I don't care what anyone says: I'm still thrilled that Barack Obama is our President!

[Aristus]

Liberal till I DIE, motherfuckers!...

:patriot:

[DisgustipatedinCA]

1. why?

What has he done to thrill you?

[Kennah]

3. What The Heck Has Obama Done So Far?

http://whattheheckhasobamadonesofar.com/

[Tx4obama]

8. Also ....

Obama’s 2008 Campaign Promises Kept:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/rulings/promise-kept/

Long partial LIST (with citation links) of what Obama has done: http://pleasecutthecrap.typepad.com/main/what-has-obama-done-since-january-20-2009.html

Short List of Progressive Achievements by The Obama Administration
http://shoqvalue.com/short-list-of-progressive-achievements-by-the-obama-administration

Obama Administration’s Achievements (Thus Far)
http://obamaachievements.org/list

Obama’s LGBT Chart LIST
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x777350

Accomplishments by the Obama Administration and Congress on LGBT Equality
http://www.equalitygiving.org/Accomplishments-by-the-Administration-and-Congress-on-LGBT-Equality

100 Accomplishments of President Barack Obama
http://simplifythepositive.blogspot.com/2010/03/100-accomplishments-of-president-barack.html

Legislation signed by President Obama
http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/signed-legislation

Executive Orders signed by President Obama
http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/executive-orders


Lists and graphs: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=433&topic_id=751914

List: 2.8 Years in Pictures....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x772937

We All Have a Choice in the 2012 Election
http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2011/09/03/we-all-have-a-choice-in-the-2012-election/

So That Ignorance Won't Be The Reason Why "Progressives" Are Throwing The President Under The Bus
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2011/09/so-that-ignorance-wont-be-reason-why.html

80 Reasons Why It’s Time To Take These Republican/Tea Party ‘Sons Of Bitches’ Down
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/09/06/80-reasons-why-its-time-to-take-these-republicantea-party-sons-of-bitches-down/

Bikini Jobs Graph
http://www.democraticleader.gov/blog/?p=4478

Rachel Maddow On President Obama & Democrats Accomplishments (November 2010)
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLQ-OKa6OZQ

[Kennah]

4. What The Heck Else Has Obama Done So Far?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x761518

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. You are most certainly liberal, my dear Aristus...

But I don't think Obama really is.

He's going after MMJ now...

That is such hypocrisy.

I certainly prefer him over any of the Republicans currently running against him...

Still.

:hi:

[slay]

11. I'm pissed about his going after Medical Marijuana too

there is no reason for it other than for those in power to show us who's in control (not us) and punish us for thinking for ourselves and not doing as we're told. well that and pressure from big pharma, the alcohol industry, the tobacco industry, etc. what about the truly sick people who have cancer or AIDS and needs it? yeah he doesn't seem to give a shit about them. i am beyond disappointed in Obama - especially with this issue. i'm done voting for people who are not at the very least in favor of medical - preferably full legalization.

[Tarheel_Dem]

5. Ditto!

:patriot:

[Gregorian]

6. I didn't see anyone else better when I voted.

I still think he's done better than many could have. After all, they've sandbagged every step of his way.

[rury]

7. I'm with you!!

OBAMA 2012!!!!!!!!

[Fearless]

9. Good for you.

[slay]

10. If you're liberal why are you thrilled about Obama?

he's about as anti-liberal Dem prez we've ever had. Great thread though. No really. You made a lot of good points about how and why liberals should support a corporatist Dem. Bravo. Um.. yeah.

[Axrendale]

14. I think that might be overdoing it a bit.

I have yet to see any evidence that convincingly disproves the fact that in his personal political views Barack Obama is a center-left pragmatist who on balance it can be said fairly safely is more conservative than Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson in general (on specific issues it varies) but is probably to the left of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. All of these men are of course far, far to the left (in a modern ideological sense) compared to Woodrow Wilson, Grover Cleveland, James Buchanan, Franklin Pierce, James K. Polk, Martin Van Buren, and Andrew Jackson - those Democrats who served in the office of the presidency prior to the 1930s, when FDR wrenched our party kicking and screaming to play a role in the national discourse as championing active centralised government along basically progresive lines.

