sending Rahm out immedately with a pair of brass knucles to

knock the shit out the do-nothing Democrats in congress and let them know who's boss. :)

[Oceansaway]

8. caving in on Lieberman...

from that move alone, tells me alot about Obama & lapdog 'Dick' Durbin...

[countingbluecars]

10. I voted "I love it all! Obama cannot do anything wrong."

just because of the way you worded your poll title.

[stray cat]

11. So far I trust his decisions more than those of the average person on the street or repubs

[patrice]

13. That may be justified and then again it may not, we'll see, but it IS just such trust that

got us into this shit to begin with.

[patrice]

12. One major appointment from the solid Left would go a long way towards shoring up

his foundations.

MORE than one such appointment from the Left would be a valid representation of the People, but the importance of even just one compared to 0 make this the worst thing Obama has done.

[Demit]

14. I'm waiting until he is actually president, to see what he actually does. I think we all should.

Otherwise we are doing what the pundits and bloviators do—speculating on what hasn't happened yet. Their intent, it seems to me, is to declare Obama's presidency a failure before it has even started. Is that what we want to do?

[patrice]

19. No, that is not what we want to do, but it is necessary to define ourselves relative

to what has/will happen(ed). There must be an appropriate and strong voice that IS ours, NOT theirs, in order for the Obama administration to succeed.

[Demit]

58. Define ourselves relative to what will happen?? Care to share your clairvoyant thoughts with us?

Me, I'm waiting till there IS an actual Obama administration before I grade his actions, which was what the original post was about. It will succeed if his ideas are good. But it's pretty stupid to assess them now, as they haven't even begun to be implemented yet.

Of course, unlike you, I myself cannot see what will happen until it happens. LOL!

[patrice]

59. Being nasty is stupid, so I should not be suprised that you are incapable of recognizing that I

never claimed to know what will happen.

Your hostility blinds you, but I don't find you interesting enough to ask you what your problem is.

[sandnsea]

15. When you put it in a poll like that

It's not that bad. If Rick Warren and Sanjay Gupta are the worse things he ever does, I can live with it. He's doing much more than just cutting taxes, the deficit is going to be over a trillion dollars for chrissake. There's nothing he can do about Gaza, and he did not dis Howard Dean.

Now if you put up a poll that included Clinton, Salazar, Vilsack, Gates, etc., then I might have something to vote on.

[patrice]

21. I agree, Obama did not dis Dr. Dean.

But, since this IS an inclusive administration, there's a whole lot more than Obama going on.

[WyLoochka]

22. He should have made sure Dean

was present at the handover.

The fact that he wasn't is very much a "diss."

[sampsonblk]

16. Gupta and Howard Dean

Picking Gupta is just absurd. And the entire party should have a damn gala in Howard Dean's honor. Dean did the right things off camera, and that laid the groundwork for a huge victory for the partry nationwide.

By the time the primaries started, it was evident that any Democrat could win - potentially in a landslide. We were prepared to put up a fight in virtually every state. That's Howard Dean.

[WyLoochka]

17. His treatment of Howard Dean

is disgraceful and makes it clear that he also holds me in equal contempt. Me, a person who, encouraged by Howard Dean's grit and determination to go to the max for Dems, contributed mega bucks (relatively) and hundreds of hours to Obama's and local Dem's campaigns.

I'm pissed - really pissed. He can "reach out" and "suck up" to hypocritcal "religious leaders" and die hard, wrong headed right wing ideologues - but he can't bring himself to "reach out" let alone "suck up" to the very people who made his election possible?

Instead, he has to go over the top and make a point of publically dissing them?

[Beacool]

37. I don't have a dog in this fight

since I'm not exactly a huge fan of either one. But, to be fair, do you think that it was deliberate attempt from Obama to diss Dean or an oversight? Or do you think that Emanuel had something to do with this?

;-)

[WyLoochka]

50. I think Emanuel had

quite a bit to do with it, and I am very disappointed that Obama's customary magnanimity toward almost everyone else did not override Emanuel's influence on this.

I think it's more part and parcel of that awful "triangulation" schtick taken form the 90's. Diss your friends and suck up to your adversaries.

NOT the way I wanted to see things go. NOT the change I thought I voted for.

[Beacool]

56. I wouldn't call it "magnanimity",

more likely his desire to not make waves. IMO, once an appeaser, always an appeaser.

:eyes:

[Tarc]

23. Nothing compares to the Waren travesty, really

Might as well invite David Duke to address the NAACP.

[BeFree]

27. That's good then?

If nothing else even comes close to that minor pick, then it means none of the major moves of Obama were mistakes. Great news that so many find so little wrong.

