Why do people hate Obama?

[Atreus21]

I'm just wondering why everyone hates President Obama. I really haven't paid attention to any of his term. I don't truly know anything he has done. This is a short post just asking for a list of reasons as to why America dislikes Obama so much.

I'll take responses in form of lists or bullet points for easier reading please. I mean elaborate all you want. I just really want to know the main points as to why people dislike him so very, very much.

Also, you can add what he has done that are positives if you'd like please.

Thanks politics section!

*Edit* Can we have serious postings please?

Same reason they hated Bush. Wrong team.

 

[Ldir]

Nope. The falsehood is you using a spike in prices for a month to attack and label an entire presidency as anti-American socialism.

Except I did not do that. You are lying about what I said. You do that a lot.

 

[xBiffx]

Except I did not do that. You are lying about what I said. You do that a lot.

So you weren't being rhetorical? Come on. Clearly from the replies since, you were. Since you have explained quite plainly what you were referring to.

 

[blankslate]

It's funny because I recall people blaming Bush for the high gas prices back then. It wasn't any more correct then than it is now to blame Obama. I think it's time that the public get educated about what really causes these fluctuations in gas prices.

Speculation. The commodities markets were supposed to be a way for industries that use fuel and the petroleum to have a way of knowing to a certain extent they could get those products in the future at a certain price (or price range).

When the majority of the people and companies that were buying and selling oil commodities on the market were actually producers and users of the product and the fuel derived from it, prices were relatively stable and increased or decreased slowly for the most part. Airlines, Gasoline companies for example...

Now however speculators who don't actually use petroleum or the products derived from refining it, are in the majority of people in the fuel commodities market to the tune of 70%

Before a certain point in time Airlines, refiners and other companies who actually processed or used petroleum and fuel were 70% of the people trading in fuel commodities.

The drastic swing to the opposite now means that you have people who are looking to make a killing in the market rather than companies who are arranging future delivery and use of petroleum and gasoline.

 

[werepossum]

I bet they never experience any bandwidth limitations on that site.

Same reason they hate every president: Things arent going well so they blame the guy at the top, despite the fact he's not a ruler. He's a leader.

Though I will admit I dislike him for his policy on illegals. Not that I think the previous presidents were much better.

Oh, and Obamas smarter but Clinton and Bush were better liars.

Pretty much this. Obama has virtually everything I disliked about Bush plus some Obama-specific stuff I dislike, but people generally give the President blame and credit for things over which he has little influence. Far too many people believe that the President runs the country and thus is responsible for everything that happens, good or bad.

I don't hate Obama but I do object to any in power who try to circumvent the fact that our government was created in such a way that the federal government had to live within expressly defined boundaries, and if a power is not granted, then it is a right reserved by the states and the people. Over time citizens have wanted things and ceded their rights. This has led to the concept that the Constitution is anything the government and those who support an agenda says it is. Obama has lamented that our Constitution limits his authority but that is mere formality. He has no respect for our founding document and therefore I have none for him.

Very well said.

 

[gingermeggs]

. You have simply asked a question to which nobody, including yourself, wants to know the answer although one of the posts above wasn't bad.

"Despite campaigning as a moderate liberal, he has mostly been a right of center President. The American right has proven over the last 20 years to be one of the most harmful political groups in our nation's history and being right of center when he should be liberal only exacerbates that problem."

This is what you hate- people that pretend to be something they are not!
You hate when you have to swallow you're own lies.............
This goes back to the Pinkertons.
The American Right has slowly termite-ed freedom and democracy, it has turned the majority of humanity into a new form of defacto slavery, in which people never have enough capital to rise out of their bonded duties/income and will probably die still working.
Opportunity is only afforded to those that have the access to the streams of Capital- the Banksters and their muppets in the fed and the guv!

The American dream has been stolen by white collar, organized criminals. Cross them and you will be killed.........

 

[werepossum]

It's funny because I recall people blaming Bush for the high gas prices back then. It wasn't any more correct then than it is now to blame Obama. I think it's time that the public get educated about what really causes these fluctuations in gas prices.