Obama's primary sin in my view revolves less around his political views and more around his maladroitness as a politician. One of the perpetual weaknesses of the American left has long been and remains to this day its refusal to recognize the indispensability of political realism backed with genuine ability in this most maligned of fields to actually achieve the action that it pines for on so many issues. What we really need to get our party up and going again is not more chest-thumping, but a strong dose of Machiavelli.

[joshcryer]

15. Regarding Obama's "maladroitness as a politician," that's post-partisanship for ya.

Can't say I disagree, but the difference is that I can respect him for being consistent and being who he is, and running the country as he said he would. I never had any illusions about the man, so that's perhaps why I'm not as resentful as others when he makes moves that are decidedly right wing or center right.

[Axrendale]

16. Quite true.

The one thing that continually reassures me about the outcome of the 2008 election is that even though Obama's shortcomings as a politician have made him a far less effective president than I think he could have been, I remain to this day convinced that he was by a long, long way the best possible outcome of that year, both for the country and for the party. Whatever disappointments I might harbor towards PBO, I shudder to think what might have been if Clinton or Edwards had managed to get the nomination.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Vattel]

18. I guess I have a very different view of Obama.

I don't really know how effective Obama is at getting what he wants, but I do know that on many important issues, he and I want very different things. On everything from the scope of presidential war powers to civil liberties to marriage rights to education reform to border security to militarism to the war in Afghanistan, I am to Obama's left.

[Axrendale]

31. Yes, but by that definition you are also to the left of the bulk of the electorate,

to say nothing of every President, Democratic or Republican, that we have had since the onset of the Superpower era. Obama's political beliefs as they have been publically expressed to date fall comfortably within the bounds of the center-left. He by no means can be described as notably left-wing, but his views on the role of government in modern society, the notion of the social contract underpinning the same, and the functioning of the American political system are enough to comfortably establish him as a "liberal" in the American political sense of the word. Even in his views on foreign affairs, which have been notably hawkish at times, he is far more of a pragmatist than a realist in the philosophical sense.

His fault, again, lies chiefly in his inability to work within the bounds of the political system to compel the kinds of policy breakthroughs which he might intellectually consider desirable, but which have fairly consistently eluded his grasp.

[Vattel]

40. His fault, in my opinion, is having mistaken views

on many important issues.

[creon]

27. Then vote for a republican

or not vote or vote for nader. Whatever.

he is a lot more liberal than many of the putative "progressives" posting here.

You go ahead on and believe whatever you find expedient. Free country and all that.

[Number23]

12. Obama 2012

:dem:

[whatchamacallit]

13. Yeah, well I'm a liberal too and

I think he blows so far. To each his own I guess...

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[saras]

17. "I don't care what anyone says" - this part is obvious

Unfortunately, what they're saying is the last two years worth of news.

Progressive even after I die, because a liberal share of the spoils of corporate exploitation have never been enough and never will be.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[John Agar]

22. He's slightly better than the pukes..but

I'm basically disappointed.

[creon]

28. I am not disappointed at all.

PBO is the man that I expected him to be.
PBO has done what I expected him to do.
He is has more sense than most of the people posting here. That may be part of the problem.

I am fully aware that he is not as 'progressive' as some here say that they want him to be. A man person as 'progressive' as some people here say that they are could not be elected president. I am not surprised that many at DU have no use for PBO. people are fickle and are illogical and unrealistic.

[John Agar]

36. He ran a campaign promising change, and didn't deliver.

I never expected him to be as liberal as I am, but the depth of his caution and conservatism caught me by surprise.

I'll vote for him against the Repub candidate, because he is at least sane.

But that initial wave of hope and possibility has worn off for millions of us.

That is why so many are taking to the streets.

[CakeGrrl]

23. Rec - Obama 2012!

[Wait Wut]

24. I'm in!

Heart and soul!

:patriot:

Glad to be in such good company! :hi:

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[creon]

26. So am I.

PBO has done well.
PBO was faced a myriad of intractable problemms with little or no cooperation from the rest of the political calss.

