Essay talk:Is Obama really a lefty?

Essay? Тай говорить 14:48, 14 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Oui. Nebuchadnezzar (talk) 14:59, 14 September 2011 (UTC)
 * D'accord. B♭maj7 "If two men say they're Jesus, one of them must be wrong." 15:02, 14 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Да. Тай говорить 15:03, 14 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Jacques Cousteau Nebuchadnezzar (talk) 15:08, 14 September 2011 (UTC)

Interestingly
Or not interesting but anyway - in comparision to other political figures worldwide (NZ for example) Obama is right wing. Moderate but still on the right side. Here we have centre left and far left. Aceace 02:48, 18 September 2011 (UTC)

Oversold
Obama's big problem is that he was oversold and overhyped; that silly Nobel Peace Prize was just one example of that. As far as US Presidents go, he's pretty average; much better than Bush Jr I'd say, but maybe that is not saying that much. I think expectations were set too high, and measured against those almost messianic expectations he has been a big disappointment; but, coming back down to earth, while he has many limitations, he hasn't done that bad a job. The other thing to remember, is that in the US political system, the President's power is relatively limited, in many ways he is at the mercy of Congress. That said, I see two potential criticisms: (1) that he didn't do more while the Democrats controlled Congress to get more legislation through; (2) he could have achieved more if he took a more expansive view of Presidential power. With (2) though, the risks would be (a) the left spent so many years criticising Bush for expanding Presidential power, it could look hypocritical if Obama did too much of the same; and (b) potentially would give the Republicans ammo to use against him. Maybe he made an educated consideration of those risks, and decided the risks outweighed the reward... 08:44, 19 September 2011 (UTC)

Is there a chance we can make this look a little more sexy?
You know, summarize some sections, add some pictures, etc.

Because right now there's so much text it might result in people going tl,dr. Great article though. Osaka Sun (talk) 21:28, 26 September 2011 (UTC)
 * add some pictures of bespectacled women It is an essay, thats up to him. Robothead.svg dot.svg 21:30, 26 September 2011 (UTC)
 * More sexier? ADK ...I'll deport your hose! 21:31, 26 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Grammar fail. And I meant more easily readable. Osaka Sun (talk) 07:54, 27 September 2011 (UTC)
 * my intention was to create a comprehensive as well as justified critique from a left perspective in the form of a usual rationalwiki-article. i figured it would be necessary to list and briefly discuss central policy issues of obama's presidency that irked the left. understandably, the text's size and style (particularly that of the concluding discussion) led the admins to tag it as an essay.
 * right now i think the article/essay needs some serious editing to get it more in the veign of a traditional trenchant rationalwiki-article.
 * i encourage everyone to give input, amend/cut/summarise/rephrase passages in order to make it more readable, so the essay-tag can eventually be lifted. also if you think i came to wrong conclusions with respect to the original question you're welcome to make your case. cheers. -- EauDeCologne (talk) 12:38, 17 October 2011 (UTC)

Couple issues here
While this essay is clearly meant as a criticism of Obama, many wordings in sections here are misleading. For example, under the "Illegal Immigration" section, it claims that Obama "abondoned" the DREAM ACT, when in reality it was stalled in Congress and for the time being cannot be passed. In addition, the section on "Green Energy" does not mention any of the key allocations of spending in the stimulus towards green jobs. While I don't have numbers, I am pretty sure that Obama has created a significant number of Green Jobs during his presidency. Overall, if you want to present a convincing essay, do not leave out evidence simply because it disagrees with your initial claim. I'm not a big fan of Obama either, but if you are trying to criticize him for not doing enough, at least fairly evaluate the "accomplishments" that have been cited by his administration and supporters. Mr. Anon (talk) 19:26, 11 November 2011 (UTC)
 * it is bothersome to me, how many people assume that Obama should have been able to somehow just ignore congress and do what he wants. but if you actually look at what he's done, or what's happened "under his leadership", he's done well.  not as well as we would like, but still...[[Image:Pink mowse.png|25px]]Godot   I smell roasted chestnuts.  droollllllll. 19:39, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

Is Obama really a lefty?
No doubt. B♭maj7 (talk) Anachronistically anachronistic 19:48, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

Flavours of English
Surely should be 'organised labor' rather than the UK spelling in this context? Or is there a subtle hint? 171.33.222.26 (talk) 15:26, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

"Instead he made a deal with the health care industry to kill the Public Option in favour of less industry opposition against his reform initiative."
That was proved to be utter bullshit. Raistuumum (talk) 21:13, 7 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Whoever's fault it is, the option still isn't there. Osaka Sun (talk) 07:57, 9 December 2011 (UTC)
 * That is true, but if Obama had made Public Option the main point of Health Care Reform, it would have failed. Public option bills came up several times, and they all failed in the Senate. If Obama had said "I won't sign anything without a public option", we wouldn't have had any form of health care reform for the next 15 years or so. This guy makes a pretty good point about why we shouldn't whine about the Affordable Care Act not having everything we wanted.
 * Also, I've noticed that a common argument throughout this essay is "Obama betrayed us because he supported a Republican idea". Just because a Republican supported something does not make it bad. For example, Bush supported Civil Unions. Does that mean anyone who supports Civil Unions is a homophobic bigot? Mr. Anon (talk) 21:27, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

What exactly are the principles or values of leftism?
This article makes several references to core principles or values of leftism and then seeks to draw conclusions about whether Obama is acting consistent with those principles, but it doesn't make it clear what values are leftist values or principles are exactly or why we should define them as "leftist" in particular. I guess the author wants us to draw our own conclusions based on what we personally consider "leftist values"?LogicMaster777 (talk) 00:13, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

State voting patterns typical of the Eisenhower-era GOP
Dwight Eisenhower is generally regarded as a conservative, and it is telling that except for Hawaii and the District of Columbia (neither of which voted in the Presidential elections of the 1950's, Barack Obama won the Presidency while winning nothing that Dwight Eisenhower did not win in both 1952 and 1956. Obama did win North Carolina and the Second Congressional District of Nebraska, but barely, in 2008.

https://talkelections.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=205905.msg4452938#msg4452938

The map shown here is my creation, and it suggests that Eisenhower and Obama had similarities of style and temperament. Someone must be most like Obama from before 2008, and the electoral results suggest Eisenhower. Obama is a worse match for Clinton in 1992 and 1996, and far worse than Carter in 1976. Obama, like Eisenhower, was a stickler for protocol and precedent; both did well with educated people who typically have a strong stake in the status quo; both cleaved closely to the rule of law and showed little empathy for law-breakers. They deferred consistently to rulings of the US Supreme Court on civil rights at the expense of political convenience. Both were chilly rationalists with few scandals.

Obama may have been more liberal on economics, much of this the result of the worst economic meltdown in American history since the Great Depression. Eisenhower was never so tested. If one's closest analogue in voting (barring overwhelming landslides with 44 or more states going one's way), then there mist be some similarities.

Obama did badly in the heavily-rural Great Plains states, but these states have few electoral votes between them. Pbrower2a (talk) 01:32, 9 October 2022 (UTC)