Obama was in fact a superb campaigner and he ran in a "perfect storm"situation,amazingly vanquishing the "entitled feminist"in the run-up to 11/4/08.
However,he just couldn't quite get the hang of governing,because he had exactly no background to carry it off.
Here he was with a super-majority and he couldn't pass the health care bill he envisioned;he couldn't close Gitmo;he couldn't get cap and trade;he didn't even go near an assault weapons ban;he didn't get the Al Qaeda gang tried as civilians;and I am sure there are other failures.
Oops-he DID get the Nobel Peace Prize (as a signing bonus?)but he didn't do one damn thing to earn it.
Why should he be re-elected?
Note:All facts above-no opinion involved.
He has still done less damage than Jimmy Carter.

"vanquishing the "entitled feminist"in the run-up to 11/4/08."

Heh. Great description of Hillary.

"He has still done less damage than Jimmy Carter."

Excuse me as I dive into a bunker to dodge the indignant comment shrapnel.

So what exactly has Obama done to get himself branded as a socialist? Yet the branding continues from a vacuous Republican opposition which does its own flailing and thrashing. Add the Pea Tarty's gnashing of teeth and you have the choice between a rabbit and a mad dog.

I have found little to love about the president's policies or attempt at governance, but the Republicans have no answers. Neither side really deserves to run the country, but I prefer keeping the mad dogs away.

In short, I don't endorse Obama, but thoroughly reject the Republicans. It's an ugly choice.
OldTimeLefty

Monique-Both Bushes,Clinton,and Reagan,not to mention Obama,have all been playing catch up to the results of Carter's utterly destructive approaches to his job.
Carter had an incredible lack of foresight.
He totally screwed up by involving the US in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan-what was he thinking?That area had the same relationship to the Soviet sphere of influence that Central America has to ours.
We had no dog in the fight,but he decided to throw in with the fedayeen.
He completely misjudged the effect letting the Shah into the US would have.
We all know what happened next.
He jettisoned Taiwan at the behest of the PRC and didn't get a fortune cookie in return.
He is the single most responsible US President for the mess immigration has become.
He allowed a manageable problem to become hopeless.
He blew the Cuban boatlift situation so badly(I was involved in followup investigations)that I still can't discuss certain aspects of it.
He also squandered the opportunity presented by Sadat's visit to Israel-Sadat and Begin,the two old terrorists,made a fool of him and wound up with a real estate deal instead of a sensible solution to the West Bank/Gaza situation.
All in one term!!
Obama can't touch Carter for actually succeeding in putting us on the wrong path.
BTW I can't imagine Carter was ever a socialist.
Just a very intelligent fool.

he allowed the opportunity of Sadat's

When was the term "socialist"referencing Obama used in this post?
It sure has been used a lot,but not tonight.
He was certainly influenced by Frank Marshall Davis and Saul Alinsky,one a communist and the other a socialist.
And Jeremiah Wright,a racist.

He has still done less damage than Jimmy Carter.
Posted by joe bernstein at September 4, 2011 6:33 PM

Actually, he has racked up more debt in any 6 month period than Carter did in his 4 miserable years of malaise.
If this clown is reelected we will be Greece by the end of his term, guaranteed.

joe,
You never mentioned "socialism", but one Republican or another uses the word as a pejorative daily. It's in the political air, and it's so far from the truth; then again, truth never has had much to do with U.S. political campaigns.

As to influences:
1. Obama has shown little tendency to act upon Socialist or Communist ideas. If he has, they have escaped my attention. You might want to inform me of any "socialist" or "communist" ideas that Mr. Obama has offered to the political process. If you do find one, balance it against the Wall Street Bank bailout and the scales tip drastically towards uncontrolled capitalism.

2. If Wright is a racist, I find no evidence that the president has picked up on it. What actions has he taken that indicates he is a racist?
OldTimeLefty

OTL,
Its all rhetoric and you know it. Stop acting so appalled. There's not a day gone by that a Democrat didn't say Republicans want to eliminate SS and medicare or that Tea Party are racist terrorists.

OTL-You won't find me defending the Wall Street bailout at any time.OK-that's done with.
Obama's attempts to substitute regulation for legislation has certain overtones of the Euro-socialist models.
Racism?I can't say he's done anything overtly racist,but why did he sit and listen to that filth for 20 years?because his wife pressured him to?What does that say about her?
My wife goes to church every Sunday-it's a very convetional Protestant
church-nothing exciting going on-but she couldn't drag me to the place because I have no interest in what they're going on about.
What I'm saying is that Obama must've found Wright appealing to listen to him for all that time.
Sometimes indoctrination has the opposite effect than intended-look at David Horowitz.
In anyevent,if you looked at what I wrote,my objections to Obama rest more on his incompetence than his ideology,which is subject to checks and balances.
Tommy-the debt is a good point,but Carter's "malaise"was malignant in its aftereffects.
Hey-I'm hoping they both can share the appellation "one termer".

