What is your REAL view of the Obama Presidency?

[scarletwoman]

21. Lousy job - so many missed opportunities. But I guess they were only missed opportunities if he had

any core principles.

When he first took office in the midst of the Wall Street and bankster meltdown, he could have had the whole country cheering him on if he had immediately taken on those bastards and started kicking predatory capitalist ass. But what did he do? He went for bailouts and then moved right on to health care "reform" - and an entire year was wasted with Congress arguing over the Insurance Company Protection Act, while the whole economic mess caused by the out of control plutocrats was simply patched up with bailouts and then basically ignored.

Then he starts his second term by "negotiating" a pitiful tax cut that gave more away to rich - when he wouldn't have had to anything! He could have let the Bush tax cuts expire entirely and then pushed for a fresh round of tax cuts for just the middle and working classes. I can't imagine how that would be hard sell - he'd have been able to draw an absolutely clear contrast between the Republican penchant for protecting the rich, and a Democratic push to bring relief to the 99%.

Time after time, he's accepted the right wing framing of issues and then negotiated from a place of weakness. It's been absolutely astounding to witness this behavior from a supposed Democrat.

In 2008, after no other choices remained except for Obama and Hilary Clinton, I reluctantly threw my support to Obama, only because I knew Clinton was a neoliberal, and I was thoroughly fed up with neoliberalism after the Bill Clinton administration. Obama talked like an economic populist - so I allowed myself a small sliver of hope that maybe he meant what he said. More the fool, I.

In 2012, knowing by then that Obama was a neoliberal Reaganite, I voted for Obama again - only because I have never in my life voted for a Republican, and a Romney presidency was utterly unthinkable.

But it's been truly heartbreaking to have a Democratic president who only talks a good game, but in reality kowtows to Wall Street.