President Obama: Policy, Presidency, and Person

[Medusa]

I was looking around for a thread specifically to talk about President Obama's policies, articles about him, things he is doing in the Presidency, etc. and there wasn't one, so here it is.


I read this article talking about President Obama identifying himself as Black on the Census and what his Presidency has meant to systems of race in this country.

http://www.alternet.org/story/146912...e_white?page=2


I do remember Toni Morrison referring to Bill Clinton as a "Black President" and this article examines that and why many folks saw President Obama as more "white".
Thoughts?

[Andrew, Jr.]

I don't see color because I am colorblind. I think of people as they are in their hearts and souls. Mr. Obama is a good soul. I think he has every intention of trying to fix our nation. However, there are others who want our nation to fail. In my heart of hearts, soul of souls, I think we are going to see him assinated.

Thank you for starting this up Madusa! You are the best!

[apretty]

re. the topic:

interesting article!

of course *fear* would be at the core of such hatred--not the changing face of "black" --but the changing face of "white".

in addition, i think this fear and attempt to preserve 'whiteness' is also being demonstrated in arizona--specifically with the recent BAN on ethnic studies. (the argument being that 'ethnic studies' leads to 'ethnic chauvinism' which is apparently only for the white people.)

Andrew:

assassination is generally concerning.

blindness doesn't really speak to the issue of our president and the census and Obama's disruption of 'whiteness'.

Originally Posted by Andrew, Jr.

I don't see color because I am colorblind. I think of people as they are in their hearts and souls. Mr. Obama is a good soul. I think he has every intention of trying to fix our nation. However, there are others who want our nation to fail. In my heart of hearts, soul of souls, I think we are going to see him assinated.

Thank you for starting this up Madusa! You are the best!

[Medusa]

Dressypoo - I thought so too re: fear around the changing face of "whiteness" - Even further evidenced when I see now that Arizona wants to require schools to report undocumented children.

That whole "pluck it out by the root" thing.

I'm curious and will have to read that bill concerning what they plan to do when teaching history and if their whole ethnic "studies" cleansing will include foriegn language classes. I am serverly under-informed but trying to read more.

I think with Obama being in office and the relatively exponential increase in haterade with the immigration laws and with the Republican idiocy, there is an increasing fear with white people that "Oh my god! A Black man is in charge and is going to take hundreds of years of oppression out on alla us white peopleeeeeee!"
Notice the increase in gun and ammunition sales? It's sad that I don't have to even speculate that a lot of idiot white people think they they are under "siege" by brown people and are gearing up for a "race war" as evidenced by numerous stupid postings all over the internet.

I do think that it speaks heavily to the nature of the white people who fear political "retaliation" at the hands of President Obama.

[SuperFemme]

It is my understanding that in the bill banning ethnic studies it also forbids anyone with a "heavy accent" to teach English.

Meanwhile, HI still gets hundreds of requests a week for Mr. Obamas birth certificate. Still.

Fear is being instigated by outfits like Faux News who now operate more as a political powerhouse than a news agency. The things that I hear coming out of peoples mouths scare me. A lot.

I dare to hope that our country can get through this. White people are clutching onto whatever power they can, when truly white has been the minority in most metropolitan areas for some time.

Re the 2010 Census: White people will no longer be such a minority. They've taken off a place for Hispanics, Latinos etc. completely. We are all supposed to check white. There isn't even an other box. How in the world is that census going to give an accurate reflection?

[Andrew, Jr.]

I was just at the doctors office. I thought I would bring this thread up there since it is always a long wait. I scribbled down what some folks said, and wanted to share their responses here with you all.

One lady stated that she feared that with the BP oil spill, it would show the world how poor our polical system is and needs to be changed. How can BP drill off our coast and not allow any scienctists there to help? It shows that the true reality of our state of being.

One man stated that Mr. Obama is a tremendous speaker, but that is it. He is someone who can be a leader, but others have his hands tied.

Another man stated that we are going to see alot of changes. We just have to get rid of the old politics, and the good ol' boy system.

Andrew

[Toughy]

Re the 2010 Census: White people will no longer be such a minority. They've taken off a place for Hispanics, Latinos etc. completely. We are all supposed to check white. There isn't even an other box. How in the world is that census going to give an accurate reflection?

huh??? http://2010.census.gov/2010census/ho...ctive-form.php

question 8 is specifically about hispanic /latino/spanish identifying folks...

question 9 is about everyone else in terms of race/ethnic identity....

they even changed the order these question were asked from the 2000 Census so they will get higher numbers of hispanic/latino/spanish folks......they found out if you ask question 9 first you get fewer h/l/s folks and more white folks.......

what am I missing here???

[Toughy]

I think the 'average american' is scared shitless about a black man as President. The reason is the lack of exposure and real time frequent interaction with anyone who is not white. (I think the same thing is happening around folks who are followers of Islam but that is another thread...Obama is not Muslim, he is Christian but has a funny ass name.) You fear what you don't know.

And then there are those ignorant fucks who are just flat bigots and racists.

