How do you rate Obama's first 100 days?

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Have President Obama's first 100 days in office lived up to your expectations?

(Feed provided by BBC News | Have your Say (http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/talking_point/default.stm))

[fabilius]

Yes, they lived up to my expectations.

But don´t ask me what I expected.

[STJ]

Just another cappie like everyother one.

[Killfacer]

Well he's better than bush but that's not saying much.

[STJ]

Bush was a total moron Obama is half a moron.

[teenagebricks]

At least the people of America knew Bush was a liar, a lot of the good natured people of the United States actually trust Obama, in that sense, I think he's far more dangerous than Bush could ever be.

[Dimentio]

Have President Obama's first 100 days in office lived up to your expectations?

(Feed provided by BBC News | Have your Say (http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/talking_point/default.stm))

I have not have had any positive expectations of Obama, given that my own ideology is several light years away from his.

Obama has taken upon himself a role of the president of the USA, which has some executive functions and some cultural (borderline personality-cult) functions. I find it interesting that the executive office has concentrated more and more power in its hands at least since Reagan, but that its independence towards some vested interest groups and the military seems to have weakened.

From the point of view of the imperialists, Obama has been doing just fine.

[Dr Mindbender]

Have President Obama's first 100 days in office lived up to your expectations?

(Feed provided by BBC News | Have your Say (http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/talking_point/default.stm))

Go away.

[Vincent P.]

Let's see:

Economy: He advocates lemon socialism, also called CC PP game. He saved capitalist's asses with people's money, so that capitalists can go on exploiting people. With that single move he win a free lifetime subscription to my Iwannakillya list.

Guantanamo: I won't say closing Guantanamo was good, I'll say it was adequate. We could even say it wasn't enough since he said he won't punish the dudes who are responsible or torturing people.

Lobby reform: Not much difference.

Reenforced gun control: He plan to restrict assault weapon. I'm not much of a gun fan, although I'm against complete gun ban in most case, but I find it to be an adequate but not especially good move again. But the reason why he did that move (to stop drug-related violence in mexico) isn't really credible.

Iraq and Afganistan: At last. Ok but nothing special here, and what is bad is that he asked for another $84 billion to the people to "end that war". In my opinion his plan for Afganistan is here to sound good and shut up war opponent: he gave abstract goals (rebuilding Afganistan...) and no details. At best he will brainwash the country with American culture and standards of pseudo-democracy, like a Japan II; at worst it's a cheap way to keep troop in Afganistan.

Cuba: Not enough.

Stem cell research: Adequate. All the good things he did is just fixing the mistakes of Bush really.

Environment: He's joking like everybody.

G20 and NATO: He wasn't alone, but he's equally responsible. No need to go any further on the topic.

Cybersecurity: Lacks transparency, a lot. I don't know enough on the matter to go any deeper here.


Overall: He's an advocate of corporatism and capitalism, no surprise. The best he did is fixing Bush's broken toys, which is ok but far from enough.

[pauljpoposky]

Obama's just another capitalist, really, no better than bush. saying Obama is any better than Bush is like saying a rattlesnake bite on the "left" hand is better than one on the right.

besides, Obama is keeping lots of his promises: like attacking public education through support for charter schools, NCLB, and merit pay. He is keeping us in Afghanistan, another campaign promise, and launching drone attacks and small incursions into Pakistan, where he said he would "expand the focus of the war on terrorism" during campaign season. Obama is floating multi-billion dollar loans and stimulus to billionaires and monstrous monopoly capitalist firms (instead of helping workers), as promised, effectively insuring risk for investors (his investors, many of his top campaign contributors). Obama is "taking a deeper look at EFCA" as promised, anotherwords, putting it on the back burner and, even if it is passed, likely gutting any effective parts of it.

finally, Obama is fully supporting the for-profit healthcare industry with his plans for "mandated, universal" healthcare that really create a windfall for the insurance companies by mandating that we buy healthcare the way car insurance is legally mandated, and making the most ineffective, expensive and inequal healthcare system on the planet even more profit driven and expensive in the long run as insurance companies cherry pick the most profitable (healthy) customers and leave those most at risk to bankrupt any sort of slightly expanded public system obama's congress puts in place. universal, mandated care through private insurers wont lead us down the road to single payer. can you imagine the backlash in just a few years against what FOX will certainly call "socialized healthcare" when the obama plan for "universal madated coverage", which maintains the role of private for-profit insurance companies, crashes the public healthcare systems established for those who cannot afford to buy into the mandated care plans?

so yeah, i think obama is keeping his promises just fine, considering what all he has promised so far. I think it is a mistake of the highest order for leftists to support or even defend Obama at all, even critically. I dont think he represents any sort of beginning or focal point for the left except in that he is giving us a perfect opportunity to criticize the Democratic Party and expose them for what they are: another side of the same rotten, evil, cursed coin; the coin of a rotten, inhumane and inhuman empire that, by necessity, must fall.

in short, I give Obama a score of -100 if we're talking about his lefty credentials, or a score of 100 if we're talking about him keeping his promises. either way, it isnt any good for the workers... no good at all

[brigadista]

Well he's better than bush but that's not saying much.


disagree - more of the same

[Revy]

He has high approval ratings, which means he can do whatever fucked up shit and people will still say "it's only been 100 days!!!!111"

I have a feeling that in a year people will still be saying "It's only been a year!". Um hello, stop waiting to judge him as the imperialist and corporate elitist he really is.

[LeninBalls]

Insanely boring.

[OneNamedNameLess]

I have seen more photographs, books, front page covers and so on of Obama in the past 100 days than I have had hot dinners. The cult of personality continues and is not confined to the United States. Such adoration of the leader of the world's biggest imperial nation is severely alarming.

[Pirate Utopian]

It was a blast, ask the people of Pakistan.

