Since we may as well actually have a discussion about it: What the fuck has Obama done so far?

[XemaSab]

DISABILITIES

Provided $12.2 Billion in new funding for Individuals With Disabilities Education Act
http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/factsheet/idea.html

Signed the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act, the first piece of comprehensive legislation aimed at improving the lives of Americans living with paralysis
http://www.christopherreeve.org/site/c.ddJFKRNoFiG/b.4506337/apps/s/content.asp?ct=6866203

GLBT RIGHTS

Extended Benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-memorandum-extension-benefits-same-sex-domestic-partners-federal-emplo

Appointed more openly gay officials than any other president in US history
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/oct/26/obama-has-appointed-most-us-gay-officials/

Expanded hate crime law in the US to include sexual orientation through the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act
http://www.hrc.org/13699.htm

HEALTH CARE AND INSURANCE REFORM

Signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, giving the FDA the authority to regulate the manufacturing, marketing, and sale of tobacco for the first time
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h1256enr.txt.pdf

Signed the Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act, which provides health care to 11 million kids -- 4 million of whom were previously uninsured
http://themiddleclass.org/bill/children039s-health-insurance-program-reauthorization-act-2009

Issued executive order to repeal Bush era restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/09/obama-administration-stem-cell-funding

Require health insurance plans to disclose how much of the premium actually goes to patient care
Tax credits for up to 29 million individuals to help pay for health insurance
Tax cuts for up to 3.5 million small businesses to help pay for employee health care coverage
Health Care Reform Bill, allowing children to remain covered by their parents' insurance until the age of 26
Health Care Reform Bill, preventing insurance companies from denying insurance because of a pre-existing condition
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/obama-signs-bill-on-student-loans-health-care/

Expansion of Medicaid to all individuals under age 65 with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/your-money/health-insurance/22consumer.html?_r=1&ref=policy

Cut prescription drug cost for medicare recipients by 50%
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-4872&tab=summary

VETERANS AND TROOPS

Provided travel expenses to families of fallen soldiers to be on hand when the body arrives at Dover AFB
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/pentagon-will-help-families/

Reversed the policy of barring media coverage during the return of fallen soldiers to Dover Air Force Base
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7986203.stm

Added 4.6 billion USD to the Veterans Administration budget to recruit and retain more mental health professionals
Provided the Department of Veterans Affairs with more than $1.4 billion to improve services to America's Veterans
http://www4.va.gov/budget/products.asp

WOMEN'S ISSUES

Reversed 'global gag rule', allowing US aid to go to organizations regardless of whether they provide abortions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/23/barack-obama-foreign-abortion-aid

Signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, restoring basic protections against pay discrimination for women and other workers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilly_Ledbetter_Fair_Pay_Act_of_2009

Significantly increased funding for the Violence Against Women Act
http://www.justice.gov/jmd/2010summary/html/ovw-bud-summary.htm

ECONOMIC RECOVERY

The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009: a $789 billion economic stimulus plan
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-111publ5/pdf/PLAW-111publ5.pdf

Created more private sector jobs in 2010 than during entire Bush years
http://newsjunkiepost.com/2010/10/08/its-official-more-private-sector-jobs-created-in-2010-than-during-entire-bush-years/

Launched recovery.gov to track spending from the Recovery Act, providing transparency and allowing the public to report fraud, waste, or abuse
http://recovery.gov

Signed financial reform law allowing shareholders of publicly traded companies to vote on executive pay
Signed financial reform law prohibiting banks from engaging in proprietary trading (trading the bank's own money to turn a profit, often in conflict with their customers' interests)
Signed financial reform law requiring lenders to verify applicants' credit history, income, and employment status
Signed financial reform law establishing a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to look out for the interests of everyday Americans
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20008835-503544.html

RACIAL JUSTICE

Appointed first Latina to the US Supreme Court
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104648062

Increased minority access to capital
http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/news_release_09-58.pdf

WAR AND DEFENSE

Issued executive order to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/22/guantanamo.order/index.html

Ended Bush administration's CIA program of 'enhanced interrogation methods' by requiring that the Army field manual be used as the guide for terrorism interrogations
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/22/guantanamo.order/index.html

Signed New START Treaty - nuclear arms reduction pact with Russia
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/09/world/europe/09prexy.html?_r=1

Signed the Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act to stop fraud and wasteful spending in the defense procurement and contracting system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weapon_Systems_Acquisition_Reform_Act_of_2009

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Developed stimulus package, which includes approx. $18 billion for nondefense scientific research and development
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/science/18sfstimulus.html

Provided stimulus funding to boost private sector spaceflight programs
http://www.commercialspaceflight.org/?p=458

Appointed nation's first Chief Technology Officer
http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ostp

CREDIT CARDS AND STUDENT LOANS

Established Credit Card Bill of Rights, preventing credit card companies from imposing arbitrary rate increases on customers
http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/promise/33/establish-a-credit-card-bill-of-rights/