[SuperFemme]

Originally Posted by Toughy

huh??? http://2010.census.gov/2010census/ho...ctive-form.php

question 8 is specifically about hispanic /latino/spanish identifying folks...

question 9 is about everyone else in terms of race/ethnic identity....

they even changed the order these question were asked from the 2000 Census so they will get higher numbers of hispanic/latino/spanish folks......they found out if you ask question 9 first you get fewer h/l/s folks and more white folks.......

what am I missing here???

I didn't know that there was no form of Hispanic Race. At all. I still find it troubling.

[Martina]

This has nothing to do with the race issue.

He is the first Democrat i have voted for since Clinton (the first time). The next three elections, i voted Nader.

i will be voting third party next time. Obama's education policies are elitist, ill-considered, herd-following, cruelly Capitalist, and just plain doomed to fail.

[SuperFemme]

Originally Posted by Martina

This has nothing to do with the race issue.

He is the first Democrat i have voted for since Clinton (the first time). The next three elections, i voted Nader.

i will be voting third party next time. Obama's education policies are elitist, ill-considered, herd-following, cruelly Capitalist, and just plain doomed to fail.

Where can I find his education policies?

[Martina]

Originally Posted by SuperFemme

Where can I find his education policies?

Here's my point of view on it -- Diane Ravitch's critique -- or a short bit of it --
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ans...ry-ed-ref.html


Here's a really long NYTimes Magazine article that supports it -- http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/ma...pagewanted=all

[SuperFemme]

Originally Posted by Martina

Here's my point of view on it -- Diane Ravitch's critique -- or a short bit of it --
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ans...ry-ed-ref.html


Here's a really long NYTimes Magazine article that supports it -- http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/ma...pagewanted=all

Thank you so much.

[Martina]

Originally Posted by SuperFemme

Thank you so much.

Here's another Diane Ravitch article. i love this quote from the end -- http://www.greenchange.org/article.php?id=5672

No other nation is taking such harsh lessons from the corporate sector and applying them to their schools. No nation with successful schools ignores everything but basic skills and testing. Schools work best when teachers collaborate to help their students and strive together for common goals, not when they compete for higher scores and bonuses.

Having embraced the Republican agenda of choice, competition and accountability, the Obama administration is promoting the privatization of large segments of American education and undermining the profession of teaching. This toxic combination is the latest Big Idea in education reform. Like so many of its predecessors, it is not likely to improve education.

[Medusa]

Curious now that President Obama has been in office for a couple of years how folks are feeling about his Presidency?

Is he meeting your expectations? Any disappointments? Areas where he surprised you?

[katsarecool]

I have been voting since 1968 and this is the best president this country has ever had.

It is clear to me that he cares more about the average citizen and the poor than he does about the rich and big corporations. He gets it; in order for our country to succeed the people supporting the system through taxation IS the middle class; got to keep this group happy. And the poor in so many examples need a hand up and help while they are getting there in order that they can become more productive citizens and again support the system. All this and at the same time trying to put controls in place that will moderate and control the ways the rich get rich and stay rich; penalizing them when they indulge in illegal and unethical behaviors. Hence the legistlation that was passed and signed pertaining to the bank industry and Wall Street.

It is a crying damn shame that the Republican Politicians and likewise the Tea Party politicians are hell bent on seeing that he fails. And why does this behavior not speak volumes to their voters?

I am so angry at the behavior of the Republican and Tea Party politicians right now I could spit!!!! Not voting on extending unemployment for millions of our citizens. Holding many other bills ransome in exchange for the weathly to continues to have their tax cuts!!! Well the "voters" have spoken and this is what they get; bend over voters while we screw you into the poor house!!!

I feel pretty confident that Obama will get re-elected because the recent drop in unemployment rates and the stock markets continued climb! Today it was at 11,300 at noon and it could climb ever higher before the week is out. When Obama took office it was below 8,000!!!! I think our financial situation will continue to improve if somewhat slowly.

Are you sorry you asked?

[dreadgeek]

Originally Posted by Medusa

Curious now that President Obama has been in office for a couple of years how folks are feeling about his Presidency?

Is he meeting your expectations? Any disappointments? Areas where he surprised you?

I am actually deeply disappointed and more than just a little concerned.

I am disappointed because in 2007 and 2008, I had mistakenly believed that Obama 'got it' and by 'it' I mean this simple fact: The American people--wonks like myself notwithstanding--are not particularly policy-driven. The average American is only nominally interested in your ten-point plan. What they are interested in is whether you stand for something and will you fight for what they stand for. I thought that at long-last, a Democrat had come along who understood that what doomed Kerry in 2004 wasn't that people didn't like his policies but that people didn't think he could stand up for himself and therefore wouldn't stand up for them. Kerry doomed himself the day he let the Swift Boat Veterans get away with besmirching his good name. NO Republican candidate would ever let a Democratic opponent get away with that. In a similar vein, Obama doomed himself the first time he let the Marxist/Kenyan-born/he-is-a-terrorist accusation slide.