Educating the public isn't high on either party's list of priorities.

 

[woolfe9999]

Educating the public isn't high on either party's list of priorities.

They will educate when it is in their political interests to do so. For example, in this election cycle it would be in the interests of democrats to educate the public about what really causes gas prices to rise and fall. So I would disagree - they will attempt to educate at times. Unfortunately, partisanship amongst the electorate, and also hypocrisy amongst the pols (they blamed Bush in 2008 for high gas prices) prevents the lessons from being learned. And the cycle repeats.

Unfortunately, we are too pre-occupied with the soundbite. The soundbite is the numbers - high gas prices or high deficits. It doesn't really take beyond average intelligence to understand what causes these things. We can learn the basics of it in 2-5 minutes. However, all too often we are either not being told the whole truth because people are trying to manipulate us, or worse still, someone is telling us the whole truth and for one reason or another, we just don't want to listen.

 

[thraashman]

It's funny because I recall people blaming Bush for the high gas prices back then. It wasn't any more correct then than it is now to blame Obama. I think it's time that the public get educated about what really causes these fluctuations in gas prices.

Part of the problem was that during the Bush year, he started an unnecessary war with Iraq. That disrupted the oil market and was at least a factor in the rising gas prices. Now it wasn't the only factor, but it was one of them. Obama has not done any action that would disrupt the market like the Iraq war did so there's nothing that can be blamed on Obama like Iraq can be blamed on Bush.

Who's to say what would have happened without Iraq to the gas market. It seems like speculators realized how they could manipulate the market after Iraq and sent it all to hell. Gas prices may have still risen meteorically without it, or maybe it wouldn't have happened.

 

[woolfe9999]

Part of the problem was that during the Bush year, he started an unnecessary war with Iraq. That disrupted the oil market and was at least a factor in the rising gas prices. Now it wasn't the only factor, but it was one of them. Obama has not done any action that would disrupt the market like the Iraq war did so there's nothing that can be blamed on Obama like Iraq can be blamed on Bush.

Who's to say what would have happened without Iraq to the gas market. It seems like speculators realized how they could manipulate the market after Iraq and sent it all to hell. Gas prices may have still risen meteorically without it, or maybe it wouldn't have happened.

There were a number of variables that affected energy prices during the Bush years. One was the Iraq war. I have trouble drawing a cause and effect between a war started in 2003 and a huge spike in 2008, however. I would say that worries about possible disruption in the flow of middle eastern oil are generally something that will cause speculators to invest heavily and drive the price up in the short term. In 2007-2008, if memory serves there was a lot of discussion about Iran getting nuclear weapons and whether we would bomb them. Not coincidentally I think, there's been a lot of recent buzz about the possibility of Israel bombing Iran this year. While that isn't Obama's fault, I do think it was foolish for Panetta to go voicing the concern publicly, particularly since it isn't a certain fact.

In the longer term, oil is an international market and a POTUS has only limited ability to affect it for good or ill. I think this is something that people generally do not understand.

 

[xBiffx]

In the longer term, oil is an international market and a POTUS has only limited ability to affect it for good or ill. I think this is something that people generally do not understand.

Not saying either President did or has done this but I think a President can do little to directly or indirectly lower the price of oil. I do however think that he can do a great deal to indirectly drive its prices up. Of course this is true of many people more than the President. Only few have enough control to drive prices down, but there are many many more people who could do something to drive the prices higher. That, just plain sucks.

 

[Matt1970]

Bush was diverting domestic production and imports to fill the strategic reserves when oil prices were spiking. He was also stoking uncertainty in the ME with his excellent adventures and with us or against us diplomacy.

Congratulations for making an utterly pointless post.

 

[boomerang]

I'm just wondering why everyone hates President Obama. I really haven't paid attention to any of his term. I don't truly know anything he has done. This is a short post just asking for a list of reasons as to why America dislikes Obama so much.

