Are those who defend President Obama's every single move, sincere?

[bhikkhu]

15. "Obama pushes big cut in nuclear weapons"

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2013/0619/Obama-pushes-big-cut-in-nuclear-weapons.-Is-that-a-good-idea-video

...as a part of a larger package of defence spending cuts.

"Obama Seeks to Shut Down Military Bases"

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/obama-seeks-closing-military/2013/03/01/id/492652

...sorry for the source, but the headline was most to the point. I'm most pleased that the ridiculously expensive mega-bases in Iraq were abandoned, against all predictions that it would never happen.

"Trillions" is hyperbole, of course, though the Pentagon budget for our overseas presence is about $170 billion per year, and shrinking.

Unlimited detention is a direct result of the AUMF, or congressional authorization for war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda, of 2001. Its under the same terms as customary for any other previous war. Under bush the whole thing was entrenched into a never-ending mess. The planned withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan should end the war against the Taliban at long last - a very good thing. As far as the war against Al Qaeda, I don't have any praise for Obama, but I don't know whether anyone else's plan would have gone better.

On the NSA, I keep reading that the shocking abuses are going to be released, but I have yet to see anything especially shocking. The last Greenwald release was a program that the administration shut down two years ago, as review showed it was overstepping its bounds. That's not shocking, that's just good regulatory oversight and follow-through. As the debate goes on, I would hope to see an improvement in regulatory oversight, which I'm sure the president will approve.

On edit, and to ramble on a bit more, everyone has their "big issues", the things that are most important to them. Militarism is certainly one, but I think we have been going the right direction there for some time. Ending the Iraq war, ending the war in Afghanistan, cutting the number of bases, the overall troop levels, drawing down the nuke inventory, and shrinking the pentagon budget. None of that was easy or expected, and we would have gotten none of that from a republican.

The really big issue, however, is income inequality, and that has been what virtually every one of Obama's domestic policies has revolved around. Its also what the repugs have been fighting over tooth and nail since he was elected. Big successes were the banking reform bill, which has made some good changes, but some aspects of which are still being blocked in congress from implementation. The ACA is also a huge deal, and you can measure that by how many times the house has voted to repeal it. Its been called the biggest shift toward wealth equality in the US in decades, and it will make a huge and lasting difference. Raising the capital gains tax and the tax rates for the top 2% were huge as well. And there is more to come along those lines and plenty of battles left; that's where the real fight is. The NSA thing is a sideshow.

A republican house refuses to approve the food stamp program, hoping to end food assistance for 46 million low-income Americans, but forget that, lets all jump ship and skip the next election because of - lists of phone numbers...