[Il Medico]

Hey, he is better than Bush, and may have some integrity, but he is a Capitalist. What are you going to do?:confused:

[OneNamedNameLess]

Hey, he is better than Bush, and may have some integrity, but he is a Capitalist. What are you going to do?:confused:

He's more discreet than Bush but that's about it.

[More Fire for the People]

My family and I have benefited more under Obama's first hundred days than under the entire administration of George Bush... but that's not saying much.

[skki]

Nothing special. Feels like Bush is still in power.

I have, however, been somewhat surprised that Liberals have critisized him on one or two things. Certainly not as critically as I would have liked, but still quite impressive given the messianic status attributed to him during the elections.

American politicians have stayed the same whilst the American people clearly maintain some sort of progression. So it hasn't been all bad.

[Kassad]

He just cited Churchill in his '100th Day Presidential News Conference.' That says all that needs to be said.

[mykittyhasaboner]

^^:lol::lol:

Obama is just an actor, like Reagan (probably better than Reagan). He looks and talks progressive when he speaks, but its really all still the same.

[STJ]

We will have 4 more years of the same bullshit.

[LOLseph Stalin]

Probably the only good thing so far are his policies regarding Guantanamo Bay. That place should have been closed down ages ago or not created at all. It reeks of human right violations.

[STJ]

Yes it does.

[Pawn Power]

Let's see:

Iraq and Afganistan: At last. Ok but nothing special here, and what is bad is that he asked for another $84 billion to the people to "end that war". In my opinion his plan for Afganistan is here to sound good and shut up war opponent: he gave abstract goals (rebuilding Afganistan...) and no details. At best he will brainwash the country with American culture and standards of pseudo-democracy, like a Japan II; at worst it's a cheap way to keep troop in Afganistan.



Actually, what he has been doing in Afganistan is bombing civilians, not 'brainwashing' them.

[rosie]

I never expected him to do anything more than bush or any other president we've had. They were all horrible. I didn't vote for him. I don't ever have high hopes for the upcoming elections.

[rosie]

{Probably the only good thing so far are his policies regarding Guantanamo Bay. That place should have been closed down ages ago or not created at all. It reeks of human right violations.}

I thought he wasn't able to close it down. The prisoners were going to be sent to other countries, but they didn't want them. His "closing of Guantanamo Bay" is just a publicity stunt, kind of like the low flying plane act he just apologized for. Everyone here should check out his rulings on intellectual property....he made the Internet illegal. No one ever mentions that.

[Marx22]

His stance on the auto workers union killed any support I had for him really.

[jbaez]

I'll leave rating his first 100 days to Time or Newsweek.
Just another actor on a podium, another product of the capitalist class. The only commendable thing I can think of off the top of my head is the decision to close Guantanamo Bay.

[Klaatu]

Economy:
"He saved capitalist's asses with people's money, so that capitalists can go on exploiting people."

But he did get the "people's foot in the door" in order to take control of (at least some of)
the capitalist corrupt enterprises (although he says otherwise)


Environment:
"He's joking like everybody."

I respectfully disagree; I do believe Obama is going to improve environmental laws (but it will
take a long time just to undo many of the prior "goof-up-regime's" damage done...)

[BIG BROTHER]

From the capitalists point of view, I think he has done fairly well...

[More Fire for the People]

Probably the only good thing so far are his policies regarding Guantanamo Bay. That place should have been closed down ages ago or not created at all. It reeks of human right violations.
Yeah, I'm sure giving a raise on food stamps, medicare coverage, and unemployment benefits were total setbacks for the working class.

[ComradeR]

Besides the expected liberal "reforms" (read the usual democrat policies) he is continuing the same line as every imperial leader that came before him. All he is doing is giving a friendlier face to the empire. It simply amazes how Americans seem to have this love affair with these liberals like FDR, Kennedy, or Clinton and act as if they are so progressive when in fact the difference between them and conservatives are meager at best when it comes to the working class.
So yeah as an imperialist he is doing a bang up job.

Probably the only good thing so far are his policies regarding Guantanamo Bay. That place should have been closed down ages ago or not created at all. It reeks of human right violations.
Talk about a complete PR stunt. For being so concerned about torture he has in actuality done next to nothing to stop it beyond a few words. Things are business as usual at GitMo. There has not been a single change at the camp, it's even the same exact people in charge as in the Bush years! And reports of abuse continue to come out of the camps run by US forces. Yeah Obama is quite the humanitarian.

[Killfacer]

disagree - more of the same

Well surely him agreeing to close down guantanamo bay is more than bush ever did.

[Pawn Power]

{Probably the only good thing so far are his policies regarding Guantanamo Bay. That place should have been closed down ages ago or not created at all. It reeks of human right violations.}

I thought he wasn't able to close it down. The prisoners were going to be sent to other countries, but they didn't want them. His "closing of Guantanamo Bay" is just a publicity stunt, kind of like the low flying plane act he just apologized for. Everyone here should check out his rulings on intellectual property....he made the Internet illegal. No one ever mentions that.

Also, beside from being a 'publicity stunt,' inmates at Guantanamo have said that conditions have gotten significantly worse since Obama became president- increased betting , abuse, etc. Obviously not related to an official policy on Obama's part but he allows it to continue.

[Sam_b]

Well surely him agreeing to close down guantanamo bay is more than bush ever did.

But he's not going to press charges against the people/agents who have carried out torture against prisoners, either in Guantanamo or elsewhere.

I can see a few months/years down the line Obama doing something akin to this in Afghanistan, again on the false pretence of 'national security'.

[YoungScouseRed]

Obama reminds me of hitler in alot of ways...

Thats all im saying

x

[bellyscratch]

There's an article by John Pilger about Obama's first 100 days here (http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/1210/199/)

[Killfacer]

But he's not going to press charges against the people/agents who have carried out torture against prisoners, either in Guantanamo or elsewhere.

