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People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

Barack Obama at 50 -- is he a failed president? Giving in to Republicans is currently his major legacy

Posted on Thursday, August 04, 2011 at 12:44 AM

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Barack Obama is 50 today and celebrated with a huge party and fundraiser in Chicago last night.

He is an amazing success story, first ever African American president and at a very young age too so much so that it seems certain he will be younger than his 2012 Republican opponent no matter who it is.

The GOP front-runner Mitt Romney already has a dozen years on him.

But when it comes to his political legacy there is precious little to be happy about.

A cartoon in the McClatchy group of newspapers said it all. It showed Obama with a fat lip after being punched by a Republican elephant wearing boxing gloves.

“Read my lip, no new taxes” went the caption.

That pretty much summed it up. Obama was supposed to go fifteen rounds with the Republicans on the debt ceiling but threw in the towel halfway.

In the end it was his vice president, Irishman Joe Biden, who negotiated the bill that passed

But the bill that eventually got passed had only cuts, no new revenues in it.

The net result will be that Obama will be weakened by his inability to bargain with his opponents.

He has been seen as weak, as incapable of standing strong.

It is a deep shame because never has America needed a tough negotiator more.

The most vulnerable in society will be hit by the trillions in cuts now on the way.

And the wealthiest will not pay a red cent more, nor will the oil companies or special interests.

As Warren Buffet, America’s richest man has said, it makes no sense that he pays less tax than his secretary.

But he does.

Americans know there is a deep unfairness in how the rich and the poor are treated.

The recent banking collapse has not led to any convictions of those who caused it.

Yet Joe Six Pack knows that if he were to default his house would be hoovered out from under him.

Obama is seen as complicit in these sweetheart deals that the rich and the mighty have created for themselves.

That Is not the platform he was elected on.

Obama has revealed himself as a surprisingly poor negotiator, intent only on getting a deal, even a bad one so he can move on.

But move on to what? A Democratic president’s major function must be to protect those most needy in this life, the young, the elderly, and the infirm.

Former House Speaker Thomas ‘Tip’ O’Neill spelled it out when he said it was government’s role to defend those at the dawn and end of life.

Obama has palpably failed to do that

Those are the people who will most adversely be affected by the cuts he signed off on.

Obama tried to put a brave face on it by coming out on Wednesday and demanding taxes on wealthiest Americans to offset citing the income and programs for poor people.

But stable door and horses are the two images that come immediately to mind.

Fact is the Republicans have won this battle and they look likely to win the war too unless Obama manages to don his big boy pants and take them on head to head.

I won't hold my breath.

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BippyBellito | Aug 05, 2011, 10:01 AM EDT

Obama is more than a Failed President. He is in violation of his oath of office...A Traitor or an Incredible Incompetent. He must resign before he brings the whold country down around him.

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chesapeake | Aug 05, 2011, 10:00 AM EDT

Obama was destined for failure politics, he cannot comprehend the American way of individualism dnd he and, in reality, he - like his father (at least one of them) - has a disdain for the American way of life. He has - with the aid of a few strong socialists and an army of ignorant voters, has taken the U.S. down a socialist path desitined for failure. The media has covered his a-- throughout the campaign and into the present. Even now the pundits are telling us that all is better. That's all Bull s--t. RinehartS is obviously a liberal, MSNBC and PBS devotee, who doesn't have a clue. In the real world, with mortgages and increasing living costs we know that another 4 years of "Barry" could sink our way of life (unless we have a strong conservative control of both the house and senate - much like Bill Clinton's second term). No "rope-a-dope here... Obama will have his moments (thanks to the media); bot he has already shown how weak and ineffective that he really is.

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rgray222 | Aug 05, 2011, 09:33 AM EDT

After three years you only have to look at the results. Higher gas prices, higher food prices, higher unemployment. Close to a trillion dollars spent and nothing to show for it. The list goes on....gitmo still open, earmarks still here, lobbyist galore on his staff, the patriot act is stronger not gone, three wars instead to two going on, no attempt whatsoever at transparency, never tried to work with the other side (three days after the election he said, "election have consequences, I won and don't need them"), six months ago he said that the "republicans would sit in the back of the bus", put forward one proposal on cutting the budget and it was voted down 97-0 in the senate, not one person in has party voted it for it! Never requested that his party (in power) put forward a budget for almost three years and as a result we are in a major mess. As it turns out Obama cannot be measured by his words he must be measured by his actions because they are substantially different! This president lacks leadership, negotiating skills and has one of the slowest learning curves we have ever seen!

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RinehartS | Aug 05, 2011, 09:29 AM EDT

Apologies to colkelley, seems you right-wingers aren't the only ones getting blocked from posting on here. I listed a couple links to gallup polls (i'm sure you'll say they are just part of the leftist conspiracy), but all the polls show that world wide, the US is gaining back it's reputation (especially it's leadership... Read: it's President). But you keep listening to Faux News, i'm sure their "dream world" is much nicer for you and fits in with your world view much better... even if it's mostly lies. (Here's where i'd post some PolitiFacts links showing how often Fox reports false news, but i'm wondering if it's the links that kept my last post from making it to the forum.)