Eliminated subsidies to private lender middlemen of student loans and protect student borrowers
http://www.smartmoney.com/personal-finance/college-planning/the-health-care-bill-and-your-student-loans/?print=1

Significantly expanded Pell grants, which help low-income students pay for college
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/obama-signs-bill-on-student-loans-health-care/

ENVIRONMENT

Increased average fuel economy standards from 27.5mpg to 35.5mpg, starting in 2016
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/01/AR2010040101412.html

Increased funding for national parks and forests by 10%
http://www.npca.org/media_center/press_releases/2009/park_funding_102909.html

MISCELLANEOUS

Voluntary disclosure of White House visitors for the first time in US history
http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/disclosures/visitor-records

Promoted social responsibility through creation of serve.gov, a national database of volunteer opportunities
http://www.serve.gov/

Lifted restrictions granting Cuban Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send remittances to the island
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103030021

[lamp_shade]

1. Big K&R. That being said... now... 3... 2... 1

[Skittles]

2. that could have been said about your post

[lamp_shade]

4. Thank you. :]

How sweet of you.

[Whisp]

32. the sweet here is making my teeth zing too!

:rofl:

[jaxx]

3. K&R The facts can't be disputed.

This President has done more than any other in the modern times.

[Axrendale]

5. Count another K&R from me

I find it positively ridiculous that so many liberals (if the comments hear on DU are anything to go by) regard the President's record on domestic policy thus far as somehow constituting a "betrayal".

Here's something that they might want to consider: from an historical point of view, conciliatory politics, even in the face of implacable opposition, usually work better than blatent use of the Bully Pulpit. Woodrow Wilson got more progressive legislation enacted than Theodore Roosevelt. Franklin Roosevelt got more than Harry Truman. Richard Nixon got more than Jimmy Carter.

[jefferson_dem]

6. Kick and Rec.

Thanks!

[Skittles]

7. nobody is saying he hasn't DONE anything

the beef is that the end total result is much less than could have been

[Inuca]

8. Could have been if...

what exactly?

[Ikonoklast]

11. Born on the planet Krypton.

But then, the whiners would say, "See! He's a furriner!".

[dennis4868]

15. Can u say...

DINOs and fillubuster...I am tired of people here complaining that Obama betrayed us or did not go far enough but never tell us how they would overcome the DINOs and the repubs who constantly fillubuster in order to destroy Obama....

[theaocp]

18. I'd start with

naming names and make them famous. This false politeness needs to go. That would take a willingness to deal with people not liking you, though, so...

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

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[lamp_shade]

12. Let's stay "on topic" okay? This OP is about what he HAS done so far.

[XemaSab]

13. By my calculation

this is one thing every 20 days.

[Axrendale]

14. HOW?!!!

This is the same song that much of the left wing of American politics has been singing for time out of mind!

In the time of the Civil War, Abolitionists complained that Abraham Lincoln moved far too slowly in acting against slavery, that his initial measures were "inadequate", "too moderate", "half-measures", or simply "weak". These adjectives used on the subject of such things as the Emancipation proclamation. And when Lincoln finally did throw his full weight behind the anti-slavery cause, was he Left of the time satisfied that he did so? NO! They could not get over the fact that it had taken him so long to do it, with consderations at all for the difficulties that Lincoln had faced in holding together the War Coalition in Congress, staying within the bounds of what public opinions was willing to tolerate, and generally trying to place priority upon the preservation of the Union (without which Abolitionism would be rendered fruitless as a cause). It was not until after his death that Lincoln came to be recognized as the "Great Emancipator".

At the beginning of the 20th Century, progressives gave little thought to the immense difficulty that Theodore Roosevelt faced in securing the passage of the Hepburn Act, the Pure Food and Drug Act, the Meat Inspection Act, etc. When they heard the President talk about his new regulations being "two thirds of a loaf", all they could see was the missing third of the loaf, with little thought to the fact that it had required a minor political miracle to get as much as had actually been secured. It was the same with Woodrow Wilson. Securing the passage of virtually the entirety of the New Freedom was not enough - somehow the President should have produced "more" than what he did. The fact that at the same time that these complaints were coming through the Democratic Coalition was already falling apart, burst by the sheer volume of Wilson's successes, was irrelevant.

In the time of the Great Depression, the far-left did not want to hear Franklin Roosevelt say that the votes had not been there for the inclusion of comprehensive health coverage in the Social Security Act. They did not believe his protestations that if the Act had been stronger than it was then it would not have passed - because they did not want to believe that.

In the 1950s, liberals should have had reason to be on their knees thanking Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson when he used all of his influence and skill to pilot a Civil Rights Act through the Senate for the first time in almost a century. Instead they cursed him - declaring that he had watered the bill down far too much, to the point where many of them condemned it as being "worse than no bill at all". LBJ's argument that the bill had been as strong as possible and still able to achieve passage fellon deaf ears - it could have been so much more, they said.