I can see a few months/years down the line Obama doing something akin to this in Afghanistan, again on the false pretence of 'national security'.

He's a prick don't get me wrong, but he's less of a prick.

[STJ]

We will never get the out of Iraq and anyone who bought into Obamas bullshit during his run for president I got some land on the moon for sale.

[teenagebricks]

Regardless of what people say, I think all of the potential candidates would have closed Guantanamo Bay, McCain included, the media forget to mention the expansion of other concentration camps, ones which don't even know exist as far as most people are concerned, at least Guantanamo was in the public eye. The hope of Obama is the biggest fraud since organised religion was established.

[More Fire for the People]

Regardless of what people say, I think all of the potential candidates would have closed Guantanamo Bay, McCain included, the media forget to mention the expansion of other concentration camps, ones which don't even know exist as far as most people are concerned, at least Guantanamo was in the public eye. The hope of Obama is the biggest fraud since organised religion was established.
Alex Jones called, he wants his crazy back.

[Sam_b]

Obama reminds me of hitler in alot of ways...


You're an idiot.

[Klaatu]

I am saying that these changes come about slowly. That is because there are still too many brain-washed
goobers in this country that continue to believe in the sanctity of capitalism. Our job as socialists, (that is,
those who have been enlightened) is to raise the public awareness on the fact that we, the proletariat,
have been, are now being, and will continue to be, ripped off, held down, and bull $hitted upon.

There has not been a better time since the beginning of the last century to implement this needed change.
The huge capitalist banks and insurance companies have been stealing from us, the tobacco companies
have been killing us, and the drug companies simply want people to be sick, so they can profit. Government
wants to dictate to us whom we can marry or not, or our choices in family planning, or whether we have to
wear seat belts.

I see Obama as positive change. Please do not tear him down as "one-of-them" but try to understand that
(to use his own analogy) the country is like a big ship. A massive object cannot suddenly change direction,
unless a very large amount of energy is put upon it. That would be an analogy to "revolution." I don't think
that is what we want. We want change, but we must be satisfied with positive, gradual change.

We have to defend our rights. The worker's paradise is the only way. Be patient because this change is coming.

But we must work for this change!

[LOLseph Stalin]

Yeah, I'm sure giving a raise on food stamps, medicare coverage, and unemployment benefits were total setbacks for the working class.

Didn't Obama mention something about introducing Universal Healthcare? All this other stuff you've mentioned I wasn't fully aware of.


Talk about a complete PR stunt. For being so concerned about torture he has in actuality done next to nothing to stop it beyond a few words. Things are business as usual at GitMo. There has not been a single change at the camp, it's even the same exact people in charge as in the Bush years! And reports of abuse continue to come out of the camps run by US forces. Yeah Obama is quite the humanitarian.

I think it's probably just the typical American attitude. They have always seemed extremely patriotic to me, some even almost to the point of nationalism. With this extremely patriotism they begin to become think-headed and develop a very chauvanistic attitude like "Oh, this guy threatened my country so he doesn't deserve human rights! Let's torture him!" This is just silly when in reality most of these problems probably relate back to American imperialism. The whole 9-11/Iraq thing is a pretty good example.

[STJ]

This country is full of nationalist.

[Klaatu]

"... in reality most of these problems probably relate back to American imperialism."

American and British imperialism. Might as well throw in French and Spanish imperialism too, but we are
concerned with recent history. Americans have created these problems in the Middle East, and now we
are reaping the fruit of that which we have sown. And that fruit is a rotten one. We can only get out of
this mess be minding our own business and not always interfering in other people's affairs. Isn't that how
it works in our social circles? That is, no one likes the loud-mouthed know-it-all who tries to nose in on
their friends' privacy; such a person does not retain friendships well, does he? Why is this concept lost
on our national leaders, concerning foreign countries?

[freakazoid]

Reenforced gun control: He plan to restrict assault weapon. I'm not much of a gun fan, although I'm against complete gun ban in most case, but I find it to be an adequate but not especially good move again. But the reason why he did that move (to stop drug-related violence in mexico) isn't really credible.

This put him on my Iwannakillya list. Absolutely no gun control.

Also wasn't there plans to close Guantanamo, but open one somewhere else?

[LOLseph Stalin]

American and British imperialism. Might as well throw in French and Spanish imperialism too, but we are
concerned with recent history. Americans have created these problems in the Middle East, and now we
are reaping the fruit of that which we have sown. And that fruit is a rotten one. We can only get out of
this mess be minding our own business and not always interfering in other people's affairs. Isn't that how
it works in our social circles? That is, no one likes the loud-mouthed know-it-all who tries to nose in on
their friends' privacy; such a person does not retain friendships well, does he? Why is this concept lost
on our national leaders, concerning foreign countries?

Just imperialism in general was always bound to cause problems. Look at South Africa. How was Apartheid created? The Racism of Dutch settlers. How was all the violence in the middle east created? American imperialism. The Arab/Israeli conflict? Israeli Imperialism. Just to name a few...

[Martin Blank]

Alex Jones called, he wants his crazy back.

He was probably referring to the "detention facilities" in Bagram, Afghanistan, and on Diego Garcia.

As for what Obama has done, apart from a few piecemeal changes meant to stave off potential social explosions (extending unemployment benefits, upping some of the limits on food stamps, etc.), he has followed the corporatist program to the letter. Closing Gitmo was putting the Wizard back behind the curtain; Bagram and Diego Garcia are still open, the "black sites" have reverted back to their eastern European and Middle Eastern owners, and the practice of torture is (again) being outsourced, while those who authorized its use by U.S. military and CIA personnel are being shielded from prosecution (itself a violation of international law).

