Have you given up on Barack Obama?

[kentuck]

and why?

[G_j]

1. yes, other

I've given up on this country
(but still, I won't give up the good fight)

[dionysus]

2. oh ffs

:rofl:

[Saturday]

3. No, because he's better than McCain/Palin would have been. nt

[Marr]

10. What does that mean?

You continue to have faith that he will fight for the things he claims to support during campaign season... because he is not Sarah Palin? How are those ideas related?

[uponit7771]

18. that it's unwise to sacrafise adequate for good and perfect

[elocs]

4. It has to be no, because as Democrats he is the only chance we have.

For those who are not living in some kind of fantasy land, he will be the Democratic candidate, so it's either him or helping a Republican to win by not voting.

If the Republicans were to hold the House, take the Senate and the White House then they would be running everything. Living in Wisconsin and seeing here what happens when Republicans control everything I have to warn everyone that you do not want that to happen on a national level. It would truly be a national nightmare.

[Monique1]

6. I agree

with elocs - if Repukes take hold of everything - that is the end of Democracy and hello fascism.

[damntexdem]

5. Other, other.

I'm very disappointed and feel very betrayed; but don't ever give up.

[Forkboy]

7. Hard to answer for me, because I didn't really have any well defined expectations on him.

I figured he was going to do some good things and do some bad things, and that's been the case, so there's no real sense of disappointment. Hence, nothing to really give up on. I suspect for the next five and a half years that he will continue to please me at times and piss me off at times. That seems a reasonable approach to me for pretty much all politicians. I know this is cynical, but I just don't expect much from any of them anymore.

[KittyWampus]

8. That doesn't sound cynical at all. It sounds realistic. And objective.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

45. And fatalistic.

[Shiver]

14. I agree. Very objective and reasonable.

There is no perfect candidate. Anyone who can get elected will upset some people and please others. It is impossible to please everyone.

[uponit7771]

20. Sounds like you have a reasonable expectation of poeple

[HughBeaumont]

44. You summed it up.

I voted against turning the U.S. into the BatShit Insane Church of the Republican-ocalypse. I kind of figured Bewsh's shitting of the economy would take far longer than one term to fix, and those fixes would be painful in the short term. So I was right on the money.

[fredamae]

9. Given the sheer gravity

of the situation when Obama took office which was bad enough..But then, when the house actually passed 375 bills, most of which would have helped this country regain jobs and revenue...the senate pubs, all 40 of them...blocked (filibustered) Every damn thing he wanted to do to help us. It was at that point I realized I would have probably walked off the job, myself were I him.

No, I have not given up on Pres Obama because I can see what he and "WE" are up against. I believe it is worth the fight. I want to find a way that I can be more effective with helping him help us.

We have these young activists working their tails off trying to make change so the clean-up of the Mess we ALLOWED to happen by our own complacency, en masse, can begin. I accept my responsibility for that.

To the young activists..Thank you...I will walk and work with you to fight this!

[pnwmom]

11. What a biased question. Obviously trying to skew the responses. n/t

[kentuck]

16. I tried to make it as balanced as possible...

Personally, although I have been frustrated with the President on several occasions, I think we have no choice but to see where he wants to lead this country.

We can argue that he saved the capitalist system. Now what is he going to ask of that capitalist system in return?

I was thrilled with his speech last Wednesday. In my opinion, it gave the Democrats a template to regain power and to restore the Democratic Party to something more than a reflection of the Republican Party. If the Democrats will only follow his lead? The President can do little unless the Party is behind him. That is where we criticize the President falsely, in my opinion.

[Tx4obama]

12. Anyone that gives up on President Obama after only 2 yrs

must not have been very supportive or realistic in the first place.

[mmonk]

39. Tell that to Bold Progressives.

[OhioDoink]

13. Nope.

Somewhat disappointed,but I plan on being a Neighborhood Team leader again in my small Central Ohio town of 3500,made up of 90% gun toting bible thumping rednecks.Heck kinda looking forward to getting chased off peoples porches,yelled at and getting threatening mail.It was kinda fun looking back on it.I just hope next time I have an actual "team" to lead.

