What years does the Obama Years remind you of?

[Clinton 2016]

?(:

[King]

The Obama years.

All of those options didn't have "years" to remind people of and neither does he.  Only dull hack commentators compare current Presidents to past Presidents.

[opebo]

Well its a depression, so none of those others.

[GLPman]

Well its a depression, so none of those others.

[ChairmanSanchez]

The Carter years.

[pbrower2a]

Well its a depression, so none of those others.

Carter?    Far too much legislative activity for that parallel.
Reagan?  At most as a mirror image.
the elder Bush? Foreign policy OK, if not as showy... but he is definitely not the afterglow of his predecessor.
Clinton? Slick, similar electoral results, but with a much different constituency.
Dubya? Fewer cheap gestures, much more integrity, far more respect for procedures and legal niceties, undid much harm of Dubya.

One can easily rule out  Ford, Nixon, and LBJ. Kennedy requires a great personal tragedy. Too much political savvy to be Eisenhower (really a fine President), and he would like a rerun of the 1948 election in  2012.

Most Presidents seem to make impossible any repeat act for several decades.  

So far the closest analogy is to the first four of FDR -- at least if one goes by the generational-cycle theory of Howe and Strauss. Both took over at or near the end of nasty meltdowns of the US economy. An odd parallel is an assumption that both Presidents endured misguided and WRONG assaults on their alleged religious heritage -- as in "Franklin D. Rosenfeld" and putting an emphasis on the President's middle name.

Is he up to the standard of FDR? More like Teddy Roosevelt -- and I think that he would be satisfied with such a comparison. Nobody wants WWIII.

[oakvale]

The Carter years.

How?

e: As for my answer, King is right.

[NHI]

The Carter Years.

[Nagas]

The Carter Years.

Oh, I must not have noticed the rampant inflation, foreign policy disasters, and rapidly rising unemployment of the Obama administration...

I know some of you really wish Obama was Carter. But wishing it doesn't make it true.

[King]

The Carter years.

How?

Sanchez has a deeply rooted and emotional memory of life 20 years prior to his birth.

[oakvale]

The thing is while I get the Obama = Carter meme is popular since that was the last Democratic President who was an abject failure, there really aren't much points of comparison at all. The characteristics of the Carter administration (in popular perception) were rising unemployment, a disastrous foreign policy, out of control inflation and a complete lack of legislative accomplishment. How do any of those match up with the current incumbent?

[cinyc]

The thing is while I get the Obama = Carter meme is popular since that was the last Democratic President who was an abject failure, there really aren't much points of comparison at all. The characteristics of the Carter administration (in popular perception) were rising unemployment, a disastrous foreign policy, out of control inflation and a complete lack of legislative accomplishment. How do any of those match up with the current incumbent?

There are plenty of Carter parallels.  High unemployment.  High gas prices.  An "America follows" anti-exceptionalist foreign policy.  A gridlocked Congress leading to few legislative accomplishments in his last few years.

Carter had his policy successes, too, including the Camp David accords and creation of the Department of Energy.  To say that there was a complete lack of Carter legislative accomplishment isn't true.  The economy and foreign policy sunk Carter.  Republicans hope Obama will meet the same fate for much the same reasons.

[IDS Legislator Alfred F. Jones]

But even Republicans have to admit that Obama's done a pretty good job on foreign policy.

[ChairmanSanchez]

But even Republicans have to admit that Obama's done a pretty good job on foreign policy.

Because the only way to stop Bush's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are to invade Iran and Libya, right? Not to mention his unconstitutional assassination of Anwar Al Awaki.

[IDS Legislator Alfred F. Jones]

But even Republicans have to admit that Obama's done a pretty good job on foreign policy.

Because the only way to stop Bush's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are to invade Iran and Libya, right? Not to mention his unconstitutional assassination of Anwar Al Awaki.

And by 'invading Iran and Libya' you mean 'sanctioning Iran and overthrowing Qaddafi', right?

[Inks.LWC Supports Chuck Hagel]

Well its a depression, so none of those others.