The USA-PATRIOT Act is still in place, as is the Military Commissions Act, which means Obama can strip any American of their citizenship if he deems them a "terrorist", lock them up without the right of habeas corpus (that's "due process" for those keeping score) and convict them in a secret military tribunal. Moreover, Obama is keeping the tens of thousands of soldiers stationed across the U.S. in place, in violation of Posse Comitatus laws.

Obama is not ending the Iraq occupation. Rather, Obama is following the timeline set by the agreement signed by Bush and Maliki in the days before the former left office. Meanwhile, the occupation of Afghanistan is going strong (stronger, now that Obama is beginning his "surge"), and it looks like it will spill over into Pakistan fairly soon. In addition, Obama continues to sustain the saber-rattling against Iran and North Korea begun under Bush.

In terms of domestic policy, Obama pushed through the second trillion-dollar bribe of Wall Street, right on cue, while telling the unions where they can ... table ... the Employee Free Choice Act. Ask an autoworker about Obama's support for "working families" and "Main Street".

And let's not forget that Obama has went to bat to maintain warrantless wiretapping and surveillance of domestic dissent (translation: us). While the media concentrated on the line in the recent Homeland Security report about veterans and "rightwing extremists", the actual report talked about rightwing and leftwing "extremists", singling out anarchists and communists in particular.

Before the election, we described a potential Obama administration as "Bush's Third Term". I think the events of the last 100 days have borne that out.

[Raúl Duke]

This put him on my Iwannakillya list. Absolutely no gun control.

Also wasn't there plans to close Guantanamo, but open one somewhere else?

They're expanding a prison in Afghanistan called, I think, Bagram Prison...

[The Red Next Door]

I voted for him and i disagree with some of his opinion like on same sex marrige and trying to be friends with people who don't want to be friends with him. ex:republicans
but i hope he do what he say he would do.

[travisdandy2000]

He's escalating the war in Afghanistan, and refusing to pull out of Iraq, and he supports "Isreal" and the western occupation of Palestine. Jessie Jackson is a social democrat, but I think his comments caught on Faux News, express the opinion of most opressed peoples.

[STJ]

Diffirent president same agenda keep the cappies in control.

[Rjevan]

Obama reminds me of hitler in alot of ways...
Same here. He is a demagogue, an actor, a populist, he uses left rhetoric but acts like a capitalist and imperialist, he sees nothing wrong with "patriotic CIA men" torturing for "the sake of the USA", he bombs Pakistan, supports Israel, tries to turn Cuba and Iran to US puppets, etc... I think he's not the same like Bush, he's more dangerous. Bush was just a moron and everybody knew that (what strangley didn't prevent him from being elected for 8 years...) but Obama pretends to be a liberal friend of the working class and the ordinary people and that his aims are freedom and safety for the world and that he's the only hope for a better world but his real aims are the same as Bush's were: power and influence for himself and "his" imperialistic US.

[STJ]

Very good point.

[More Fire for the People]

Thinking Obama is the solution is ignorant. Thinking Obama is the same as Bush is moronic.

[bezdomni]

He escalated the war in afghanistan and iraq, won't remove US occupying forces from either country until the pentagon is good and ready. He's planning on doubling US forces in Afghanistan and targeting poppy farmers (directly violating international laws of engagement).

That's really what we should have expected though, he never claimed to be an anti-war candidate and never promised an immediate end of the US occupation. What really pisses me off about Obama is that he's sucked in a huge portion of the existing anti-war "movement" (to use the term loosely) in the US. Every drank the kool aid, and still refuse to realize it.

[Chambered Word]

IMO he's doing well for a US president.

Also piss off, I have no sympathy for Afghan poppy growers OR the Taliban for that matter. The Taliban are digusting animals and the poppy growers are their cash cows, as well as destroying people with drugs.


I am saying that these changes come about slowly. That is because there are still too many brain-washed
goobers in this country that continue to believe in the sanctity of capitalism. Our job as socialists, (that is,
those who have been enlightened) is to raise the public awareness on the fact that we, the proletariat,
have been, are now being, and will continue to be, ripped off, held down, and bull $hitted upon.

There has not been a better time since the beginning of the last century to implement this needed change.
The huge capitalist banks and insurance companies have been stealing from us, the tobacco companies
have been killing us, and the drug companies simply want people to be sick, so they can profit. Government
wants to dictate to us whom we can marry or not, or our choices in family planning, or whether we have to
wear seat belts.

I see Obama as positive change. Please do not tear him down as "one-of-them" but try to understand that
(to use his own analogy) the country is like a big ship. A massive object cannot suddenly change direction,
unless a very large amount of energy is put upon it. That would be an analogy to "revolution." I don't think
that is what we want. We want change, but we must be satisfied with positive, gradual change.

We have to defend our rights. The worker's paradise is the only way. Be patient because this change is coming.

But we must work for this change!

Well said. He's pretty limited by what he can do because of all the morons in the US.

[FreeFocus]

From an imperialist point of view, he's been exceptional. He has killed the anti-war movement and social/civil rights movement in the US. He has killed most anti-imperialist opposition to the US worldwide, save for some of the Iraqi resistance and the Taliban. Latin America is being brought back into the imperialist fold with his policies reminiscent, in several ways, of FDR's "Good Neighbor Policy."

It's been a real coup.

[Pawn Power]

From an imperialist point of view, he's been exceptional. He has killed the anti-war movement and social/civil rights movement in the US. He has killed most anti-imperialist opposition to the US worldwide, save for some of the Iraqi resistance and the Taliban. Latin America is being brought back into the imperialist fold with his policies reminiscent, in several ways, of FDR's "Good Neighbor Policy."

It's been a real coup.

Well, as you have anticipated in your previous posts, the US anti-war movement has seen a slump in action (not that it was particularly strong to begin with) since the election of Obama.