[Marr]

15. I never had an ounce of faith in Obama, Hillary Clinton, or any other

politician. They're con-men-- basically secular televangelists. The only spark of hope I maintain is the general populace, that it will eventually reach a point where it refuses to take anymore and demands changes, or else. When/if that happens, you'll see a few empty suits like Obama try to jump in front of the parade and shake their little baton, acting like they started the whole thing-- and that's fine. But they never really lead.

Anyone who expects some corporate whore lobbyist-with-a-title to save them is a sucker.

[mmonk]

17. Yes. By not fighting against the Bush Tax cut extensions and instead cutting

a deal with even more cuts, he surrendered totally the progressive movement. We are here where we are now with which draconian cuts to choose from in an economy reeling from tax cuts and deregulation starved of needed capital to function. We are here at a point the credit of the US has been downgraded and the only arguments being attended to are the false ones.

[JoePhilly]

23. He should have raised taxes on the middle class .... so that ...

many on DU could crucify him for breaking his promise to not raise taxes on the 95% making under 250k. After all, everyone knows that the middle class needs those tax cuts even though they are small, the rich meanwhile would not have been hurt at all if their cuts expired.

It would be just another example of how Obama hates the middle class.

[mmonk]

34. I look at it from economic terms.

The economy would be into a recovery of sorts by now instead of looking in the eye of a double dip. The Republicans knew what they were doing with the tax cut Santa Claus syndrome. All politicians would rather appear as a tax cut Santa Claus than fix our situation. But he didn't even fight to raise it on the 1% and let the consequences fall on the Republicans.

[JoePhilly]

36. The Dems in Congress punted.

Cowardly House Dems were afraid to make the tax cuts a campaign issue. That is simply a fact. Even Nancy could not get them to pass a bill extending only those for the 95% under 250k. And cowardly Dems in the Senate couldn't get sufficient buy in for a compromise bill that would have extended the tax cuts for everyone making under 1 million dollars. The same blue dogs who get in the way on everything else, did so here as well.

I discussed this with another DU member recently, one who is definitely not a fan of Obama, who posts what a "liberal should be" OPs on a regular basis. He argued that Obama should have used the DOJ to dig up dirt on Congress to get what he wants. Its nonsense. There is NOTHING Obama could do to force the Dems in Congress to act, nothing. Not use the DOJ, not bribe them (had another DU member suggest that path), and not "bullpulpit" the issue. The Dems in Congress were not going to act on this, period.

Again, if Obama breaks the promise to not raise taxes on those under 250k, not only would some Obama detractors have used it the way I described earlier, the media would have run endless clips of Obama breaking THAT promise, side by side, with clips of Bush #1 breaking the same promise. Noting that it was one of the big reasons he lost re-election. And those ads would have run from last January, up to election day.

Oh, and when Obama lets the tax cuts for the rich expire at the start of his second term, he will have kept that promise, right? The reality at the moment is that he kept one promise, and delayed another. If he breaks the promise regarding the middle class at the start of his 2nd term, there is no political punch that the media can use. He can't run again.

[mmonk]

38. That is their recent history.

I'd rather he tried to arm twist them for something progressive for a change. But I also can look at his economic team and the fact he set up a deficit commission as an indication of the advice he is getting.

[shraby]

19. Why do you ask questions like this??

[kentuck]

22. Because if you look at the responses, it is mostly evenly split...

There is no consensus that agrees with your viewpoint. Therefore, why do you question it??

[JoePhilly]

21. "Walk the walk"?

One of the most shallow descriptions of the many shallow descriptions available.

And now that you are getting some results, compare the wording of the top 2.

The one is fairly specific, the other includes zero details.

[Rex]

24. I never had much faith in the man.

So far he has done about as well as I expected him to do in his first term, we shall see how he does with his second term soon.

[tishaLA]

25. I've given up on those who've given up on him

He's accomplished the best he reasonably could with the Senate he's had. I can't fault him for Nelson, Lieberman, et al. No, we don't have a public option; it couldn't make it through the Senate. No, Wall Street reform doesn't go far enough; more wouldn't make it past Dodd and Holy Joe. Can I blame him for that? Not really.