Were there Death Panels or anything remotely like them in the HCR bill? No. Did Obama say that? Sort of, after a fashion, eventually but by then the damage was done. Obama caved in to Wall Street at a time when he could have taken them on. Obama keeps trying to get Republicans to work with him when the Republican party has made it abundantly clear that they are out to destroy him and if that means making the American people suffer, so be it. At first, I thought he was doing some kind of strange political-jujitsu on the GOP. He extends the hand of bipartisanship and it gets slapped away. He does it again, and again it is slapped away. He does it a third time, and the same thing happens. After which he holds a press conference and says "I tried to work across the aisle, but as you know the GOP, taking their marching orders from FOX News and Rush Limbaugh, have set out to obstruct *anything* we do. You can only kick a dog so many times before it will bite, and I'm not about to let the middle-class suffer because the GOP cares more about winning the next election than doing the people's business." I think that people would be behind him if he did so.

That's not what he did, though. Instead he keeps trying to go back to the well and behave as if there is SOME compromise he can make that would motivate the GOP to work with him. There's nothing he can do that will do that, however. Nothing. If Obama proclaimed that kittens were cute, the GOP would say that kittens are ravenous monsters that live only to kill American babies and burn the flag. If Obama said he'd eliminate taxes on the rich and corporations, outlaw homosexuality and Islam, and close down every unionin the nation suddenly all these conservatives would be crying out for punitive taxes on the rich, they'd all come out as gay before announcing that they were going to go no the hajj to Mecca and would wear tee-shirts saying "we are all AFL-CIO now". If you *know* that the other side is going to lie about you and call you everything but a child of god, why act like the facts on the ground are different than that? You move forward and do what you have to do, knowing that if you do something they'll call you a Marxist, if you do nothing, they'll call you a socialist, if you do what they want, they'll call you a terrorist. Obama could have shut down the whole socialist/Marxist thing overnight by saying, quite simply, "anyone who thinks I'm either a Marxist or a socialist, doesn't know the meaning of those words" He could have shut down the whole "he's a Muslim" thing with the following: "You know, for people who claim to love the Constitution, they don't know what's in it. Article VI says: but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States. That means if you love the Constitution, you should put aside sectarian concerns. I’m not a Muslim, I'm a Christian but what if I were? What would that have to do with anything?"

I am concerned because over the last decade, America has reminded me of nothing so much as end-stage Weimer Germany without the hyperinflation. I thought that with the election of Obama, it would *at least* make some necessary improvements, get us behaving like a great nation again, and buy the GOP some time to get its more extreme elements under control or put to pasture. But it would take a strong Democratic President and Congress to motivate the GOP to do so. That's not what has happened. Instead, we have a weak Democratic President who does not appear to know how to stand up for himself or his principles. We have a weak Congress that can only pass bills by making them SO watered down in order to get Republican votes that they aren't going to get no matter HOW the bill is written. All the cultural, political and economic conditions are now in place for a truly scary, classically totalitarian demagogue to emerge.

Because the Democrats do not appear to be the least bit interested in rebuilding the middle-class and because they don't appear to be able to articulate that free-market fundamentalism has failed as egregiously and spectacularly as communism did, they are quickly making themselves irrelevant. Most of their core constituencies stay because there's genuinely no place else to go. Where else do blacks, gays, labor unions, pro-choice advocates and Hispanics go? The GOP? Not hardly.

So one day, we are going to have a candidate who will come along with a Bible in one hand and a gun in the other. He or she will talk about how they are going to go to Washington and kick out the elites. They will talk about how if they are elected they will return America to greatness by restoring America's Biblical roots and can-do independent spirit. People will *hear* that this person will bring the jobs back (but they won't) and that they will clean up Wall Street (but they won't). When that person is elected, they will do whatever they can to make America hostile to Muslims--hostility beyond what we see now and it's not pretty out there. They will pass laws to make America more hostile to queers. They will pass laws to make America more hostile to Hispanics.

I thought that the Democratic party circa 2007 understood where the nation was and what risks to our politics we face. Clearly they don't. They are about to go down the same road that other weak liberal governments did just before the rise totalitarianism--putting their heads in the sand, doing incremental little changes so as not to offend the plutocrats, believing that perhaps they can hold off the inevitable.

“When facism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” (Sinclair Lewis)

[Reader]

I generally like Obama. But I am so sick of him caving to the Repubs. As I said in another thread, he is a caveman. Cave cave cave cave cave.

If he wins in 2012, which I hope he does, I hope his people convince him to stop being a middle of the road Republican and start acting like the Lefty Dem I thought I was voting for.

[Silvy]

I think that Mr. President Obama was the one and only that was able to take the rubber and manage the turn around in 2009, as if he was the one that rescued the "Titanic". In my eyes I see Mr. President Obama as a - so called - Turn Around Manager - and he still is. Thank you Mr. President Obama for your courage and will to all make it good!

[Ebon]

I don't care what color in the crayola box the President is I don't trust politicians. Obama has several people in his admin that have corporate ties. Yes he has done some good things but with all the corporate people in his admin I still only see him as a puppet. Anyone that allows the former lawyer of Monsanto to be an advisor of the FDA scares me.