I can see there is a positive case to be made about Obama's first 5 months... I also see there are a lot of clear disappointments from a progressive point of view.

For the most part my experience is that Obama supporters are still circling the wagons, and not happy with much criticism of the president.

I wonder how that's holding up here at goth.net.

We don't even need to touch what nobody likes: the continued coziness with and preferential treatment of the financial elite. From backtracking on governmental transparency and protecting the Bush administration to some unfortunate support of heterosexist ideas about marriage and possibly gutting public healthcare... there's certainly a lot that bothers me about candidate Obama vs president Obama.

How are progressive Obama supporters feeling around here?

I think it's still too short a time yet to judge the outcome of this presidency.

Come on, 5 months? We'll be lucky to see the changes he makes in a year. It's nice to think that a president can just come in and completely make everything better in a few months, but that's not very realistic.

I don't like the fact that he supports 'civil unions' instead of marriage for gays, though. It's that whole 'separate but equal' thing Prez was talking in the NoH8 thread. But, he did vote against the marraige amendment and opposed the Defense of Marraige Act and even thinks it should be repealed.

Mostly I think he'll be a good president if the House will let him. I don't think he's done bad so far.

As Wolfmoon points out, there hasn't been enough time. I think many are realizing there was no magic wand when he was elected and everything would be solved overnight. There remains a long road ahead and the toughest parts are not yet behind us.

We still haven't had a terrorist attack on US soil, which occurred during the first 2 years of the past 2 presidential administrations.

So far I think he is doing well. From what I see/read in the news he is activiely trying to stick to what he promised during his campaign.

However, I agree with WM and Nuksaa; we need more time.

Need to keep up with which campaign promises have been kept, which have been broken, and which are somewhere in-between? A few months ago, I ran across a feature in the St. Petersburg Times called the "Obameter", in which they not only keep a running tally of when the President has said versus what he has done, but it provides details on the how and why of how each promise turned out.

Interesting and informative, if this sort of thing is your cup of tea.


- Heretic

Thanks for that link, Heretic! The Obama faces made me laugh.

In all honesty, I can find nothing NICE to say about him. He's a SOCIALIST. No blame can be placed on me, tho, as I voted for Ron Paul. I did it once, and I'd do it again. In my eyes, Obama is NOT to be trusted.

In the words of Margaret Thatcher (I think), "The problem with Socialism is that eventually, you run out of OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY to spend" (emphasis is mine, and added).

OH GOD NOT THE SOCIALISTS!

Srsly, socialism done right works. Talk to Scandinavia before you condemn it.

Good grief. Seriously, the only people who should be against socialism are the 1% of society that hold all the wealth.

~spidey

I couldn't have said it better myself.

I don't necessarily think Obama is a straight out socialist. I DO think he sees that there are some things about socialism that America needs to incorporate into today's society and economy.

Public health care has been talked about for the last 50 years and no one has done anything about it. Now that someone is doing something about it, many people are all of the sudden afraid of it and crying "socialist! socialist!" Socialism and Communism are two completely different things. I don't think the Obama administration intends to place people in a position where they cannot better themselves because of the system. He has offered more government grants and loans to those who qualify, and in general is trying to encourage people to better themselves by going to school to get better jobs.

Ah, but thus is human nature, I suppose. People fear what they cannot control or do not understand. Worries too quickly can become larger than concerns and people fear a "snowball effect." I understand perfectly because I do not trust the government either.

A friend of mine holds the same opinion of Obama. What she has failed to answer directly when I have answered is: why is public health care SUCH a bad thing? She gives me a lot of excuses and run around type answers. Nothing really direct though. Nothing like, "it's too bad poor people can't get medical treatment but too bad for them it's their fault for being poor." Which seems to me that this is the only attitude that would oppose public health care. I could be wrong. Anyways, her favorite reason for hating Obama is that he is: *ding ding ding* you guessed it-a socialist.

I don't see him doing A LOT (I must emphasize that word) to completely change the economy from capitalism to socialism. I do see him incorporating socialist principles into capitialism. I don't think he's going for socialism- I think he's trying to give people what he thinks they need to have a better quality of life. Sort of a blend between the two because people deserve to have a government that looks out for them, not like the previous administration that sought after personal gain and bailed out big businesses. Who will bail out John Doe when he develops anything from a sinus infection to a brain tumor? I'd rather my tax dollars help him than AIG or the Big 3.

Does that make me a socialist?

No it means the cold war propaganda is starting to wear off. Go get some fresh stuff from the inti-terror movements. ;p

Indeed. People seem to confuse Socialism with Soviet Russia, mainly because Lenin used the word to transition people from Capitalism to Communism.

MY only issue with the idea of a socialized healthcare system in the United States is... well, I know how inefficient this government is already. Do I really want to trust them with something like healthcare? Whatever system they do finally come up with is likely to take a LOT of tweaking before it works at all, and of course Obama is going to endure the criticisms for not getting perfect within a month of implementation. Sort of like how people are asking, well, why hasn't he fixed the economy, pulled troops out of the Middle East, solved the budget deficit and cured cancer yet?

'Cause, you know, he's been in office 9 whole months now.

I agree because I have seen two types of "socilized" healthcare, and they are VERY different. I get my medical benefits from the Veteran's Administration and absolutely love the quality of care I can get. Sure, it takes a month or two to get an appointment, but I can go into any emergency room in the country if I need to see a doctor right away and I am covered.

On the other hand, my son is covered under Medicare and although I can get an appointment relatively quickly, the offices that use medicare are overbooked amd understaffed and the people that work there are the medical equivalent to DMV workers. They just look like all the happiness and compassion has been beaten out of them. Not to mention the quality of the care leaves a lot to be desired.

~spidey

My son is also covered under the same. Different states obviously. I don't find that I have the same trouble with his pediatrician or the rest of the staff. The receptionists are a little bitchy but I've never seen a Dr.'s office where they weren't. We don't spend too much time in the waiting room or waiting for the Dr. I can get appointments quickly and for the most part I think the office we take him too is great. I guess that it just depends on the office. I would look for a different office, even if it was a bit of a drive. Not all of them are that bad.

A lot of private practices don't like to take government insurance because they get "MAC-ed" as wel used to call it at the pharmacy. The government tells the office (and pharmacy) how much money they will get and what the patient's co-pay is. Any cost that they Dr. would normally charge beyond that is lost to him/her. Essentially, the office loses money to accept patients with government insurance. So I agree Luna, it can be quite inefficient. You may have to drive 45 minutes to receive good health care, but I'd rather see that than see people without it.

I think Obama's plan is quite a bit different than Medicaid or Medicare. It seems as though he is trying to A: change the qualifications on both freebie insurances and B: offer an alternative that you do actually pay for, but is more affordable than BCBS, for example.

Even when he manages to pull it off I'm certain that there will be some bumps in the road to begin with. After all, no legislation really goes off with a bang and is trouble free. I think it will take time and care on the government's part to smooth over the troubles that we will see initially. I just hope that they stick with it rather than say, "well that didn't work so *f* it."

It is damn hard to get right, and tweaks just seem to make things worse....