[FrenchieCat]

63. More like Inviting John McCain to address the NAACP after

his having voted down an MLK Holiday twice, http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/alerts/343
and supporting the flying of the Confederate flag on the steps of the South Carolina state capital!
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/01/16/politics/horserace/entry3721660.shtml


Oh wait! he was invited to address the NAACP, and did so!
What were those folks thinking? :crazy:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/07/16/mccain_asks_naacp_audience_for.html

[AtomicKitten]

24. I say we preemptively declare his presidency a failure at -12 days!

[JayMusgrove]

25. Yeah, Sarah Palin would have done so much better!!!!!!!!!! LOL n/t

[AtomicKitten]

28. If it weren't for that pesky liberal media ... LOL. n/t

[Zynx]

26. Shame on you calling his economic proposals "Reaganesque". They in no way resemble them.

This really pisses me off and makes me think you are either stupid or willfully combative. I'm going to go with the latter there.

The tax cuts are geared toward lower income people disproportionately. There's a reason rightwing economists like Arthur Laffer and Larry Kudlow hate the tax cut proposal. They maintain that it isn't geared enough toward "decision makers", otherwise known as rich people.

Also, he is proposing the largest infrastructure program since the 1950s. Reagan never spent a dime on increased infrastructure spending.

Shame on you, sir. Burn.

[Lyric]

34. Tax cuts geared toward "lower income" people?

Do you understand taxes at all?

Unless it's a cut in sales taxes, FICA taxes, or other taxes that poor people actually PAY, then tax cuts aren't going to help the people who need help the most. A single mom with two kids would have to make over $31,000 a year in order to owe a single DIME in federal income taxes--not even COUNTING the Earned Income Tax Credit offset. I don't know how it is where you come from, but where *I* live, $31,000 a year is considered lower middle class, and is a hell of a lot more than what most people consider "low income."

Truly low income people, unless they are single with no dependents, largely do not PAY federal income taxes. If he wants to help low-income people, he can significantly increase the EITC. That'll do more to help low-income families than any tax cut could ever do, period. Tax cuts are not a tool for helping low-income Americans--they benefit the middle class FAR more than the low-income working families.

However, his infrastructure programs and his ideas about re-implementing some of the New Deal-era work agencies to help ease unemployment and improve the nation as a whole...THOSE ideas are effing fantastic, and I support them wholeheartedly. Jobs like that pay well, and there are a hell of a lot of out-of-work factory workers, miners, millers, and other blue collar breadwinners who'd jump at the chance to have some dignified work that doesn't involve "Do you want fries with that?"

[Zynx]

47. I understand taxes very very very well.

He is doing tax credits more than tax rate cuts persay. I was just lazy in how I wrote it. Tax credits can be applied wihout net tax liability and that's what Obama has proposed. If you read the proposal you would know he is not talking about marginal rate reductions.

These are not "supply-side" policies. He has a slight business tax credit program, which is arguably supply-side.

[Lyric]

49. I am not so much concerned about business taxes as I am about income tax credits.

If he's doing credits, then they need to be fully refundable; otherwise they just aren't going to help the people who need the help the most. I strongly feel that he needs to increase the EITC, and by more than just a pittance. It's the best tool that we have to offer real help to working low-income families, because unlike regular welfare, the EITC can only be claimed by people who *work*--therefore, the false meme about lazy "welfare queens" is neutralized before the Repukes can even fire a shot across the bow. It was a brilliant thing to implement, and Obama would do well to take advantage of it.

We also need to "reform the reforms" when it comes to welfare, but I highly doubt if that's going to be a priority until the need becomes so dire that it can no longer be put off. With the state of the economy recently, I'd guess that it's going to reach that degree of urgency a lot sooner than most people think, but until it does, welfare is kinda like a poisonous football--no politician really wants to touch it. *sigh*

[yourguide]

29. I voted warren but IMO

The dean situation is equally as bad.

[Occam Bandage]

31. Both the "dissing of Howard Dean" and "Reaganlike focus on tax cuts" are myths of the lefty blogs.

[LaydeeBug]

32. These decisions do not have the same weight...

a trickle down economy stimulus package is MARKEDLY WORSE than Rick Warren...but he had a chance to FIX the Rick Warren thing, and saying "it wouldn't be politically expedient" is CERTAINLY NOT "change we can believe in".

[Creideiki]

I'm going to go with this one:

"Barack Obama took the occasion of his first press appearance in Washington as president-elect to declare his determination to impose policies of budgetary austerity, including the elimination of entire federal programs and cost-cutting in the entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that are of vital importance to tens of millions of elderly and poor people. …"

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jan2009/pers-j08.shtml

What the fucking hell? I expected a centrist pragmatist. I wasn't expecting an ass sitting on the throne saying, "I've got mine."

[Creideiki]

33. I'm going to go with this one:

"Barack Obama took the occasion of his first press appearance in Washington as president-elect to declare his determination to impose policies of budgetary austerity, including the elimination of entire federal programs and cost-cutting in the entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that are of vital importance to tens of millions of elderly and poor people. …"

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jan2009/pers-j08.shtml

What the fucking hell? I expected a centrist pragmatist. I wasn't expecting an ass sitting on the throne saying, "I've got mine."