"Racism?I can't say he's done anything overtly racist"

Well, how about appointing Eric Holder, who references "my people" and refuses to prosecute Black Panthers interferring with voting.

I understnad the Black Panthers were a hot potato, requiring a reversal of the usual perceptions.

"Racism?I can't say he's done anything overtly racist"

Well, how about appointing Eric Holder, who references "my people" and refuses to prosecute Black Panthers interferring with voting.

I understnad the Black Panthers were a hot potato, requiring a reversal of the usual perceptions.

"Racism?I can't say he's done anything overtly racist"

Well, how about appointing Eric Holder, who references "my people" and refuses to prosecute Black Panthers interferring with voting.

I understnad the Black Panthers were a hot potato, requiring a reversal of the usual perceptions.

I apologize if this appears several times, I got trapped in anti-spam.

Max,
It happens to be true that some Republicans want to eliminate social security and medicare. I haven't heard one Democrat call for such measures, and bad cess to any politician that wants to eliminate them. Social Security and medicare are and should be ingrained into the fabric of American life, i.e untouchable.

What makes you think that I am appalled by US political shenanigans? I'm disappointed with Obama and angry with most Republicans, but I've been around too long to be appalled.

OTL

Warrington-Holder is a blatant racist and enabler of terrorists.I have no evidence of the same level of hatred for White people coming from Obama.
I know where Holder comes from and his demeanor doesn't surprise me.
Holder attended the best high school in NYC.He went to great institutions of higher learning and he's a bigot through and through.Never had to struggle like a lot of "his"people did.
I knew people just like Holder growing up and it was like you could predict where they were going.
They constituted a very minor percentage of Black people I went to school with and knew,but often became
influential.
Does Obama appointing him make Obama a racist?
How well did he know the man?Who pushed Obama on the appointment?Questions that need to be answered before accusing Obama.
Frankly,Obama has more than enough negatives without the race issue getting into the conversation.

What is the connection between bailouts (Wall Street or otherwise) and "uncontrolled" capitalism? When the government steps in to assist favored businesses or punish disfavored ones, that is anything but capitalism. At a minimum it is the type of cronyism one associates with corrupt banana republics.

Joe writes:
"Warrington-Holder is a blatant racist and enabler of terrorists.I have no evidence of the same level of hatred for White people coming from Obama."

Sorry Joe, but appointing Holder is some "evidence" of racism on Obama's part. It may not be conclusive, and Holder may have been pushed by others, but Holder is not Postmaster General.
It is the nature of politicians to create "plausible deniability" by apointing others to do what they cannot.

Warrington-I don't think we should make this an argument insofar as I really want to see Obama gone and after he's out of office he can do whatever he wants as long as it has no effect on this country.
Holder may have committed criminal acts in office,particulary relating to "Fast and Furious"-remember when he proposed a new assault weapons ban right after being confirmed?He has no probem with cartel killers being well-armed by our government while trying to disarm honest citizens.In Holder's case,I believe an enemy of the country has seized power at Justice with the real guilt belonging to the Senators who oted to confirm him.
I'm sure the left wing types can bring up Mitchell,Kliendienst,etc,but those people actually went to prison.

OTL Said:
"It happens to be true that some Republicans want to eliminate social security and medicare."

Didn't Obama propose $500 billion in cuts to medicare? 'Some' Democrats want to nationalize the banks and oil companies too but they haven't. You're just feeding into the rhetoric.

"remember when he proposed a new assault weapons ban right after being confirmed?"

Plus Holder took steps to impede the manufacture of bullets - by ordering casings (??? sorry, not sure if that is the right word) melted rather than reused. Plus there was loose talk about putting serial numbers on bullets, of all the assinine things.

There was a well justified uproar about the casings so he backed off - insisting the whole time that none of this was a back door effort to severely restrict gun ownership by severely restricting bullets.

Holder was not alone in attacking ammunition-Ted Kennedy was on board with that-but he is out of the picture now,so who cares what he wanted?
He got away with manslaughter.
Speaking of which,Holder may possibly be liable for prosecution for two counts of murdering Federal officers-he displayed depraved indifference to human life by allowing the arming of cartel gunmen and the result was a Border Patrolman and an ICE Special Agent murdered.I'm not throwing this out as some kind of political over the top hyperbole-I am absolutely serious.
We prosecute people for "war crimes"who never held a gun,but allowed things to happen.
The same asswipes who want to indict Cheney for war crimes(I personally don't like Cheney at all with his five deferments))would probably defend Holder.

Where are the pitch forks and torches over Operation Fast and Furious. If this happened under Bush, the left would be calling for his head on a platter. No one his even calling for Holders head never mind the POTUS.

Thanks Max-no head on a plate,just Holder facing capital murder charges and getting what comes if convicted.