Why do you like Obama?

[HagridOfTheDeep]

We have a thread for people's opinions on Mitt Romney. So I'm actually legitimately curious to know why people like Obama.

I know for me, I struggle to find even one thing I like about the guy as President. So what do you folks see in him that I don't? Why do you like Obama?

[Donerail]

He's not Bush.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Who said we like him?

Since when political choices are about "liking" someone exclusively?

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Well, you can like his policies. You can like him as a leader. You can hate the other guy.

I know that's pretty vague... but if none of the above are true for a candidate, I struggle to see why you would support him.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

* better job creation than BushII despite post-GFC and GOP Congress (the "it's not as good as it should have been" argument basically shows how little they understand how deep the GFC went)
* got rid of DADT
* defending planned parenthood
* lowest rate of government spending growth since I don't remember when
* Improved standing in the International community (conciliation vs separation and isolation)
* got Healthcare reforms passed (something that evaded, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter and Clinton)
* Wall St reforms

....

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

He's not a Republican.

[mondale84]

* better job creation than BushII despite post-GFC and GOP Congress (the "it's not as good as it should have been" argument basically shows how little they understand how deep the GFC went)
* got rid of DADT
* defending planned parenthood
* lowest rate of government spending growth since I don't remember when
* Improved standing in the International community (conciliation vs separation and isolation)
* got Healthcare reforms passed (something that evaded, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter and Clinton)
* Wall St reforms

....

This. Plus Lilly Ledbetter (I still for the life of me can't understand why republicans hate this so much), S-Chip, etc. Plus I really like him as a person:  he has a compelling life story and has inspired a lot of young people. It's so peculiar to me the absolute demonization of Barack Obama who rose from nothing to the presidency, unlike Bush, Clinton, and the whole rest of the crew...

[You kip if you want to...]

In terms of policy: health care, DADT, Osama (and half the upper echilons of Al-Q with him.), Iraq, diplomacy, willing to cut taxes at the bottom at the expense of the top, auto bailouts.

As an outside observer, if I was American, i'd be greatful that he's made sure that jobs are actually being created and the economy's in some form of recovery, unlike here where the Tories have turned off the light at the end of the tunnel. This, and my country not being seen as the joke it was under the last guy.

On a personal level, he just seems like a genuinely nice guy, not one of these slimy, fake, careerist idiots who exist in both parties. He was the first politician to genuinely inspire me.

[Purch]

Saying he's better than Bush 2 doesn't mean anything. You'd literally have to start a nuclear war with China to be considered worse than Bush.

1. Auto Bailouts
2. Even though I'm a non interventionist I must admit his drone warfare has been effective
3. Jobs in manufacturing
4.DADT
5. Wants to make cuts to the military budget



Can't think of the other ones but he's not horrible, In fact he's good I'm still not sold on whether he's a great option for the next 4 years

[old timey villain]

This thread is condescending.

Is it really that hard for you to understand why there are millions and millions of people who like President Obama and will vote for him no matter what? You don't have to agree with them but can't you at least understand his appeal?

It's really sad that we live in this political bubble. I know people who are convinced that any Republican is worse than Hitler, and others who think any Democrat is worse than Stalin. I'm not a Republican, but living in the south, I can certainly understand the appeal Republicans have.

Why do I like Obama? Beyond politics?
-He seems rational
-He represents a really awesome milestone in the struggle for racial equality (though we still have a very long way to go)
-He's more in tune with younger people such as myself than a lot of previous presidents
-He's a great father and a great husband. And it seems like Michelle and the girls adore him
-He understands the role America needs to play on the world stage, not as a bully but as a leader. Again, we have a long way to go on this but we're headed in the right direction. This is what Romney would call this "apologizing for America." Well maybe we should apologize
-He's much more genuine than Romney. This is probably number one for me

[Donerail]

Saying he's better than Bush 2 doesn't mean anything. You'd literally have to start a nuclear war with China to be considered worse than Bush.

Well that's pretty much the beginning and end of people he's been better than, so...

[wan]

He's fresh

[Lief 🗽]

What's not to like? He's certainly been better than all the other realistic alternatives.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

This thread is condescending.

Is it really that hard for you to understand why there are millions and millions of people who like President Obama and will vote for him no matter what? You don't have to agree with them but can't you at least understand his appeal?