Have you seen Glen Ford's piece: First Black President Defeats U.S. Anti-War Movement. (http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/first-black-president-defeats-us-antiwar-movement)

I remember you predicting this fairly avidly before the elections and so far it appears to be true. However, I think that the anti-war 'movement' is more to blame then Obama in this regard for being short minded and led astray by rhetoric instead of sticking to the reality of the situation in the Middle East.

[FreeFocus]

Well, as you have anticipated in your previous posts, the US anti-war movement has seen a slump in action (not that it was particularly strong to begin with) since the election of Obama.

Have you seen Glen Ford's piece: First Black President Defeats U.S. Anti-War Movement. (http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/first-black-president-defeats-us-antiwar-movement)

I remember you predicting this fairly avidly before the elections and so far it appears to be true. However, I think that the anti-war 'movement' is more to blame then Obama in this regard for being short minded and led astray by rhetoric instead of sticking to the reality of the situation in the Middle East.

Yes, I'm a big fan of Glen Ford's writings, and since you linked to it I recommend that article to everyone. Thanks Pawn.

I don't blame Obama for the death of the anti-war movement, per se. Its death was an effect of his election. Moreover, there's been enough so-called anti-war movements (and even they are inconsistent - people who were "against" Iraq are for Afghanistan). How about a real anti-imperialist movement?

[STJ]

Obama will never get out of Iraq or Afghanistan American troops will be in both countries forever.

[punisa]

For the *reasons* he has been put in, he had done an excellent job.
He's well on the way to fix a system that I believed was on the brink of the collapse.

Obama is there to keep the angry citizens quiet and happy, he did so by installing a huge load of fake optimism into their easily intruded skulls.
And thus capitalism will heal itself (it already is) on the sweat of the working men and women who will invest that extra energy in order to "preserve their ways of life".

He is there to degrade people even more towards sheep. Have them repeating in a trance like verse "Yes we can, Yes WE can".

I saw reports of "regular" working class families (somewhere on the coast, forgot which city) being evicted from their houses and living in tent cities now like it's just another day, I can't spot the rage in their eyes, I can't spot the anger, I can't spot the feeling of injustice on their faces.
They pack their stuff and head out, because that's what free market is, right?

Obama is practising a cult of personality, no different then Stalin, only different means of delivery.
He also stole the masses, the exact masses that are the only chance for US socialists.

Another thing to point out is that Obama is nothing more then a PR agent, just like a smiley spokesperson that represents a huge insurance company. So was Bush, Reagan, Clinton etc.
A "president" is just another form of entertainment for US citizens, nothing more.
Intelligent and progressive people should realize this.
US must drop "their ways of life" if they can ever hope for a socialist revolution.

People in the US have been drilled for 100 years now to accept life as solely material, full of cheap entertainment and meaningless knowledge.

I remember while on college (an American one, economics) we had a lecture on how corporations in order to be successful need to initiate their workers to have *fun* and rely on each other, and then our professor continued to propose they could play a *game* where one co-worker stands in front of another, turn his back at him and then "falls". And the guy behind him catches him, so it builds a sense of commitment between them.
This made me so sick I had to go to a toilet and throw up.

This is just a personal example of a major stupidity that happens on mass scale in US, till this is the case, no revolution is possible.
Obama is just another smart guy who will keep it all status quo.

[benhur]

IMO he's doing well for a US president.

Also piss off, I have no sympathy for Afghan poppy growers OR the Taliban for that matter. The Taliban are digusting animals and the poppy growers are their cash cows, as well as destroying people with drugs.



Well said. He's pretty limited by what he can do because of all the morons in the US.

Careful! If you attack taliban or any fundamentalist group in pakitan/Afhanistan, you'll be branded a reactionary imperialist scum and thereby restricted or banned.

[fightfortheworkingclass]

he said he would lose gitmo but keep other cia prisons open( that use terror tactics)=f
said he pull troops out of iraq by December, the head of chief on the ground said not going to happen and obama backed down and said there might still be troops after dec=d
said that we might have to invade Pakistan to counter the so-called terrorist=big f
not going to press war and human rights crimes on top bush members of his office=f
the g20 he did=b
trying to mix the American image over seas=b
but all in all he still has a lot of the bush laws in effect=f
still thinks that capitalism is the best way to run this country=f
health care for all Americans=A
overturn anti-labor and anti-union laws=A


so the final grade is...i would give him a D

[ComradeR]

said he pull troops out of iraq by December, the head of chief on the ground said not going to happen and obama backed down and said there might still be troops after dec=d
Since the election he has said he plans to keep over 50,000 troops on the ground as "instructors" (read the so called advisers seen in Vietnam).

the g20 he did=b
Not sure what you mean here, but considering that the g20 is a capitalist forum and he used it to pushed strongly for policies that attempt to shore up capitalism and US imperialism I fail to see how this can be any way positive.

trying to mix the American image over seas=b
He's trying to give a friendly face to imperialism, in no way a good thing.

health care for all Americans=A
Which falls well short of universal health care and comes with strings attached. In the end it will in fact make things for working class people worse while lining the pockets of the bourgeoisie and simply redirect the blame for the failing health care system to Socialism.

overturn anti-labor and anti-union laws=A
Not in any major way. It's more of the same liberal bull the democrats always pull out in order to make themselves look like they are the friends of the workers.

so the final grade is...i would give him a D
In terms of advancing the cause of the working class, F
In terms of advancing the cause of capitalism and imperialism, A

[ckaihatsu]

Yosef M <[email protected]> Sat, May 2, 2009 at 10:33 PM
To: [email protected]


[From firstread.msnbc.msn.com]

... Looking at the full context of Obama's "empathy" line, we also found this answer to a question on abortion in Obama's July 2007 remarks to Planned Parenthood:

Well, the first thing I'd do as president is is sign the Freedom of Choice Act.