As the 1960s opened, and John F. Kennedy moved to execute his strategy for Civil Rights - Executive Action first, while deferrin Legislative Action until the votes were available, he incurred for his troubles the fury of many on the left. It didn't matter to them that decades of defeats on all manner of issues had told a clear story: that you had to get the votes before you could get something accomplished. The righteousness of their cause was such that they believed more had to be done somehow.

And so on it goes.

I cannot conclude otherwise than that so many on the left have no appreciation at all for the difficulties that the President faces in trying to gather the votes necessary to pass parts of his agenda. In the face of the implacable opposition of the Republicans, his legislative program has effectively been held hostage by the conservative Democrats - and they knew that. Obama could have ranted and raved from the Bully Pulpit, and adopted the Imperial attitude towards Congress that so many here plainly pine for. But such a strategy could just as easily have sabotaged votes as gained them. I for one regard it as an extraordinary, historic achievement that the President was able to hold together a coalition that could deliver on as much as he did - one that would have been incredibly difficult to surpass.

You claim that the end result could have somehow been "much more". I claim the opposite. I claim that it could have been far, far less.

Obama's performance may not have been perfect. But it was extremely good, and he deserves IMO far better than to be called a "traitor" to the progressive cause, which he had done so much to advance from a policy point of view.

[CitizenLeft]

41. outstanding post.

:applause:

Thank you.

[Egnever]

42. I just love your posts

Your historical perspective is awesome!

[vaberella]

33. Yes, there are many who have.

However--- many I think assume his prioritites should have been different.

[lamp_shade]

10. So far, this is the change I voted for and I'm looking forward to much more of the same.

[KansasVoter]

16. And a list of everything he caved on would get locked!

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

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[lamp_shade]

20. This OP is about what HE HAS ACCOMPLISHED so far.

[jefferson_dem]

21. Cave.

Seems that's the talking point of the day.

[pscot]

24. There's a person in a safety vest

hiding behind that large stalagmite just right of center. That's not the kind of transparency I can believe in. :P

[vaberella]

34. I'd like to see your list.

Because many of the caves can be seen as compromises which have wins. I'd rather see complete fails which I'm sure would be far less.

[pnorman]

17. K & R!

(Not just to increase my post count, but to make this thread easier to retrieve)

[mstinamotorcity]

22. Give it to them

they need to have it raw with no vaseline!!!!!!:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: The truth hurts soooooo gooood!!!

[pscot]

23. We go into hysterics around here

and overlook the details. Well done.

[VMI Dem]

25. Surge in Afghanistan.

[ProSense]

26. Yeah

he campaigned on that despite everyone's shock:

• Afghanistan: Obama and Biden will refocus American resources on the greatest threat to our security -- the resurgence of al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They will increase our troop levels in Afghanistan, press our allies in NATO to do the same, and dedicate more resources to revitalize Afghanistan’s economic development. Obama and Biden will demand the Afghan government do more, including cracking down on corruption and the illicit opium trade.

more

It seems a lot of people are criticizing the President for breaking some promises he never made.

[Bragi]

29. People voted for him DESPITE his stupid Afghanistan policy

The idea that everyone voted for a candidate because they agreed with every position of that candidate is nonsense.

Riddle me this: What proportion of voters do you think said to themselves: "I'm really not supportive of Obama, but damn, if he's going to escalate the war in Afghanistan, then he's my guy."

My estimate would be somewhere close to zero per cent. People I know voted for him DESPITE his foolish promise to escalate the war in Afghanistan.

[Phx_Dem]

28. And?

Was your head buried in the sand when he campaigned on this?

[vaberella]

35. Is this news? We all know about his policy on Afghanistan. He's the one w/ the plan out though. nt

[Phx_Dem]

27. To the DUer who posted yesterday(?) that Obama isn't working for the middle class,

you're not only wrong, you're either ignorant of the facts or just too much of a hater to acknowledge his many sigifnicant accomplishments that benefit the middle class, lower-income and minorities.

Haters belong in the GOP.

[craigmatic]

30. He's done alot but it's not sold very well. In many cases he's been better than Clinton but you

wouldn't know it by their poor messaging.

[donheld]

31. Well then we can just shut up about jobs, war, the economy etc.

Guess those things don't matter.

[XemaSab]

36. I don't think a single person "got" my reasons for posting the OP

:P

[donheld]

38. Well why don't you help us out and tell us why?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

37. A somewhat mendacious list.

It does its best to imply that a bunch of things that Obama has merely stated an intention to achieve are actually achievements, rather than just aspirations.

While Obama may have issued an executive order to close Guantanamo Prison, what's actually happened is that it's stayed open.

While he may have signed the START treaty, it hasn't been ratified or come in to force.

And those are just the ones I can do from memory - if I can spot two straight off, it makes me suspect that a careful check would spot plenty more.

[XemaSab]

39. That was part of my point, yes

Reading the links gives a much clearer picture.

[Change Happens]

40. :)

Awesome!

[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

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