I understand that people like him, just as other folks must understand that I don't. I'm just wondering why people here like him. His policies or his character? It seems like it's pretty regular that the Mitt-thusiasts on the forum have to be on the defensive, so this is a nice change of pace.

[Purch]

Saying he's better than Bush 2 doesn't mean anything. You'd literally have to start a nuclear war with China to be considered worse than Bush.

Well that's pretty much the beginning and end of people he's been better than, so...

Actually in terms of foreign policy alone there's a hell of a lot of one term president's Obama is clearly above.

[memphis]

* better job creation than BushII despite post-GFC and GOP Congress (the "it's not as good as it should have been" argument basically shows how little they understand how deep the GFC went)
* got rid of DADT
* defending planned parenthood
* lowest rate of government spending growth since I don't remember when
* Improved standing in the International community (conciliation vs separation and isolation)
* got Healthcare reforms passed (something that evaded, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter and Clinton)
* Wall St reforms

....

The above substantive positions are the most important but it is also nice to see the return of a dignified presidential style after the classless cowboy persona of Bush Jr. The President doesn't need to swagger. It looks low class.

[Svensson]

I don't.

[BaldEagle1991]

http://whattheheckhasobamadonesofar.com/

This website sums up all the reason why I like him.

[Wisconsin+17]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

He's a clean, articulate black man. What's not to like?

[Adam Griffin]

Two reasons:

He's a likable guy. Polls have consistently shown that even a decent chunk of conservative America likes Obama as a person. His lowest general likability factor in any poll I've seen was 56%, with it being in the high 50s to mid 60s for most of his term. His demeanor and approach to things contrast greatly with Bush 43 and it's still appreciated - whether people are conscious of it or not - by the general American psyche, which suffered untold harm between 2000-2008.

He's holding the flood gates shut. Over the past thirty years, the American Left has moved slightly to the right - relative to past non-partisan liberalization of society - but generally has remained the same. The American Right has veered so far to the right - especially in the past five years - that their social and economic policies are quite literally regressing. We're seeing the modern American Right rehash debates on issues that both sides settled 25, 50, 100 years ago or more. It's the death of a party, and if allowed to take control while in its death throws will severely harm the nation.

Obama's the equivalent of a Rockefeller Republican. Barring a couple of social issues that can't be thwarted based on party control, Obama could be considered to the right of Reagan in some regards, and perhaps on par with Nixon and Eisenhower (who was also called a communist). He's not liberal enough for me, or at least not ballsy enough to own up to it. He's who we have, but when I look at the alternative, I will gladly support a moderate.

[morgieb]

He's not Bush.

[President von Cat]

Two reasons:

He's a likable guy. Polls have consistently shown that even a decent chunk of conservative America likes Obama as a person. His lowest general likability factor in any poll I've seen was 56%, with it being in the high 50s to mid 60s for most of his term. His demeanor and approach to things contrast greatly with Bush 43 and it's still appreciated - whether people are conscious of it or not - by the general American psyche, which suffered untold harm between 2000-2008.

He's holding the flood gates shut. Over the past thirty years, the American Left has moved slightly to the right - relative to past non-partisan liberalization of society - but generally has remained the same. The American Right has veered so far to the right - especially in the past five years - that their social and economic policies are quite literally regressing. We're seeing the modern American Right rehash debates on issues that both sides settled 25, 50, 100 years ago or more. It's the death of a party, and if allowed to take control while in its death throws will severely harm the nation.

Obama's the equivalent of a Rockefeller Republican. Barring a couple of social issues that can't be thwarted based on party control, Obama could be considered to the right of Reagan in some regards, and perhaps on par with Nixon and Eisenhower (who was also called a communist). He's not liberal enough for me, or at least not ballsy enough to own up to it. He's who we have, but when I look at the alternative, I will gladly support a moderate.

This.

Frankly I just feel uncomfortable handing the presidency over to someone as unprincipled and feckless as Mitt Romney while the Republican party is revisiting 20th century policy debates.

[EU-US]

Almost everyone likes him here in Europe.

[WhyteRain]

You have to understand the anti-rationality and pure emotionalism of the Left's leading lights.