Of course, that contrasts with what he said at his news conference on Wednesday night [April 29, 2009]:

Now, the Freedom of Choice Act is not highest legislative priority. I believe that women should have the right to choose. But I think that the most important thing we can do to tamp down some of the anger surrounding this issue is to focus on those areas that we can agree on. And that's -- that's where I'm going to focus.

[Obama flip-flops on a woman's right to choose.

Q: If a Democratic President, with control of both houses of Congress, cannot even uphold the right to an abortion, what the hell is the Democratic Party good for?

A: Absolutely nothing! -- YM]

[STJ]

Have President Obama's first 100 days in office lived up to your expectations?

(Feed provided by BBC News | Have your Say (http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/talking_point/default.stm))
Yes because i wasn't expecting anything.

[fightfortheworkingclass]

comradeR i agree with you on you're points i was grading on a curve if it was not curved he would have a full f across the board in the first 100 days and that is fine with me seeing as he as said to bring change and has yet to follow on it, i am in no way a fan of obama and his capitalist plan for America, i am sorry if you did not understand my comment, it was kinda half assed and i am sorry for that

[The Author]

Have President Obama's first 100 days in office lived up to your expectations?

Of course not! Obama is the quintessential Bonapartist! To quote Marx from the "Eighteenth Brumaire":


Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under given circumstances directly encountered and inherited from the past. The tradition of all the generations of the dead weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living. And just when they seem involved in revolutionizing themselves and things, in creating something that has never before existed, it is precisely in such periods of revolutionary crisis that they anxiously conjure up the spirits of the past to their service and borrow names, battle cries and costumes from them in order to act out the new scene of world history in this time-honoured disguise and this borrowed language. "Change We Can Believe In" ... "Yes We Can" ... Obama referencing Martin Luther King ... Obama referencing Abraham Lincoln ... Obama trying to draw parallels with Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Great Depression, and the New Deal ... He is an imperialist who sugarcoated his Presidential campaign with slogans and presented that pseudo-revolutionary air of populism among the American people that got people to rally to him, especially after his win on election night in Chicago, and during his inauguration in Washington. Yet deep down, he's no different from his predecessor save for appearances and mannerisms.

[bezdomni]

Also piss off, I have no sympathy for Afghan poppy growers OR the Taliban for that matter. The Taliban are digusting animals and the poppy growers are their cash cows, as well as destroying people with drugs.Poppy farmers in Afghanistan aren't members of the taliban, they are laborers who are forced either by gunpoint or lack of other options to grow and harvest a precursor for opium and are being targeted by the criminal U.S. war on drugs through the guise of the war on terror.

You are expressing sympathy for U.S. imperialism and the squander of Afghanistan.


Careful! If you attack taliban or any fundamentalist group in pakitan/Afhanistan, you'll be branded a reactionary imperialist scum and thereby restricted or banned.
What the fuck is your problem?

[Robespierre2.0]

Actually, what he has been doing in Afganistan is bombing civilians, not 'brainwashing' them.

They actually are.

'Witness for Jesus' in Afghanistan

http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Images//2009/5/4/2009542251130734_5.jpg Bagram has a thriving evangelical
Christian community US soldiers have been encouraged to spread the message of their Christian faith among Afghanistan's predominantly Muslim population, video footage obtained by Al Jazeera appears to show.
Military chaplains stationed in the US air base at Bagram were also filmed with bibles printed in the country's main Pashto and Dari languages.
In one recorded sermon, Lieutenant-Colonel Gary Hensley, the chief of the US military chaplains in Afghanistan, is seen telling soldiers that as followers of Jesus Christ, they all have a responsibility "to be witnesses for him".
"The special forces guys - they hunt men basically. We do the same things as Christians, we hunt people for Jesus. We do, we hunt them down," he says.
"Get the hound of heaven after them, so we get them into the kingdom. That's what we do, that's our business."
Local language Bibles
The footage, shot about a year ago by Brian Hughes, a documentary maker and former member of the US military who spent several days in Bagram, was obtained by Al Jazeera's James Bays, who has covered Afghanistan extensively.
Bays also obtained from Hughes a Pashto-language copy of one of the books he picked up during a Bible study lesson he recorded at Bagram.

http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Images//2009/5/4/200954231783734_3.jpg It is not clear any of the local language Bibles were distributed to Afghans A Pashto speaker confirmed to Bays that it was a Bible. In other footage captured at Bagram, Sergeant Jon Watt, a soldier who is set to become a military chaplain, is seen giving thanks for the work that his church in the US did in getting Bibles printed and sent to Afghanistan.
"I also want to praise God because my church collected some money to get Bibles for Afghanistan. They came and sent the money out," he is heard saying during a Bible study class.
It is not clear that the Bibles were distributed to Afghans, but Hughes said that none of the people he recorded in a series of sermons and Bible study classes appeared to able to speak Pashto or Dari.
"They weren't talking about learning how to speak Dari or Pashto, by reading the Bible and using that as the tool for language lessons," Hughes said.
"The only reason they would have these documents there was to distribute them to the Afghan people. And I knew it was wrong, and I knew that filming it … documenting it would be important."
Pentagon officials have so far not responded to a copy of the footage provided to them, but the distribution of Bibles in a place as politically sensitive as Afghanistan is bound to cause deep concern in Washington, our correspondent says.
Guidelines
It is not clear if the presence of the Bibles and exhortations for soldiers to be "witnesses" for Jesus continues, but they were filmed a year ago despite regulations by the US military's Central Command that expressly forbid "proselytising of any religion, faith or practice".
But in another piece of footage taken by Hughes, the chaplains appear to have found a way around the regulation known as General Order Number One.
"Do we know what it means to proselytise?" Captain Emmit Furner, a military chaplain, says to the gathering.
"It is General Order Number One," an unidentified soldier replies.
But Watt says "you can't proselytise but you can give gifts".
The footage also suggests US soldiers gave out Bibles in Iraq.
In his address to a Bible study group at Bagram, Afghanistan, Watt is recorded as saying: "I bought a carpet and then I gave the guy a Bible after I conducted my business.
"The Bible wasn't to be 'hey, I'll give you this and I'll give you a better deal because that would be wrong', [but] the expressions that I got from the people in Iraq [were] just phenomenal, they were hungry for the word."
The footage has surfaced as Barack Obama, the US president, prepares to host Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, at a summit focusing on how to tackle al-Qaeda and Taliban bases dotted along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan's president, will also take part in the talks in Washington, scheduled for May 5 and 6.