I'll take responses in form of lists or bullet points for easier reading please. I mean elaborate all you want. I just really want to know the main points as to why people dislike him so very, very much.

Also, you can add what he has done that are positives if you'd like please.

Thanks politics section!

*Edit* Can we have serious postings please?

Is this is a homework assignment for you?

 

[werepossum]

They will educate when it is in their political interests to do so. For example, in this election cycle it would be in the interests of democrats to educate the public about what really causes gas prices to rise and fall. So I would disagree - they will attempt to educate at times. Unfortunately, partisanship amongst the electorate, and also hypocrisy amongst the pols (they blamed Bush in 2008 for high gas prices) prevents the lessons from being learned. And the cycle repeats.

Unfortunately, we are too pre-occupied with the soundbite. The soundbite is the numbers - high gas prices or high deficits. It doesn't really take beyond average intelligence to understand what causes these things. We can learn the basics of it in 2-5 minutes. However, all too often we are either not being told the whole truth because people are trying to manipulate us, or worse still, someone is telling us the whole truth and for one reason or another, we just don't want to listen.

All quite true. But it's very hard to differentiate between attempts at true education and propaganda, especially since both parties want to educate only to the degree that they are helped. Since it's very rare that anything is completely good or bad, any attempt to educate by one side or the other will be partial at best.

There were a number of variables that affected energy prices during the Bush years. One was the Iraq war. I have trouble drawing a cause and effect between a war started in 2003 and a huge spike in 2008, however. I would say that worries about possible disruption in the flow of middle eastern oil are generally something that will cause speculators to invest heavily and drive the price up in the short term. In 2007-2008, if memory serves there was a lot of discussion about Iran getting nuclear weapons and whether we would bomb them. Not coincidentally I think, there's been a lot of recent buzz about the possibility of Israel bombing Iran this year. While that isn't Obama's fault, I do think it was foolish for Panetta to go voicing the concern publicly, particularly since it isn't a certain fact.

In the longer term, oil is an international market and a POTUS has only limited ability to affect it for good or ill. I think this is something that people generally do not understand.

Another good post. I think one big reason people don't understand is because we don't want to understand, we just want things arranged to our liking. We're a bunch of spoiled little bitches and we don't like to think that if something bad happens it's not necessarily someone's fault, we just want to blame someone and then demand that they fix it. So we blame Bush or Obama for high gas prices because it's easy, and if we think about it at all we tend to overestimate their control and trivialize the adverse consequences of the things that are within their control.

I know my natural inclination when gas prices shoot up is to think "Damn Obama, why doesn't he open up leases like Bush?" even though objectively I know the likely effect on prices would be small. It takes conscious effort to overcome our innate prejudices and biases on things that directly and adversely affect us. Or it does for me anyway.

 

[werepossum]

Not saying either President did or has done this but I think a President can do little to directly or indirectly lower the price of oil. I do however think that he can do a great deal to indirectly drive its prices up. Of course this is true of many people more than the President. Only few have enough control to drive prices down, but there are many many more people who could do something to drive the prices higher. That, just plain sucks.

This is true too. Given Obama's stated desire for high gas prices, we can be glad he did not actively try to drive them higher. Although our boom is in public land drilling, had Obama wanted he could have made this much more difficult just with the agencies he controls.

 

[First]

Given Obama's stated desire for high gas prices

lol.

 

[zinfamous]

http://www.gallup.com/poll/113980/gallup-daily-obama-job-approval.aspx

not too shabby, actually. considering that the approval percentage is a good bit higher than the percentage of people that actually elect a president.

Anyhoo, I read yesterday that he is at roughly 52 or 60% approval with Democrats, 46% with independents, and below 30% with Republicans.

Arguing that is unpopular and that every one hates him is quite specious.

 

[Icepick]

Have you purchased gasoline lately?

Yes.

All his policies are Anti-America and socialist driven to enslave people to the governments every whim.

Wow. Three lies in one sentence. Not a bad start.

