Barack Obama is the Greatest American President any of us has seen in our lifetimes.

[Towlie]

Unrecommend that. I dare you.

[MNDemNY]

1. OK I did.

[Bicoastal]

2. I unrec'ed because I'm sick of people posting just to see what happens via rec/unrec. nt

[rcrush]

3. unreccing is fun

[tekisui]

4. This type of post is why the unrec was invented.

Devoid of substance, not necessarily right or wrong, but would usually get 50+ recs.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

8. It is wrong: There is no way to tell what his presidency is going to be like this early.

one way or the other.

[countingbluecars]

5. Silly post.

It's too soon to tell.

[DutchLiberal]

6. Not fair....

In my lifetime, I've only seen Clinton and Bush, so there's little comparison. We'll see about Obama in 4 years.

[incapsulated]

7. I'm sorry, I can't unrec Towlie

He's my favorite. :P

[seabeckind]

9. Wish you'd have put a smilie on this

I don't know whether you're serious.

If you're serious, you're what, maybe 12? 13? You started reading when the big Raygun was here?

Not a very large frame of reference. He's the 12th president I've seen and he's not even in the top 5 yet -- even if it's only been 6 months. Course I count movement, not just direction. I may not have agreed with Reagan or Bush or Nixon but they sure moved when they got in there instead of calling staff meetings. Eisenhower reversed the Truman hold on the interstate system. Not good for us in the long run, but it sure moved the economy.

And I wish you guys with the frilly skirts and pom-poms would start paying attention to the game. We're down a few points and can't get out of our end of the field. The quarterback keeps calling audibles in plain english and our own guys can't keep their mouths shut about the plays.

Oh, and I would unrecommend but it was already 0.

--on edit: added a word (just) so the sentence more represents my intent. Sorry.

[jclincali]

10. Just did. Concerning all the wind at his back, he's not too impressive.

[masuki bance]

11. Kick and unrec'd. I take the dare. nt

[Political Heretic]

12. Done.

[emilyg]

13. Beg to differ - TRUMAN.

[dionysus]

14. you're old.

;)
a lot of us only have reagan and presidents after him.

[emilyg]

15. 72 and proud of it.

I'm in my second childhood.

[dionysus]

16. same age as my mom. you got to witness a lot of history!

:hi:

[emilyg]

17. Big hug for MOM.

[DutchLiberal]

30. The man who destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Really?

Nowadays, we would call that war crimes, or crimes against humanity.

[Blue_In_AK]

36. I don't remember a whole lot about Truman

I was six when Eisenhower was elected, but my dad always spoke very highly of Truman.

[emilyg]

40. He made tough decisions. Was a pretty honest guy.

[Towlie]

18. Careful with those unrecs! The freepers are watching.

I'm against this whole unrecommend feature because I fear it will cheapen this site like it cheapens Digg and Reddit. This thread is only meant as an illustration of one of the many ways it can and will be abused.

Like Digg and Reddit, DU could turn into little more than a sort of online game where the object is to compete against others to make the front page, and it could even spawn "clans", like Digg and Reddit have, where loyal groups and sock puppet bots vote threads up or down just to support each other and collectively dominate the site. (Often an article is posted on Digg by an obscure member and is buried, then the same article is posted by a popular member and makes the front page.)

I do feel that one suggestion already offered by myself and a few others has merit: Ration the recs.

Allocate a limited and fixed number of recommends per day so that members won't frivolously squander those votes. It could take the form of "Add to my Top X Threads of the Day", as in "Add to my Top 5 Threads of the Day".

And although I feel the unrecommend feature should be dropped completely, if it has to be retained then it could be incorporated into the above rationing scheme as well, minimizing the potential bad effects.

At any rate, something needs to change. The new feature of allowing unrecommending, as it stands now, is clearly not going to work out.

[spoony]

32. Is it fair to say it's being abused

using as an example a thread that was begging for it to be used?

[lamp_shade]

19. Perfect example of the kinds of posts that don't belong on GP.

[bigwillq]

20. Ok, thanks for the recommendation (nt)

[Vidar]

21. Cheerfully Unrecced. Carter, Kennedy, Eisenhower.

[Arugula Latte]

28. Whenever I think of Eisenhower, I think of

how he agreed to have Patrice Lumumba deposed and murdered in the Congo via the CIA, which crushed the independence movement and set the evil despot Mobutu up for decades horrific plunder. Of course Mobutu was close friends with another evil family used to plunder -- The Bush Family of Texas.

[Vidar]

29. Unfortunately he did let the Dulles boys run rampant.

[DutchLiberal]

31. Don't forget the overthrow of Mossadeq and Arbenz!

[Colobo]

42. Carter?

[WI_DEM]

22. He might be but it's way too early to say.

[ellie]

23. Towlie ha!

I love Towlie. He is my favorite.