http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/200953201315854832.html

[ComradeR]

comradeR i agree with you on you're points i was grading on a curve if it was not curved he would have a full f across the board in the first 100 days and that is fine with me seeing as he as said to bring change and has yet to follow on it, i am in no way a fan of obama and his capitalist plan for America, i am sorry if you did not understand my comment, it was kinda half assed and i am sorry for that
No problem, but no imperialist deserves credit when no credit is due.

[Schrödinger's Cat]

He's not the Messiah, and he's not the Anti-Christ.

[Comrade Anarchist]

i guess he was better than bush but that is sure as hell not saying much

[TheWaffleCzar]

I was quite happy when I read the headline about how he was withdrawing from Iraq. But then I read the whole article elaborating on his plan to add troops in Afghanistan and felt the way I felt all through the Bush regime.

I was happy when he said he would recognize the Armenian Genocide. Then April 24th rolled around and he said nothing about it.

He also said he would allow five days of public comment before the passage of a bill. Really?

I could go on about the broken promises, but I won't.

Edit: In short, he's what I expected him to be. He did relatively restore America's image overseas, start preparations for a highspeed rail system, and reverse restrictions on stem cell research. But I'd appreciate that public healthcare system he talked so much about during the campaign. . .
To keep up with his promises, check out politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/

[tas_cyp]

Probably the only good thing so far are his policies regarding Guantanamo Bay. That place should have been closed down ages ago or not created at all. It reeks of human right violations.

how do we know that there are no other prisons like Guantanamo Bay that we dont know about them.. and that obama did it (will do) for people's eyes :blushing:

[PRC-UTE]

Go away.

where's Leo? shouldn't this be trashed?

[Pawn Power]

They actually are.

'Witness for Jesus' in Afghanistan

http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Images//2009/5/4/2009542251130734_5.jpg Bagram has a thriving evangelical
Christian community US soldiers have been encouraged to spread the message of their Christian faith among Afghanistan's predominantly Muslim population, video footage obtained by Al Jazeera appears to show.
Military chaplains stationed in the US air base at Bagram were also filmed with bibles printed in the country's main Pashto and Dari languages.
In one recorded sermon, Lieutenant-Colonel Gary Hensley, the chief of the US military chaplains in Afghanistan, is seen telling soldiers that as followers of Jesus Christ, they all have a responsibility "to be witnesses for him".
"The special forces guys - they hunt men basically. We do the same things as Christians, we hunt people for Jesus. We do, we hunt them down," he says.
"Get the hound of heaven after them, so we get them into the kingdom. That's what we do, that's our business."
Local language Bibles
The footage, shot about a year ago by Brian Hughes, a documentary maker and former member of the US military who spent several days in Bagram, was obtained by Al Jazeera's James Bays, who has covered Afghanistan extensively.
Bays also obtained from Hughes a Pashto-language copy of one of the books he picked up during a Bible study lesson he recorded at Bagram.

http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Images//2009/5/4/200954231783734_3.jpg It is not clear any of the local language Bibles were distributed to Afghans A Pashto speaker confirmed to Bays that it was a Bible. In other footage captured at Bagram, Sergeant Jon Watt, a soldier who is set to become a military chaplain, is seen giving thanks for the work that his church in the US did in getting Bibles printed and sent to Afghanistan.
"I also want to praise God because my church collected some money to get Bibles for Afghanistan. They came and sent the money out," he is heard saying during a Bible study class.
It is not clear that the Bibles were distributed to Afghans, but Hughes said that none of the people he recorded in a series of sermons and Bible study classes appeared to able to speak Pashto or Dari.
"They weren't talking about learning how to speak Dari or Pashto, by reading the Bible and using that as the tool for language lessons," Hughes said.
"The only reason they would have these documents there was to distribute them to the Afghan people. And I knew it was wrong, and I knew that filming it … documenting it would be important."
Pentagon officials have so far not responded to a copy of the footage provided to them, but the distribution of Bibles in a place as politically sensitive as Afghanistan is bound to cause deep concern in Washington, our correspondent says.
Guidelines
It is not clear if the presence of the Bibles and exhortations for soldiers to be "witnesses" for Jesus continues, but they were filmed a year ago despite regulations by the US military's Central Command that expressly forbid "proselytising of any religion, faith or practice".
But in another piece of footage taken by Hughes, the chaplains appear to have found a way around the regulation known as General Order Number One.
"Do we know what it means to proselytise?" Captain Emmit Furner, a military chaplain, says to the gathering.
"It is General Order Number One," an unidentified soldier replies.
But Watt says "you can't proselytise but you can give gifts".
The footage also suggests US soldiers gave out Bibles in Iraq.
In his address to a Bible study group at Bagram, Afghanistan, Watt is recorded as saying: "I bought a carpet and then I gave the guy a Bible after I conducted my business.
"The Bible wasn't to be 'hey, I'll give you this and I'll give you a better deal because that would be wrong', [but] the expressions that I got from the people in Iraq [were] just phenomenal, they were hungry for the word."
The footage has surfaced as Barack Obama, the US president, prepares to host Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, at a summit focusing on how to tackle al-Qaeda and Taliban bases dotted along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan's president, will also take part in the talks in Washington, scheduled for May 5 and 6.


http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/200953201315854832.html

Funny you mentioned it because I made a thread about this exact subject here (http://www.revleft.com/vb/bibles-afganistan-t108139/index.html).