No coal power plants, no oil pipeline, Keep borrowing at least a trillion every time he turns around. He has added more trillions of dollars to the deficeit than Bush did in 8 years. Every time the we borrow more money, the value of the dollar drops and the price of oil and gas and even food prices increase.

He also inherited two run-on wars and a budget deficit that was caused by the preceding president. Oh yes. The Bush administration had the bright idea to get the nation engaged in two foreign wars while at the same time granting tax breaks, thus, removing the ability to pay for them.

Not to mention, he inherited an economic crisis that was the culmination of 30 years of failed policy. The increased deficit was the result of not being able to abruptly pull us out of the Iraq and Afghan conflicts and bailing out the admittedly crooked financial institutions that nearly brought our capitalist/corporatist system to it's knees.

If you ever paid for your lunch you should have noticed that is increasing.

This is true. I have noticed the cost of food increasing. Hopefully we can find a way to elect responsible persons into office and limit the corporatism that is wreaking havoc within our economic system. A good start would be to stop voting for right wing politicians, IMHO.

Do you live under a rock?

No. I live in a house.

This has nothing to do with racism. This has to do with implementing policies and enacting legislation which is harmful to the USA!

Oh, come on now. It does have at least a little to do with racism. Look at the tea bagging movement that launched shortly after he was elected. The base of it was comprised largely of seniors who were raised in a system of institutionalized racism. You can't honestly state that racism had nothing to do with that.

 

[zinfamous]

Well, I don't hate Obama. I am unhappy with him for some of his policies. I can list his policies I'm unhappy with. I am intelligent enough to not throw around factually incorrect words like muslim, socialist, America-hater. Every complaint I have about Obama is based on facts, not perceptions taught to me by Fox and Rush.

- He was not forceful enough in creating a public option in the Affordable Healthcare Act. The act that we got is too weak and doesn't do enough to reverse spiking healthcare costs. While he could not make the few Democrat hold outs vote the right way when the Senate had a super majority, he should have been more forceful with them because solidarity was needed when the minority party has been the most obstructionist political group in the entire history of the United States.

- Closing Guantanamo. I can't blame him completely. He did sign an Executive Order to close it. It was Congress who stopped him. However, Guantanamo is a military base with military prisoners. Obama is Commander In Chief and he should have told Congress "too bad, it's my decision, go fuck yourselves"

- Allowed a deal to continue the Bush tax cuts that have hurt our economy so much.

- Despite campaigning as a moderate liberal, he has mostly been a right of center President. The American right has proven over the last 20 years to be one of the most harmful political groups in our nation's history and being right of center when he should be liberal only exacerbates that problem.

- He should ask Eric Holder for his resignation and hasn't. I can't blame Obama for Fast and Furious as I doubt he had more than a cursory knowledge. But someone's head has to roll for the poor implementation, and Holder is the man.

I'm sure I have a few more that just aren't coming to mind. He's also done some good things such as the auto bailout that saved hundreds of thousands of jobs, the stimulus that saved the economy, realizing after Deepwater Horizon that regulation is a good thing and requiring environmental review. Not giving in to political pressure and instead denying the pipeline pending environmental review when he could have thrown causion to the wind and been a reckless retard like the GOP.

Basically, it's been that the more liberal things that Obama has done have been good, the more conservative ones have been bad. It is unfortunate that he's had to deal with a opposing political party that has only been surpassed by the confederacy in harmfulness to our nation's prosperity.

all of this.

my largest disappointment from Obama, aside from continuing the destructive policies that proceeded him, is that he has been piss poor for science. More of a personal issue, but his policies have turned to be surprisingly worse than what dubya left us with.

 

[zinfamous]

http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?ap

Crunch the numbers yourself.

All Bush
Average cost of regular 1/2000 - 12/2007 = $1.936
1st Term
Average cost of regular 1/2000 - 12/2003 = $1.480
2nd Term
Average cost of regular 1/2004 - 12/2007 = $2.391

All Obama to date
Average cost of regular 1/2008 - present = $3.003

luuuuuuuuulzzzzzzz

 

[werepossum]

all of this.

my largest disappointment from Obama, aside from continuing the destructive policies that proceeded him, is that he has been piss poor for science. More of a personal issue, but his policies have turned to be surprisingly worse than what dubya left us with.