[Bandit]

26. I had, but I am a sucker and he won me over one more time with his last speech.

This is the last time though. I really really really hate being played for a sucker..

[Poll_Blind]

27. Kentuck, as far as polls go you should be patting yourself on the back.

This poll is really well done, IMO, and I find it immensely interesting that the majority of the two camps self-segregate so cleanly along certain lines, even with a number of valid possible choices to choose from. Well done!

I recced this but it still says 0. :(

PB

[kentuck]

28. Thanks Poll Blind.

I tried to cover as many bases as possible. It comes with the territory.

[TheKentuckian]

29. If he puts forward initiatives that I support then I'll be behind them if they are more crap then I

will oppose.

I have given up on him challenging the establishment and I have only minor faith that he will unabashedly oppose regressive wankerhood.

More than anything, I'm close to giving up on the system that Obama works in. He and our garbage Congress and corrupted and captured courts are but symptoms of collapse.

[Odin2005]

30. Yes. Because he has shown whose side he is on and it is not us.

He sides with the Banksters.

[Ohio Joe]

31. No

Just no.

[cayanne]

32. I saw Howard Dean this weekend

He still supports President Obama although he said he doesn't agree with him on several issues. Gov. Dean did not elaborate as to which issues he disagreed with. He told us that issues such as what is happening with unions and collective bargaining needed to happen on the local level and led from the bottom, not led by top by the president.

I approached him and asked if I could shake his hand and he gave me his hand with that big, huge, wonderful smile of his. Time and money well spent.

[theophilus]

33. No. I have been disappointed. He HAS done some good things but

he seems to be ashamed of the Liberal Democrat brand. I will give him time to cripple the Republican/Teapot party. He MIGHT be using strategy because the political climate in the U.S. is insane at the moment. We'll see, but I am clinging to hope. Liberals and Progressives need to put the pressure on him, however. IMO

[LWolf]

35. No.

I never had any faith in him to begin with.

I AM sorry to have been proven correct.

[Zorra]

37. Yeah, gonna vote for him cuz i have no choice.

He's way too corporatist conservative to bring much real change.

[creon]

40. No

Obama is one of the very small number of people in the political class with any sense.

Most of the rest of those people are either blind kittens or political hacks out for what they can get.

The problem: The last Congress, especially the Senate, was very weak.

[madokie]

41. It'll take a lot more than a few dickhead repukes that won't work with the President

to make me give up on our fine man for a President, Barack Obama.
If the :puke: were doing their jobs as they are elected and take an oath to do this President would stand head and shoulders about any of our recent Presidents all the way back to Roosevelt. The color of his skin is the biggest stumbling block for the :puke: too whether they admit it or not. We still have a long way to go on that front in this country, hell the world actually. Too many people don't like someone who doesn't look like them and its sad but its world wide.
My vote was no, too much to expect of one man in such a short time. We need to focus on putting/getting some spine in our democratic politicians or we're not going to get anything done. As I was telling one of my friends yesterday they all are dirty and thats why nothing is getting done. He was bitching about the fact that we had the house and senate for two years but yet nothing was getting done or it seems that way with what the MSM reports on and what did pass for work by the dems.

my apologies to the dickheads and you know who you are

[mfcorey1]

42. Is there some kind of research group that is constantly seeking negative views from liberals?

[ZM90]

43. To those who have given up on Barack Obama know this

He's "Never Gonna Give you Up"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzSVOcgKq04

Love this video,there is so much win in it it would win him the next 10 elections.

[leeroysphitz]

46. Yes, Due to multiple stab wounds I've suffered in the back. n/t

[Poll_Blind]

47. Keep voting!

Very interesting results so far...

PB

[ChiciB1]

48. Won't Say How I Voted... But Reality Is Reality... Democrats WILL HAVE NO

OTHER candidate to vote for!!

[Poll_Blind]

49. The actual results though...This goes a long way to explaining the current...

...rift in the userbase in regards to how Obama is viewed. It just makes so much sense.

PB