If you watch the video of the interview and read the selection from the Harpers article you will see the that this idea of 'conversion' or 'brainwashing' is tied to violence. While they are attempting to 'brainwash' locals, I think you play down the agency of the Afghan people. From the information I have posted in that thread it doesn't look like US Chrisitian soldiers are having much success in this endeavor.

[Verix]

Obama
Pros-
he supports gay rights
closing G. bay
all the nazi shitheads are pissed off
supports abortion

Cons-
hes a Imperalist
hes a Capatalist
hes a War pig
hes against drug use
he is pro-gun control

[Klaatu]

"He's not the Messiah, and he's not the Anti-Christ."

Personally, I believe capitalism to be the anti-christ. The a/c does not have to be a person.

(Jesus himself was a socialist. It's in the Bible.)

[southernmissfan]

(Jesus himself was a socialist. It's in the Bible.)

I believe this debate has been dozen at least a few dozen times on this forum. Either way, it's probably a point best left to the Religion forum.

[Klaatu]

There is a religion forum here on RevLeft?

[gorillafuck]

Obama reminds me of hitler in alot of ways...

Thats all im saying

x
What the hell?

As much as I hate Obama, comparing him to Hitler is fucking ridiculous.

[Klaatu]

Perhaps "YoungScouseRed" might explain why he thinks this way? For example?

[bezdomni]

(Jesus himself was a socialist. It's in the Bible.)
How was he a socialist before there was a proletarian class? And where did he ever get a copy of Capital?


supports abortion
He's been espousing "rare, but legal" anti-choice rhetoric and gave a speech about how much he looooves the church (see his speech at Notre Dame). He has put his policies to expand access to abortion on the back burner, and is looking to make concessions with the conservatives.

He is definitely not crusading for women's rights. The only "good" thing is there doesn't appear to be a basis for abortion to become more restricted than it already is.


closing G. bay
Have you been reading the news? This is not the case at all.


all the nazi shitheads are pissed off
so fucking what? when has anybody paid attention to them anyway? To be honest, regularly acknowledging a handful of internet nazis (i.e. stormfront) gives them more of a platform than they'd have if they were left talking to a wall.


he supports gay rights
Definitely an overstatement.

[ckaihatsu]

Obama's going back to the hackneyed issue of abortion, which is insubstantial in terms of politics and budgeting, and is a no-brainer in terms of policy -- abortion is part of standard health care for women and should not *ever* be in the spotlight, much less under "debate". The politicization of the care is implicitly a power play against women's best interests of living independent lives of their choosing, free from the confines of a male-dominated nuclear family.

In economics the administration has grabbed its ankles and is taking it up the ass from the financial sector, as witnessed by the multi-trillion-dollar extortion / "bailout" -- in politics the administration is at least *flirting* with the so-called "pro-lifers".





On the issue of abortion itself, Obama tacitly implied that women who undergo this procedure are engaged in disreputable activity, and that the moral high ground is held by the opponents of abortion. He declared: “Let’s honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded not only in sound science, but also in clear ethics, as well as respect for the equality of women.”

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/may2009/pers-m19.shtml





And of course, nowhere do these questions come up more powerfully than on the issue of abortion.

As I considered the controversy surrounding my visit here, I was reminded of an encounter I had during my Senate campaign, one that I describe in a book I wrote called "The Audacity of Hope." A few days after I won the Democratic nomination, I received an e-mail from a doctor who told me that while he voted for me in the Illinois primary, he had a serious concern that might prevent him from voting for me in the general election. He described himself as a Christian who was strongly pro-life -- but that was not what was preventing him potentially from voting for me.

What bothered the doctor was an entry that my campaign staff had posted on my website -- an entry that said I would fight "right-wing ideologues who want to take away a woman's right to choose." The doctor said he had assumed I was a reasonable person, he supported my policy initiatives to help the poor and to lift up our educational system, but that if I truly believed that every pro-life individual was simply an ideologue who wanted to inflict suffering on women, then I was not very reasonable. He wrote, "I do not ask at this point that you oppose abortion, only that you speak about this issue in fair-minded words." Fair-minded words.

After I read the doctor's letter, I wrote back to him and I thanked him. And I didn't change my underlying position, but I did tell my staff to change the words on my website. And I said a prayer that night that I might extend the same presumption of good faith to others that the doctor had extended to me. Because when we do that -- when we open up our hearts and our minds to those who may not think precisely like we do or believe precisely what we believe -- that's when we discover at least the possibility of common ground.

That's when we begin to say, "Maybe we won't agree on abortion, but we can still agree that this heart-wrenching decision for any woman is not made casually, it has both moral and spiritual dimensions.

So let us work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions, let's reduce unintended pregnancies. (Applause.) Let's make adoption more available. (Applause.) Let's provide care and support for women who do carry their children to term. (Applause.) Let's honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded not only in sound science, but also in clear ethics, as well as respect for the equality of women." Those are things we can do. (Applause.)

Now, understand -- understand, Class of 2009, I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away. Because no matter how much we may want to fudge it -- indeed, while we know that the views of most Americans on the subject are complex and even contradictory -- the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable. Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction. But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/chi-barack-obama-notre-dame-speech,0,3194399,full.story

[More Fire for the People]

In the past six months Obama has had the opportunity to institute national works programs, universal health insurance, and publically-funded tertiary education. And yet all he has done is made gestures under the banner of 'compromise'. It has been a long-term failure of the Democratic party to realize that the culture war is a product of capitalism, not Republicans. Until it adopts a clear opposition to conservative cultural-economic values, it is ineffectual in helping working people. I had hopes that Obama would put a wedge between ordinary working folks and conservative values... so far, he's failed.