[Occam Bandage]

35. You realize that his cost-cutting in entitlement programs is entirely limited

to finding bureaucratic waste, fraud, and other inefficiencies preventing money that belongs in the hands of the people from getting to them. Maybe you should consider looking at actual news sources instead of Communist agitation sites.

[Creideiki]

44. If that's true, I'll happily take that off and go back to

something else, but once we're re-evaluating the "administrative costs", that can have the effect of removing staff who are available to ensure that everyone is helped promptly. It reminds me of the Reagan-era shifting of military jobs to civilians, which really started the screwing of the sea-shore rotation in the sea services.

Of course, history might not repeat itself. And at any rate, it's looking like any incremental step to universal health care would be in jeopardy.

Hmmm...then I'd say the biggest mistake is putting off consideration of pushing the repeal of DADT. That harms current military personnel and makes it more unlikely that LGBT people will join the stretched military.

[Occam Bandage]

45. It often can be problematic in that regard, especially when the people

doing the cost-cutting are not intimately familiar with the organization they're trimming, and as such make errors in determining what is necessary and what is waste.

As for a path to universal health care? I strongly believe that Obama's health care plan is, if anything, a step away from universal health care. Single-payer would be a revolution requiring the entire health care system be so heavily modified that "steps towards" are not meaningful, but instead only serve to give people the false impression that the system is being fixed. Saying Obama's health care plan is a "step towards" single-payer is like Kennedy saying that building a taller skyscraper would be a "step towards" a moon landing. Well, I guess we're technically closer to the moon, but we've just wasted time and money that should have been spent building a rocket.

[LynneSin]

36. I think this is BULLSHIT about 'his silence on Gaza' - HE'S NOT THE FRICKING PREZ YET

Let Bush do his stinking job!

[Occam Bandage]

38. As well as his "Reaganesque focus on tax cuts,"

given that Obama is proposing tax cuts for middle-class people--which actually have an economic effect, since they actually spend money--and not the wealthy. Also, the focus of his stimulus plan is a modern New Deal of infrastructure building programs, which Reagan would have sooner died than enacted.

[LynneSin]

42. Very GOod Point - well taken

:woohoo:

Tax Cuts are not a bad thing when you do them to help the vast majority of Americans and not the wealthy few

[avaistheone1]

39. Obana's worst decision - favoring an employer sponsored health plans

which no one wants except for the insurance companies.

Obama's favoring clean coal is pretty bad too. Just look at the environmental disaster that is unfolding in Tennessee right now.

[Autumn]

40. Other

Kaine.

[MadBadger]

41. I voted: I hate your polls.

[JohnnieGordon]

43. Too many to choose from..

I voted for Warren, because I wanted to add to it's lead. But I might've voted for the tax cuts otherwise, because that's going to affect all of us. Anything that he does with the economy from a centrist perspective, is only going to hurt it. And then we'll all be hurting.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

51. In case you didn't notice,

his tax-cuts are geared towards the middle class, not the rich. Very un-Reagan like if you ask me.

[camera obscura]

46. Anything besides tax cuts is just gossip or symbolic measures.

[Life Long Dem]

48. Don't know what the worst refers to, but the poll has to be the worst I ever saw.

Even the "other" option entails Obama did something that's on some kind of "worst list".

You know where you can put this freeper poll.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

52. Two of your choices are flat out dishonest.

His tax-cuts are not even remotely "Reagan-like" and there is no evidence he "dissed" Howard Dean.

Warren giving the invocation is his worst decision thus far.

[Jennicut]

53. The tax cuts thing was part of the campaign so why complain now

I voted for Warren, the only real thing I disagreed with him on enough to bother me. Other than that he is doing a good job so far. Some people are never pleased.

[WI_DEM]

54. Do you think there is anything he has done right?

[Marrah_G]

55. a,b,c

[Agent William]

57. Eric Holder as AG

'nuff said.

[FrenchieCat]

60. Not becoming President fast enough.

This was a mightly long 8 years. :(

[JeffR]

61. Can't vote yet.

I'll need a link to his dissing of Howard Dean before I can decide.

[davidpdx]

62. Didn't vote

And I think most of the choices are bs. The only one that comes close to a mistake was Warren. I can understand why that caused an uproar. Dean was was not dissed by Obama and his tax cuts have nothing remotely in common with Reagan's insane policies. In terms of the situation in Gaza, he would be out of line since he is not the sitting President of the US to make any statement and anyone suggesting otherwise simply doesn't understand the constitution of the United States. The last one, Gupta, I admit I'm not totally sure about. While his battle with Moore wasn't a good thing, maybe it did put more of a spotlight on the need for adequate health insurance for Americans.