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RinehartS | Aug 05, 2011, 09:18 AM EDT

Yes, thank you llyndsey, for the kind reminder.

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irishbob | Aug 05, 2011, 03:50 AM EDT

When you place Imam Obama beside Jimmy Carter, you come to realize that old Jimmy must be salivating to know he is no longer the worst President this county has ever had. I live in Georgia, and remember just how bad Carter was as governor, but when I told people that when he was running for President, they would look at me as if some passing UFO had just dropped me off. Four years later, they were wishing they had listened to what I had said. Obama has held a press conference almost daily since taking office, and has said and done nothing but blame Bush for everything, but when it comes to showing America and the world what he is going to do, you can clearly hear the sounds of crickets chirping in the background. People who do not understand, talk about his health care program as being the best thing since buttered toast, when in fact it requires every person to buy health insurance or go to jail. There are some people that either do not want or can’t afford health insurance, but that does not matter. They either buy it or go to jail. We can’t afford four more years of Obama. By the way, I am sorry for posting again when I said I would not. This thing is just getting a lot of attention.

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EphraimKibbey | Aug 05, 2011, 12:28 AM EDT

llyndsey - Thanks for the glimpse of blue sky behind the storm clouds! I sincerely hope you are right.

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llyndsey | Aug 05, 2011, 12:16 AM EDT

Keep in mind that the Republicans are playing checkers while Obama is playing chess. Look up rope-a-dope in the slang dictionary.

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pzodasart | Aug 04, 2011, 11:03 PM EDT

Hi, I like to say, this about Obama, we all like to push all the blame on him, yet Bush is walking around free and Chainie, both are criminals and took America down the road to no return, "The great Black Hope" Obama" was clueless, and had no idea we were so broken, he is a white mans black puppet for the republicans, they wanted him in, they new Americans would never vote for the "lip stick hockey, moose killing female beast", there were no choices, to choose from. I expected more from Obama and got so much less. He could have frozen food prices and gas prices for the people. As they say in Jamaica, anyone can talk veranda chat, but who really can make change stand up and be counted. American will be the next 3rd world poster child, no food, no jobs, and homeless. What a shame for all of us. I have always voted for the person who could do the right job, never for whether they were republicans or democrats Thanks to the Bush administration, nobody really cares for the people of american, if they did, the BIG Box companies have now wiped out any hope...China can now put the nail in wall and hang up their sign...Home Sweet HOME

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EphraimKibbey | Aug 04, 2011, 10:40 PM EDT

joanxis - Thanks for the support! Apparently Limbaugh stirred the birther cauldren today and got them all fired up. Who said "Its hard to make someone see the truth when their job depends on believing the lie?" Fox and the rightwing talkers make their livings pumping out this venom to their listeners because it is what the listeners want to hear. Roger Ailes (sp?) months ago on "Meet the Press" was asked how Fox News could report the totally false stories that they had been presenting. He said that Fox News was in the ENTERTAINMENT business and presented stories that entertained its viewers. At the time I did not know that Murdock came out of the tabloids in England. With his hacking scandals in the news, it now makes more sense - Fox is a TV TABLOID complete with alien babies and tin foil skull caps. Most viewers are adults with other sources of information from the real world who can watch and laugh at the ridiculous things they report but many take that stuff as fact. They are ready to believe it because it supports their preconceived ideas and it lets them feel justified in those beliefs. Sadly, that is the way propaganda works.

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jamthecat | Aug 04, 2011, 09:45 PM EDT

I agree with you, Patrick, and wish we'd had a real leader to put in there instead of a wimp. But as if to prove how loony the right has become, out come the trolls with their idiocy and stupidity and non-stop blame for everybody but themselves. It's so typical, it's pathetic.

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deedubdeedub | Aug 04, 2011, 09:08 PM EDT

I knew he was going to be ineffective, that is why I didn't vote for him. He seemed inexperienced and very much a Yuppy to me. I never understood the Obamamania that swept this country. I still don't understand what he won a Nobel Peace for. P.S. would people stop using ridiculous terms such as birthers, righties and haters. You sound like a bunch of two year olds trying to learn how to talk.

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joanxis | Aug 04, 2011, 09:02 PM EDT

EpraimKibbey, I'm with you. Boy, this article sure brought out the righties. Haven't heard from the birthers in a long time and was hoping they had come to their senses. Sould have known better. Oh, hatred is such a sad thing.

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Yankee724 | Aug 04, 2011, 08:45 PM EDT

Is Obama a 'failed president'? He'e not EVEN A PRESIDENT! His fake "certificate of live birth' is a proven FORGERY, and so is every lie that comes forth from his Muslim-kissing mouth. He is 'The Manchurian Candidate 'in the White House that WILL be failed in 2012. 'Fool us once shame on you...fool us twice-shame on US!' God save America!

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EphraimKibbey | Aug 04, 2011, 08:42 PM EDT

peterson - tell that to the people who remember him from High School in Hawaii and college. Ever see his yearbook photos? If you watch Fox, probably not as they just present the side the right wants to hear. Its great to have Olbermann back on Current TV explaining the crazy stuff Murdock's lackeys put out, so the other 75% of Americans can understand it.

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