Has Obama's Presidency thus far been what you envisioned?

[RogueBeaver]

Basically.

[DINGO Joe]

I'm older than most of you, so I probably had any grand expectations muted by life experience.  He's kept the wheels under the bus which is good, cause it was looking awfully dicey there for awhile.  Since I live in South, I generally regard Republicans as bigoted sacks o' crap, so I really didn't expect him to get any help from them.

Specifically in the realm of energy,  he's done some subtle things that have helped and will help improve energy efficiency and when combined with the fracking revolution (which he hasn't interfered with) has substantially improved our energy independence and potentially could help Mexico (economically and environmentally) and Europe (better source of NG than Russia).  Yeah coal hate him, but coal is a dirty fuel that we can't efficiently and economically burn at this point.

[anvi]

All fair points, Bull Moose.  I agree that there were successes in the fifth year, and Obama standing firm regarding the shutdown was probably politically necessary under the circumstances, even though he could have perhaps negotiated and still stood firm on Obamacare.  I wasn't as big a fan of the tax deal at the beginning of the year as others, as I think a restructuring of the tax code over all, which would include lots of loophole closings, combined with a long-term budget deal, would have washed up more much-needed revenue in the long run.  I think how things turn out in Syria really leave an assessment on the Obama approach still remain to be seen, but in the process, Obama got outplayed by Putin, which was pretty bad considering who Putin really is.  I don't really see Ryan-Murry as rolling back the sequester so much as a bit of horse-trading on both sides to get some sequestered funding flowing to most-wanted programs again while still leaving most sequester rollbacks in place.  But I'll certainly grant that the fifth year saw some political successes for Obama, and I agree the healthcare website problems were little more than a bad glitch.  But, regardless of the media attention span, I do think that the IRS targeting specifically right-wing groups and the continued defense of simultaneously mediocre and overreaching NSA monitoring practices are major downsides in Obama's fifth year.  The continuation of drone attacks in Pakistan are also a stumbling block for me, even though they've netted some bad guys, they've cost a considerable number of civilian lives.  But, as noted above, I'm still relatively glad he won rather than his rivals.     

[politicallefty]

No, but I didn't foresee every proposal of this President being subjected to a filibuster in the Senate. If the Senate had a simple majority rule from the start of President Obama's term, I might have a very different answer. Judicial nominations would have at least been going very smoothly from the beginning. Goodwin Liu would have been confirmed to the Ninth Circuit and on track to a Supreme Court nomination (although that could still happen from the California Supreme Court, thanks to Governor Brown).

As for legislation, we'd be doing a lot better. We would have had a larger stimulus, cap-and-trade, ENDA, and the EFCA. As for healthcare reform, we could have had something closer to the House bill become law. That would at least include a public option. It would've also expanded Medicaid to cover 150% FPL instead of 133%. The real truth is that Nancy Pelosi was an extremely effective Speaker. Her problem was that all legislation that passed her House was subject to a 60-vote supermajority in the Senate. I don't blame her or the President for that. I blame those that refused to nuke the filibuster in January 2009.

[7,052,770]

the IRS targeting specifically right-wing groups and the

Wait, there are people who aren't loony Tea Party conspiracy theorists who still believe this happened?

[anvi]

the IRS targeting specifically right-wing groups and the

Wait, there are people who aren't loony Tea Party conspiracy theorists who still believe this happened?

Just going by the findings of a 2012 internal audit by a Treasury Inspector General and 2013 congressional testimony and correspondence from the IRS commissioner and the current inspector general.  The IRS has admitted repeatedly that it happened.  Of course, there is no evidence that Obama was involved in any of this.  But it does indicate that there seems to have been a highly politicized atmosphere in certain important offices of the IRS during his first term, which, I think, isn't good.

[Paul Kemp]

Not really but it's far preferable to the alternatives. I certainly don't regret my votes. I still have a favorable opinion of him but that might be more in spite of his opposition.

I also don't think a Hillary Clinton presidency would be very different.

[Niemeyerite]

No, it hasn't. But I expected republicans to be a bit more helpful... At least not that extreme:

[Dancing with Myself]

Yes and No.

Foreign Policy wise I consider him good at, he got Bin Laden and ended Iraq, and has not caved to any terrorist group.

Domestic ehh. I like what he wanted to do eliminating the tax break for the richies, and I like his college aid because I'm not wealthy by any means. Obamacare I am not a fan of it, it needed to be simplier and easy for everyone, but it's law now so we must deal with it. He spends a little much but he realized he needed to compromise, I respect him more than the Congress, they are terrible.

I do like his speaking style, his Newtown speech made me really sad when he did it.

All my friends and family loathe him with a passion but I respect the guy, he earned my respect. Much better than I expected in 2008, I was a pro McCain guy and majorly disapoitned with his election, not due to race, I just wanted McCain to be elected, he was 8 years to late, it was Berry's time.

Hope to see what 2016 brings. It will feel odd out of the Obama years though, I graduated high school and started college when he was in Charge.

[Keystone Phil]

An almost total disaster? Yeah.

[Ban my account ffs!]

Could have been better. I would still support him in hindsight.

I agree with this.

[AkSaber]

An almost total disaster? Yeah.

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

He's fallen a bit short of my expectations (especially with the appeasement on tax cuts), but definitely better than having a moron or an Ayn Rand worshipper a heartbeat away from the presidency.

[PPT Spiral]

The blatant disregard of the law is worse than I imagined.