Is Obama a weak president?

I hear this opinion a lot. Then again I guess every president is considered 'weak' by their opponents.

Do you think he has been a weak president and how does he fare in comparison to other presidents in recent history?

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Reply 1

Illiberal Liberal

I think he's done exceptionally well (especially in his second term) given the circumstances.

His rapprochement with Cuba and the historic Iran deal are turning points in international politics and his domestic health care reforms have been a long time coming.

Reply 2

troubadour.

At least some of the 'Obama is a weak president' brigade consists of partisan hacks who would change their opinion on any subject just to be opposed to Obama. Some of it is legitimate criticism for foreign policy failures such as the Benghazi attack and the situation in Iraq.

I would say that, given the state of politics in the US, he is a fairly strong president. A lot of the criticism of his foreign policy failures is very much misplaced - how exactly was he supposed to know that the Benghazi consulate was going to be attacked?

Conclusion: not really.

Edit: I concur with what the post above mine says about his health care reforms. :smile:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 3

BRICS > DOLLAR

Original post by driftawaay

He is weak and not considerable. A failed attempt to destabilize Russian economy and thus boosting dollar and euro will soon boomerang

Reply 4

Wattsy

Original post by BRICS > DOLLAR

He is weak and not considerable. A failed attempt to destabilize Russian economy and thus boosting dollar and euro will soon boomerang

Did not know we got Putinbots on here. Remarkable.

Reply 5

Llamageddon

He has achieved a lot in very difficult circumstances

Reply 6

Made in the USA

Original post by Illiberal Liberal

You just named the two biggest blunders of his presidency

After his healthcare "reforms" healthcare has become lower in quality and far more expensive for everyone. Virtually all of the millions of people who lost their plans wound up with something worse than what they had

And regarding Cuba, what exactly did he get in return by "normalizing" relations? Are there elections now in Cuba? Is there freedom of the press? Freedom of speech? Of course not.

I just saw a video of Cuban people lined up against a wall and all shot in the head, brains flying everywhere. Obama keeps giving up all kinds of tools he could use for leverage in bringing about changes.

Obama is incompetent and a terrible negotiator.

Reply 7

Metrododo

Original post by Made in the USA

...

Thanks Obama

Reply 8

KimKallstrom

I wouldn't say he's weak but I would say that Obamacare and his handling of Iraq are both catastrophic. It would be good if he was weak so he wouldn't push these things through.

Reply 9

iamthetruth

Obama is a joke, a puppet just like the rest of US presidents

Reply 10

Zweihander

Original post by Made in the USA

yeah, but you're red tho.....so your opinion is like automatically invalid.

yes

Overall he'd probably go down as an average president. He's done some good things, but we also had his terrible foreign policy, Ofailcare and his pathetic obsession with gun control.

Reply 13

Cato the Elder

He's the weakest, most miserable failure of a President America has had the misfortune to have, and really, it isn't surprising to see all the people lining up to give him all the praise worthy of a black Messiah, because he's fairly popular in Europe as a whole, despite being an absolute disaster for his own country, something to do with our own addiction to statism, pseudo-celebrities of colour and nihilistic disgust for Western civilisation, so pathological has our self-critcal, introspective nature become.

First of all, the Iran deal was fantastical and moronic in its blunderous nature. Billions of dollars has been released to an illegitimate, disgusting regime that is the sworn enemy of the civilised West, to be used for terrorism and to kill American and Israeli soldiers and innocent Syrians. All for nothing in return. The Americans being held by Iran haven't been released, nor has the political climate in Iran been relaxed, nor has Iran released its political prisoners or liberalised its Islamic system. It continues to hang homosexuals from cranes, beat women into wearing hijabs and export chaos across the Middle East for the sake of prosecuting its Khomeinist project, which left-wing cheerleaders over on this side of the pond seem willing (idiotically) to support. Yemen, Syria and Iraq are all now hellholes in part or in whole because of Iran.