[treestar]

29. I am too

:hi:

[Top Cat]

30. K&R

[LWolf]

32. Who are the motherfuckers you are posting to?

Do you mean NEO-liberal until you die?

:shrug:

[Mid_FL_voter]

33. Obama must win

My personal position is that if we don't re-elect Obama then we are totally screwed. I am disappointed in him but not to the point that I'm stupid enough to stay home in November 2012. Should you choose to not vote in the next presidential election, that is your right. But god forbid if the Dems don't win this one. The middle class, public ed, the elderly, and the environment will be tossed into the dumpster.

Please don't put your head in the sand. Elections are often about casting your vote for the lesser of two evils. Should you not vote, true evil will win out!

[Mid_FL_voter]

35. Totally agree

Progressives/Libs who chose not to vote because they don't have the "perfect" candidate or are angry at the stupid system are just securing the end of all that matters to each of us: pubic education, environmental protections, economic & social equality,& blahblahblah. It is either Obama or Hell for the next twenty years. I am personally putting my money and efforts into the Obama re-election campaign!

[calimary]

39. Hear hear! Good way to put it, too!

Think the Supreme Court, a woman's right to choose, protecting what there is of health care reform so maybe we can start building on it, and protecting us from reinforcing bad behavior - among MANY other things! Even though he's got a weasel for a Treasury Secretary and a box o' rocks for an Attorney General. Honestly, WHAT has eric holder done that is of any practical good? That said, ANY republi-CON would be so dramatically, outrageously, drastically worse, I just don't even want to think about it.

[red dog 1]

34. One broken promise too many?

Obama's Broken Promises:

#1) Promise to Defend Labor Rights:

At a campaign rally in 2007, Barack Obama said:
"Understand this. If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain when I'm in the White House, I'll walk on that picket line as President of the United States"
Despite efforts by state-level Republicans in Wisconsin, Tennessee, Michigan, Ohio, Maine, Florida and Indiana to curtail collective bargaining rights, the President has yet to appear on a single protest or picket line.

#2) Promise to end both wars

American soldiers are still dying in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it's costing the American taxpayer Trillions of dollars, money that could be better spent on fixing the nation's infrastructure and providing well paying jobs for millions who now are out of work.

#3) Promise to reform the Patriot Act.

President Obama extended the Patriot act without any reforms.

#4) Promise to end the Bush era tax cuts for the wealthy, and make the large corporations pay their fair share.

President Obama caved into the Republicans last year and extended the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

#5) To end federal raids on medical marijuana users and their caregivers.

July 21, 2007, Manchester New Hampshire
"The Justice Department going after sick individuals using this as a palliative instead of going after serious criminals makes no sense"
August 13, 2007, Nashua, New Hampshire
When asked if he agreed with the 81% of Mew Hampshire Democrats who believed that the federal government should end the raids on medical marijuana patients, caregivers, and dispensaries, Senator Obama responded:
"I would not have the Justice Department prosecuting and raiding medical marijuana
users"

In the Bush Administration, federal agents raided medical marijuana distributors that violated federal statutes even if the dispensaries appeared to be complying with state law.
On march 18, 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder outlined a shift in the enforcement of federal drug laws, saying the administration would effectively end the Bush administration's frequent raids on distributors of medical marijuana.
Speaking with reporters, Mr Holder provided few specifics but said that "the Justice Department's enforcement policy would now be restricted to traffickers who falsely masqueraded as medical dispensaries and use medical marijuana laws as a shield"
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/us19holder.html/

Up until these recent raids on medical marijuana dispensaries across the nation, I was still willing to forgive him for all the other broken campaign promises and vote for him again next year; but now, after these recent raids on the medical marijuana dispensaries, (ALL of whom have been in total compliance with state laws); I'm feeling totally betrayed by the man I voted for 3 years ago.

I wonder how many other Democrats feel the same way?

[polichick]

37. I'm a true blue liberal as well, and very glad Obama is prez...

...rather than a Republican - but I wouldn't say that he's a liberal.

[Capn Sunshine]

38. BOOYAH!

YEAH, US!