Which would’ve been vastly preferable to the cliff without a parachute down to the ■■■■ creek in a coal fuelled canoe without a rudder to the forest with one hand clapping that we’re witnessing. I really need to sleep a bit more. But seriously, “don’t move! Just stay right where you are and don’t touch anything!” Better result assured.
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True. They are also two of the worst presidents however. If Obama had a genuinely successful presidency would we even have Trump atm?
Obama is more rightwing than Malcolm Turnbull.
You could never expect a Democrat to do anything more than Obama did, and if the “Left” in the USA reckon he did do enough then they must be now slashing their collecitve wrists over Trump.
It is amusing that many call Sanders Leftwing or a Socialist, when he is another Social Democrat who shows much more care and empathy with the working class American than any other and would do much more for the poor and dis-enfrancised, he is hardly wanting to bring down the capitalist system.
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Obama, hillary and the establishment Democrats are Neo Liberal, comparable to Moderate Liberals here.
Bernie is what the Democrats used to be and what most of the left around the world actually is.
Unfortunately the way their duopoly works over there the only way to change anything is with the Democrats. Which is why the DNC and DCCC are more harmful than the NRA imo
If the GOP hadn’t had made an ideologically opposed to absolutely everything senate, would Obama have had a more successful presidency?
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Democrats have never been Left in any way.
Capitalist Party always run by Bankers. The Republicans have a better hisotry than them at being moderate, sadly long in the past.
There is no doubt that many on the left wanted more from an Obama presidency. A pity they didn’t get out to vote at the mid-terms and in 2012 in enough numbers to give him a chance to do any of the more extreme options they wanted.
As it was, he got through health care which is an amazing achievement.
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Not really no, I don’t support Trump or all of the Republican agenda.
It was amazing, but despite it’s name, it wasn’t really his idea.
I do hold a conservative Christian belief system for the most part, but I do not hold a conservative politics mantra.
In fact just to enlighten some who accuse me of being like Trip, I have voted for the Labor party for most of my life, a couple of times Libs.
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I think this thread has mental scars from Trip. Rational debate is interesting, what was going on previously wasn’t rational.
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???
That is an absolutely ridiculous assertion. (a) it is a Republican talking point to call it “Obamacare”. It was the ACA. (b) there are no new ideas under the sun, any model would be from elsewhere.
It was absolutely his idea to push for health care reform during the race, and then when in power. Given how much damage attempting to do so had caused Bill Clinton’s early presidency, any Democrat could be forgiven for not focusing on it. I don’t think Kerry or Gore’s campaigns did. So it was his idea to run with it and then implement something.
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I think Obama set the bar high, really high but didn’t count on just how obstructionist the opposition would be. And he should have known given he was a senator once. He meant well, but don’t they all? Ironically, I sense the US is further away from equality, financially, religiously and racially after Obama than before. The more balance he tried to bring, the more unbalanced they have become. Biases have become entrenched rather than being subdued. Funny how things work out.
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Fixed
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Universal heath care had been around as an idea for 100 or years but Obama was the President who made it happen. It’s certainly not as we here have come to expect or what he himself had in mind but if you’re one of the millions of people who now have basic health care rather than nothing at all, you’d be pleased he did something at least.
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I’m not convinced that is the reason his opponents tried to block everything he tried to do.
Again, I’d ask exactly what things Obama promised that he was this spectacular failure on? What was the high bar? The main thing he failed on to my knowledge was Gitmo, drones and judges, and the later two were never part of his campaign promises.
The level of hostility Obama faced from congress was also unprecedented. No former President had the opposition decide to block everything from the get go, and enforce it across the party. He spent 8-9 months on healthcare organising bilateral committees to get Republicans involved, chose a model that appealed to business and the right had previously pushed, and didn’t get a single vote from Republicans. Who can’t now find a better model to modify it, yet alone replace it. He had a Supreme Court vacancy for almost a year, and the Senate wouldn’t even hold hearings. They ran inquest after inquest on everything from Benghazi to that guns issue, and didn’t get a single indictment from those committees in 6 years.
Obama being part of the Senate was in no way preparation for what he faced, because it has never happened before.
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How was Obama a con?
Of course not. But a factor nonetheless.