[question everything]

24. Whose lifetime? Obama has yet to match FDR, JFK and, yes, Bill Clinton (nt)

[dolphindance]

25. His potential is limitless, however. He will be one of the greats. Mark my words. (n/)

[Colobo]

43. He'll surpass Clinton for sure.

[saltpoint]

26. I'm a Democrat so my favorite presidents are blue presidents, plus, among

my least favorite presidents ever have been Republican presidents since 1968: Nixon, Reagan, Poppy Bush, and Junior.

John Kennedy and Barack Obama are the uplifters. Clinton triangulated his soul. Carter shone after leaving office.

[whistler162]

27. To early to judge!

Just like judging the other way.

[DevonRex]

33. Too early to say. I like what I've seen so far, for the most part.

So, I neither rec nor unrec.

[lunatica]

34. I think Kennedy was

He did something that would be impossible today. He started the program to get mankind to the Moon.

Imagine the slow agonizing death that idea would have with Reid and the spineless Democrats caving to every Republican in sight.

But I'm not ruling Obama out yet. He's just gotten started and has good potential if gets his legs and hits his stride.

[Blue_In_AK]

35. Much, much too soon to know,

and I don't recommend OR unrecommend.

[Blasphemer]

37. Well, in my case, he already ranks 2nd only 5 1/2 months in :-)

Unfortunately, the majority of my lifetime has been spent with Republican Presidents. Whether he can make it to first place, remains to be seen ;-)

[Skittles]

38. maybe sometime but now? fuck no

[rollingrock]

39. Obamabots are just as annoying as the Bushbots. /nt

[Skittles]

53. honestly, they are more annoying

because we expect slobbering devotion no matter what from repukes; it's very disburbing indeed to see it from Democrats

[LWolf]

41. Uh, no. Not even close.

No problem unrecommending that.

[Colobo]

44. Obama will surpass your expectations in the end.

[mitchtv]

45. as I expect nothing, you are right

no rec

[LWolf]

47. He's lived up to my expectations just fine so far.

I expected a center-right centrist/corporatist/3rd way democrat that would legitimize the nation's rush to the right, and that's what I got.

How is he going to surpass that?

[Colobo]

49. I know you have always been a detractor, but I'm confident

Obama will be a much better president than what you say he is and will be.

[LWolf]

62. Detractor? Maybe, if by detractor you mean

someone who reduces the value or importance of his contributions.

Not that I can reduce that; I just don't value his positions. I don't like the direction he is taking the party or the nation.

I never did. As my sigline indicates.

I'm one of the left he threw under the bus a long time ago.

It's not personal, at least, I've tried not to let it be. It's hard not to let it be personal, though, after the appointment of Arne Duncan.

[cherokeeprogressive]

46. Done. And I might add that you're out of your freaking mind.

This time it's MY turn to say... He's only been in office for 170 days. How the fuck can you measure his accomplishments against any president whose term has lasted from four, to eight, to sixteen years?

[LittleBlue]

48. My grandmother saw FDR

Beat that, I dare you

[donheld]

50. done

[avaistheone1]

51. He could be. He has the potential. If he gets single payer done

or a strong public option on health care that will be epic, and he will be on way.

But I have lived throught some great presidents Obama has a great deal of work ahead of him.

[CakeGrrl]

52. Hah! I think you did that just to see how

quickly and enthusiastically that concept would be unrec'd around here. I don't see a whole lot of complaining about stifling free speech on this thread.

:evilgrin:

[ibegurpard]

54. A judgement call like that is reserved for posterity

Even if I wasn't disappointed with some of his actions and non-actions so far, I would never make that statement.

[wyldwolf]

55. I unrec'd because he isn't.

[slackmaster]

56. K&U - It's way too early to tell

:kick:

[OwnedByFerrets]

57. What a stupid post

[KansasVoter]

58. That is like saying he is the worst president ever at this point. We don't know yet!

[spiritual_gunfighter]

59. I just did n/t

[Kitsune]

60. Doesn't say much for me. Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Worse Bush, Obama.

A parade of either mediocrity or complete failure to govern. Standing out from that crowd is not much of an accomplishment.

I hold out hope for Obama, but he is not making it easy on me.

[TankLV]

61. I just did...

Obama?!!! You're KIDDING, right?!

not even close...

FDR, Truman, Kennedy, Clinton spring to mind IMMEDIATELY...

but Obama - AFTER SIX FUCKING MONTHS - and with all his FISA, spying, torture and other backpeddling, not to mention his CONTINUED dissing of the GBLT community...riiiiight...