Jonathan Chait, the leftwing extremist and Obamabot, said it best in The New Republic in 2003.  In essence, liberals like Chait hate conservatives like Bush because they remind them, painfully, of the boys who got all the girls in high school.  Basically, it's the same reason why many liberal women hate Sarah Palin.

Mad About You
The case for Bush hatred.

    Jonathan Chait
    September 29, 2003 | 12:00 am

I hate President George W. Bush. There, I said it. I think his policies rank him among the worst presidents in U.S. history. And, while I'm tempted to leave it at that, the truth is that I hate him for less substantive reasons, too.... He reminds me of a certain type I knew in high school--the kid who was given a fancy sports car for his sixteenth birthday and believed that he had somehow earned it. I hate the way he walks--shoulders flexed, elbows splayed out from his sides like a teenage boy feigning machismo. I hate the way he talks--blustery self-assurance masked by a pseudopopulist twang. [Note that Chait thinks Bush's Southern accent is fake -- the way Hillary faked it at a speech in Mississippi in 2007.  Liberals are forever projecting their own dishonorable traits on to others.]  I even hate the things that everybody seems to like about him. I hate his lame nickname-bestowing-- a way to establish one's social superiority beneath a veneer of chumminess (does anybody give their boss a nickname without his consent?). And, while most people who meet Bush claim to like him, I suspect that, if I got to know him personally, I would hate him even more.

There seem to be quite a few of us Bush haters. I have friends who have a viscerally hostile reaction to the sound of his voice or describe his existence as a constant oppressive force in their daily psyche. Nor is this phenomenon limited to my personal experience: Pollster Geoff Garin, speaking to The New York Times, called Bush hatred "as strong as anything I've experienced in 25 years now of polling." Columnist Robert Novak described it as a "hatred … that I have never seen in 44 years of campaign watching."

Yet, for all its pervasiveness, Bush hatred is described almost exclusively as a sort of incomprehensible mental affliction. James Traub, writing last June in The New York Times Magazine, dismissed the "hysteria" of Bush haters. Conservatives have taken a special interest in the subject. "Democrats are seized with a loathing for President Bush--a contempt and disdain giving way to a hatred that is near pathological--unlike any since they had Richard Nixon to kick around," writes Charles Krauthammer in Time magazine. "The puzzle is where this depth of feeling comes from." Even writers like David Brooks and Christopher Caldwell of The Weekly Standard--the sorts of conservatives who have plenty of liberal friends--seem to regard it from the standpoint of total incomprehension. "Democrats have been driven into a frenzy of illogic by their dislike of George W. Bush," explains Caldwell....

Have Bush haters lost their minds? Certainly some have....  But, although Bush hatred can result in irrationality, it's not the product of irrationality. Indeed, for those not ideologically or personally committed to Bush's success, hatred for Bush is a logical response to the events of the last few years. It is not the slightest bit mystifying that liberals despise Bush. It would be mystifying if we did not.

[emphasis added]
http://www.tnr.com/article/mad-about-you

Other than cutting tax rates (resulting in increased tax revenues), what had Bush done in 2001-03 that would drive liberals crazy?  He let Teddy Kennedy write his education bill ("No Child Left Behind"); he signed McCain-Feingold as he promised he would; he continued the race-based house mortgage preferences of the Clinton Administration.  Oh, he invaded Iraq?  Criminy, anyone with an IQ above 92 knows that Clinton would've had Saddam in a spiderhole before the smoke cleared over Brooklyn -- and without bothering with any U.N. resolutions (when was the last time any Democrat got U.N. permission before bombing and invading other countries?)

That leaves the leftover high-school hatreds of "the kids who seemed to have it all -- who seemed to succeed effortlessly, without realizing their advantages".

This is why liberals fail so disastrously in government.  They base so many of their decisions on emotions of hate and fear that normal people left behind before age 25.

[politicus]

You have to understand the anti-rationality and pure emotionalism of the Left's leading lights.

Jonathan Chait, the leftwing extremist and Obamabot, said it best in The New Republic in 2003.  In essence, liberals like Chait hate conservatives like Bush because they remind them, painfully, of the boys who got all the girls in high school.  Basically, it's the same reason why many liberal women hate Sarah Palin.

This is why liberals fail so disastrously in government.  They base so many of their decisions on emotions of hate and fear that normal people left behind before age 25.

Whats that got to do with Liberals liking a good looking cool guy like Obama?