Recession... I wouldn't classify it as a depression.

[oakvale]

But even Republicans have to admit that Obama's done a pretty good job on foreign policy.

Because the only way to stop Bush's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are to invade Iran and Libya, right? Not to mention his unconstitutional assassination of Anwar Al Awaki.

And by 'invading Iran and Libya' you mean 'sanctioning Iran and overthrowing Qaddafi', right?

More evidence that putting Sanchez on ignore was the wisest decision I've made during my time on this forum.

[King]

You can compare any President to any President.  It's ridiculously easy to do.  

For example, Walter Mondale's attack ads on Ronald Reagan:

Ticket: The President's health plan is CUTTING MEDICARE!

Rollercoaster: Record Budget Deficits!

Limo: Corporate Bailouts!  Wall-Street Connections!

House: National Debt 18,000/per person!  Cut Spending!

Loopholes: Corporations Not Paying Taxes!

Orbiting: Dangerous Nuclear Arms Policy!!!!111

Failure: WHAT WERE WE DOING IN LIBYA NICARAGUA?

Table: It's been four years and still no peace with the Soviets Iranians.  Tisk, tisk.

Fighter:  The pollsters say the President's won, but don't give up.  Santorum, er, Mondale is The Fighter.

Arms Control: DID WE MENTION DANGEROUS NUCLEAR ARMS POLICY?!?!?



[/thread]

[cavalcade]

Massive deficits designed to stimulate the economy- even when the economy is, in fact, growing- stemming from tax cuts and spending increases.

New federal program that will increase healthcare spending (well, in Obama's case it is "paid for" with slower than projected growth in Medicare spending, because the next President will totally figure out how to do that).

Those are two of the three major policies/accomplishments/legacies of the Obama administration (bin Laden- almost entirely symbolic but still significant and not really having an equivalent- being the third). 

So, Dubya.

[I'm JewCon in name only.]

Well its a depression, so none of those others.

Carter?    Far too much legislative activity for that parallel.
Reagan?  At most as a mirror image.
the elder Bush? Foreign policy OK, if not as showy... but he is definitely not the afterglow of his predecessor.
Clinton? Slick, similar electoral results, but with a much different constituency.
Dubya? Fewer cheap gestures, much more integrity, far more respect for procedures and legal niceties, undid much harm of Dubya.

One can easily rule out  Ford, Nixon, and LBJ. Kennedy requires a great personal tragedy. Too much political savvy to be Eisenhower (really a fine President), and he would like a rerun of the 1948 election in  2012.

Most Presidents seem to make impossible any repeat act for several decades.  

So far the closest analogy is to the first four of FDR -- at least if one goes by the generational-cycle theory of Howe and Strauss. Both took over at or near the end of nasty meltdowns of the US economy. An odd parallel is an assumption that both Presidents endured misguided and WRONG assaults on their alleged religious heritage -- as in "Franklin D. Rosenfeld" and putting an emphasis on the President's middle name.

Is he up to the standard of FDR? More like Teddy Roosevelt -- and I think that he would be satisfied with such a comparison. Nobody wants WWIII.

wut....the...feck?

What from the Bush adminstration did Obama undo?

[Senator Clarence]

Frankly the Clinton years- a President most people like but less people agree with

[Paul Kemp]

But even Republicans have to admit that Obama's done a pretty good job on foreign policy.

Because the only way to stop Bush's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are to invade Iran and Libya, right? Not to mention his unconstitutional assassination of Anwar Al Awaki.

Do you know what "invade" means?

[opebo]

Well its a depression, so none of those others.

Recession... I wouldn't classify it as a depression.

It isn't quite as severe as the famous one with capital 'D', but it is very like a debt-deflation depression, which is completely different from the almost unbelievably mild in-the-Keynesian-context recessions we got used to for 60+ years.

[IDS Speaker Ben Kenobi]

Reminds me of the Hoover years.

I think the theme song of the administration should be Glenn Miller's "Those were the days".

[Alaska Thunderfvck]

The Clinton Years, but so far this election feels like 2004.