Obama simply does not know how to negotiate. He does not know how to conduct diplomacy or to solve difficult, partisan issues because the only proper training he got in anything was in his phoney job as a "community organiser" and small-time lawyer. He can't play with the big boys, and he's obsessed with apologising for everything his predecessor did, to the extent that it is bordering on the pathological. He began his Presidency with a disgusting apology speech in Cairo in which he essentially grovelled before the tyrants and savages of that benighted region and begged for their cooperation, and falsely claimed that America overthrew Mossadegh in 1953 (this is nonsense, those historians who are strongly familiar with the whole event can attest to that). Did this make the leaders of those countries like America anymore, or show a willingess to cooperate with it? Did the "Death to America" tirades in Tehran end, or did the Saudis stop pumping Wahhabism world-wide? Did the Muslim Brotherhood cease their pernicious campaign to smash to pieces the era of jahiliyya and accept compromise and liberal democracy? The answer to these questions is no. Did withdrawing from Iraq give the country stability? No. It simply handed the country on a silver platter to Iran, and gave al-Maliki free rein to do whatever the hell he wanted without restraint from his American childminders, including prosecuting a campaign of revenge against the Sunni community, allowing ISIS to be spawned. This is after Obama's Vice-President proclaimed Iraq as a success for their administration.

This same man, Obama, said that he is not interested in winning against ISIS. Not interested. His contempt for the media has been beyond transparent, and yet the media continues to give him a free ride and ignore his every failing. He sticks his chin into the air and lectures us all as if he has all the answers as the almighty, all-knowing, all-wise Commander-in-Chief - we just have to sit back and let him work out a strategy, giving him as much time as it takes - meanwhile let's all cut him some slack and watch as he plays a few more rounds of golf.

As long as everyone continues to hate on Bush and praise Obama for every "not-Bush" thing he's ever done, we'll continue to be in the situation whereby we are praising a man who has done nothing to defend the West in its most dire moments. He believes that showing weakness rather than strength will make people like America. Instead, Islamic terrorist groups around the world are crowing of their "victory" against America, of how American soldiers left Iraq with their tails between their legs, of how the West is a paper tiger and will not fight back when attacked, at least not effectively. His horrifying insecurity and his desperate search for an elusive "legacy" to fill the gap of nothingness where his substantive foreign policy should be has proved to anyone who is actually watching that he simply does not care about what happens to the West, or to America in particular, in terms of its world standing. He will not lead. He can only follow. He was born to be a slave of the whims of other men. He was elected because of his skin colour, his stirring speeches and the fact that he wasn't Bush. It's that simple. The man is incompetent, beyond incompetent. If you can't see that, I can't help you.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 14

Zimz

Original post by driftawaay

He did a much better job than Bush. :colonhash:

Reply 15

Zimz

Original post by VV Cephei A

pathetic obsession with gun control.

How sad that I liked your comment before I read this bit. Gun control is very much important in the U.S.

Reply 16

username878267

Original post by VV Cephei A

Overall he'd probably go down as an average president. He's done some good things, but we also had his terrible foreign policy, Ofailcare and his pathetic obsession with gun control.

Yeah how pathetic to want to stop criminals, people with mental health problems and dangerous individuals having such easy access to guns.

We all know the solution to gun crime is more guns.

Reply 17

username878267

Original post by KimKallstrom

I wouldn't say he's weak but I would say that Obamacare and his handling of Iraq are both catastrophic. It would be ghoe ood if he was weak so he wouldn't push these things through.

How awful that he's extended basic universal healthcare to tens of millions despite facing huge obstacles from the Republicans.

It's much fairer to only have a healthcare system the ultra wealthy can access.

Reply 18

TheTechN1304

When you have a Congress controlled by the other party that refuses to cooperate, it is impossible to be 'strong'. I think he's a good president, but because the American system separates power between the different branches of government and checks the power on the president significantly, he doesn't have much power domestically.

Reply 19

username2228735

It depends on the issue. As previous posters have stated, it's very difficult for Obama to do anything concrete without having either Congress or large sections of the general public either vetoing it or criticising him. This does have it's advantages but it leads to a lot of inefficiency.