Worse how, exactly? Seems to me they've been about the same except for Bush's veto of parting out fetuses for research, which ought to put Obama slightly ahead. I know he led in canceling Bush's replacement space plan, but frankly I can't see that surviving in this economic climate under any President.

And in his defense, there's not really much extra money to spend right now. We're just trying to meet the required increases in social spending, service our debt, and fund the wars without completely breaking the country's faith and trust.

 

[uclaLabrat]

Well, I don't hate Obama. I am unhappy with him for some of his policies. I can list his policies I'm unhappy with. I am intelligent enough to not throw around factually incorrect words like muslim, socialist, America-hater. Every complaint I have about Obama is based on facts, not perceptions taught to me by Fox and Rush.

- He was not forceful enough in creating a public option in the Affordable Healthcare Act. The act that we got is too weak and doesn't do enough to reverse spiking healthcare costs. While he could not make the few Democrat hold outs vote the right way when the Senate had a super majority, he should have been more forceful with them because solidarity was needed when the minority party has been the most obstructionist political group in the entire history of the United States.

- Closing Guantanamo. I can't blame him completely. He did sign an Executive Order to close it. It was Congress who stopped him. However, Guantanamo is a military base with military prisoners. Obama is Commander In Chief and he should have told Congress "too bad, it's my decision, go fuck yourselves"

- Allowed a deal to continue the Bush tax cuts that have hurt our economy so much.

- Despite campaigning as a moderate liberal, he has mostly been a right of center President. The American right has proven over the last 20 years to be one of the most harmful political groups in our nation's history and being right of center when he should be liberal only exacerbates that problem.

- He should ask Eric Holder for his resignation and hasn't. I can't blame Obama for Fast and Furious as I doubt he had more than a cursory knowledge. But someone's head has to roll for the poor implementation, and Holder is the man.

I'm sure I have a few more that just aren't coming to mind. He's also done some good things such as the auto bailout that saved hundreds of thousands of jobs, the stimulus that saved the economy, realizing after Deepwater Horizon that regulation is a good thing and requiring environmental review. Not giving in to political pressure and instead denying the pipeline pending environmental review when he could have thrown causion to the wind and been a reckless retard like the GOP.

Basically, it's been that the more liberal things that Obama has done have been good, the more conservative ones have been bad. It is unfortunate that he's had to deal with a opposing political party that has only been surpassed by the confederacy in harmfulness to our nation's prosperity.

Damn. I agree with all of these. I'm only mad at Obama for not being "Obama" enough.

 

[cubby1223]

I'm just wondering why everyone hates President Obama.

You begin your quest for "serious postings" with a false statement. You are within the group "Everyone" and you do not hate Obama. Therefore your statement is false.

Your first task in understanding the world, is understanding basic logic.

 

[dank69]

http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?ap

Crunch the numbers yourself.

All Bush
Average cost of regular 1/2000 - 12/2007 = $1.936
1st Term
Average cost of regular 1/2000 - 12/2003 = $1.480
2nd Term
Average cost of regular 1/2004 - 12/2007 = $2.391

All Obama to date
Average cost of regular 1/2008 - present = $3.003

So Bush became President 1/2000 and his presidency ended 12/2007 and Obama took over in 1/2008? Come on man!

EDIT - Recrunched adding liberal bias:
All Bush
Average cost of regular 1/2001 - 12/2008 = $2.155
1st Term
Average cost of regular 1/2000 - 12/2003 = $1.572
2nd Term
Average cost of regular 1/2004 - 12/2008 = $2.738

All Obama to date
Average cost of regular 1/2008 - present = $2.311

 

[CallMeJoe]

So Bush became President 1/2000 and his presidency ended 12/2007 and Obama took over in 1/2008? Come on man!

Barack Obama is obviously so evil his presidency started screwing the economy even before he won the Iowa caucuses.