Ruzious wrote:Thing is - when fringe whack job candidates on either side got 2 or 3 percent of the vote, we could laugh them off and put up with them, but now - we got that guy as President. And he's got a real following. That kind of shake-up isn't good for anything.
And the change we needed was in the House and Senate. How was Obama gonna effect change with 2 hands tied behind his back?
I also think any incoming president gets a reality check as soon as he closes the door and meets with the military and the dark ops staff. I think it has to change your world view, and also to realize you are in office for 4-8 years, these people have been doing this job for decades and will remain in power once you walk away. Your influence is limited to your ability to move popular opinion, and to give direction on the policies you are allowed to affect. Executive orders, assigning priority to enforcement of certain laws, some budget recommendations, and a few go/no-go actions as Commander in Chief. You are the Deciderer, as W realized., But you don't really get to decide what information is put in front of you on those daily briefings.
I also think Obama was careful in part because of the legacy of the Civil Rights era. Crusaders like the Kennedys and King and Malcolm X pushed hard to effect great change. And they did. But then what. I think even as a senator Obama was aware and cautious by nature, trying to change things without being a lightning rod, he thinks carefully about the consequences of his every word., There's a reason he has that hesitant verbal tic of carefully selecting his words with a pause and uhhh.
For every action there's an equal and opposite reaction. He understood just his name and color alone were a provocation that could unhinge people. So he had to be more careful, more correct, more proper, more thoughtful. If not for himself, then this country, and his wife, his girls, his life after the office.
If he were the radical firebrand and liberal/progressive-jihadist that he was labelled as (and libeled as) then I don't think he would have lived out his tenure in office. Look at what has fallen out from under the rotten log when it was flipped over.
Yes. Thing is Obama was too smart to fall for that. Too smart to be baited. it meant he had to play cautioous, even if he was unable to foirce the issue and live up to the occasionally firey rhetoric of his campaign. But the IDGAF boldness of of late tenure year 7 Obama was him at his best. I think Trump got elected in part becasue Obama wasn't firey enough. That people were ready to throw caution away and risk bold action, even if it was wrong headed and unguided. The Obama of the late presidency saw a steady rise in his popularity and he shrugged off criticism and did what he felt he had to do wihout worrying about stepping on toes. And you know america, we always love a tough talking action hero more than a careful thoughtful constitutional law professor.
It's why people love Joe Biden. He will put his foot in his mouth at times but you never have a doubt what he thinks or feels. He's gonna tell you straight. Another reason Hillary is distrusted, she was tougher and funnier and more likable in her emails than in her public speech. Public caution occasionally looks like something to hide.
