Barack Obama - der verkannte Held
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Barack Obama - der verkannte Held
Wanli, 31.10.2012 17:36
Obama hat bei uns noch keinen eigenen Thread, ganz im Gegensatz etwa zu Michele Bachmann. Irgendwann galt es das zu korrigieren, zumal die aktuellen Werte ja die Hoffnung nahelegen, dass Obama uns noch eine Weile erhalten bleiben wird. Jonathan Chait, einer meiner Lieblingsblogger, hat gerade eine Eloge auf den ersten Schwarzen im vorher ausschließlich Weißen Haus veröffentlicht, die man sich gern mal zur Gänze zu Gemüte führen mag, aus der ich aber hier auch ein wenig zitiere: Passagen, in denen es um Obamas keineswegs geringzuschätzenden Erfolge geht, sowie die Einschätzung, unter den großen Präsidenten der letzten Jahrzehnte könnten ihm höchsten Johnson und Roosevelt das Wasser reichen. Ein notwendiger Perspektivwechsel beim Blick auf einen Mann, dessen erste Amtszeit vielen völlig zu unrecht als enttäuschend gilt.
Bipartisan panels of economists had long urged Medicare to reform its payment methods to curb perverse incentives by hospitals and doctors to run up costs as high as possible; Obama overcame fierce resistance in Congress in order to craft, as part of Obamacare, a revolution in paying for quality rather than quantity. He eliminated billions of dollars in useless subsidies to banks funneling (at no risk) government loans to college students. By dangling federal public-education grants, Obama unleashed a wave of public-school reform, over the objections of the most recalcitrant elements of the teachers union movement. And he forced Wall Street to accept financial regulations that, while weaker than ideal, were far tougher than anybody considered possible to get through Congress.
It is noteworthy that four of the best decisions that Obama made during his presidency ran against the advice of much of his own administration. Numerous Democrats in Congress and the White House urged him to throw in the towel on health-care reform, but he was one of very few voices in his administration determined to see it through. Many of his own advisers, both economists steeped in free-market models and advisers anxious about a bailout-weary public, argued against his decision to extend credit to, and restructure, the auto industry. On Libya, Obama’s staff presented him with options either to posture ineffectually or do nothing; he alone forced them to draw up an option that would prevent a massacre. And Obama overruled some cautious advisers and decided to kill Osama bin Laden.
The latter three decisions are all highly popular now, but all of them carried the risk of inflicting a mortal political wound, like Bill Clinton’s health-care failure and Jimmy Carter’s attempted raid into Iran. (George W. Bush, presented with a similar option, did not strike bin Laden.) In making these calls, Obama displayed judgment and nerve. [...]
Obama can boast a record of accomplishment that bests any president since Roosevelt, and has fewer demerits on his record than any of them, including Roosevelt. The only president that comes close in gross positive accomplishment is Lyndon Johnson, whose successes were overwhelmed by his failures to such a degree that he abandoned his reelection campaign. [...]
What can be said without equivocation is that Obama has proven himself morally, intellectually, temperamentally, and strategically. In my lifetime, or my parents’, he is easily the best president. On his own terms, and not merely as a contrast to an unacceptable alternative, he overwhelmingly deserves reelection.
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/10/barack-obama-is-a-great-president-yes-great .html
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Wanli, 31.10.2012 22:23, Antwort aufDer einzige auf einem der beiden Tickets, der keinen Thread hier hat (und wohl auch keinen bekommt): Da hat Joe Biden wenigstens ein Foto verdient.
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/841556/thumbs/r-JOE-BIDEN-huge.jpg
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Die Wahrheit über Barack Obama
Wanli, 03.11.2012 23:16, Antwort aufMother Jones hat eine informative Grafik zu den Theorien, die über Obama so zirkulieren - auf der verlinkten Seite finden sich nähere Erläuterungen.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/chart-obama-conspiracy-theories
Eine der vielen Theorien erklärt dann gegebenenfalls in vier Tagen auch, wie um alles in der Welt Obama die Wahl gewinnen konnte: Indem er Supersturm Sandy auf die Staaten losließ. In der Welt der wahrhaftig Erleuchteten gibt es keine Zufälle, nur die immer gleichen Antworten auf die Frage "cui bono"?
Obama personally caused Hurricane Sandy: It wasn’t global warming that made Sandy so intense; it was Barack. Alex Jones' site reported [infowars.com] the president engineered the storm using a Pentagon weather modification project [motherjones.com]. The mayhem caused by the hurricane would afford Obama the opportunity to score points by briskly managing disaster relief a week before the election.