Thanks Obama!

Sorry I couldn't resist the title, but it makes sense for this thread. I wanted to see what you guys thought on this video and the points made in it. I saw it and I thought, for a journalist, this was a rather gutsy video. He will likely be labeled as biased from here on out, but at the same time the points he makes are mostly good ones. Again what do you guys make of this? Is the nation largely ungrateful towards a good president? Or is he getting the recognition he deserves?

I have to say, whether you support the president or not.. He has received historic levels of opposition from the moment he has gotten into office.. Eric Cantor, right after President Obama was elected, stated their number one goal is to get the president out of office as fast as possible.. Even when the Democrats held congress, it was flimsy with extremely conservative southern Democrats making a large portion.. The opposition quite literally was holding the country hostage with the debt ceiling and has had record numbers of filibusters.. No president has faced this kind of resistance for decades.. No president has had the crazy conspiracy theory of being born in Kenya in which public figures and politicians questioned if he was even a citizen for years into presidency.. How ever medicore people think the president's performance has been, it pales in comparison to the congress in office who either have been dragged kicking and screaming.. Or absolutely shut it down.. No serious plan has ever been brought forward on numerous issues, and they never bothered to compromise..

So however abysmal you think the Presidents performance may or may not have been, he is by no where close to the kind of performance we are currently seeing with most of the Republican congress at this time.

Agreed and that is an excellent video. I'm not american but living here in Canada I see and hear what goes on over there daily. I don't think that I have ever seen a president as villified and aggressively resisted against on literally everything he's done as he has. While certainly not perfect and there is some fair criticism that can be leveled at him I think he's done a lot of good things during his presidency.

Obama certainly doesn't deserve all this hate, sounds like its obvious many Republicans are all just butthurt that they're getting stalled from having another Republican as President, to continue their evil (or at least, highly suspicious and untrustworthy) plots and plans.

Eh he's not really a good president.

Been a fan of our President. Honestly, I think Congress completely held him back. His run has been good but should have been pretty legendarily good. What Congress did to the healthcare bill is inexcusable.

Good video and good President.

@LostProphetFLCL: The Democratic congress passed it and we are stuck with a piece of crap.

I'm skeptical that he will be remembered as a great president. That being said, I agree that he is a good president who has been, at the very least, a decent steward of the country during difficult times while faced with an opposition that has lost their minds.

I'm not a big fan of the guy but I wont say he was/is a bad president.

I don't get how anyone could blame congress when the democrats controlled congress for the first few years of his presidency. Obama has been a pretty terrible president, just as george w bush was a pretty terrible president. The problem is that most people think either obama is good and bush was bad or bush was good and obama is bad, People are blinded by their ideology and often don't bother to look at the facts behind what their president is actually doing.

I will not comment on the video directly because it was obviously a completely bias video(number 4, thanks obama for being black gtfo), but the reality of the situation is that our political system is in terrible shape right now, and the line between Republican and Democrat is far more blurred than the average brainwashed voter or biased political news station will ever acknowledge.

He's been a mediocre president at best. Terrible leadership skills but I attribute that to him never being in a government executive position before.

Remember, when he took office, the democratic party had congress. So the idea that he's been behind the 8ball from the start is not true. Plenty of presidents have dealt with hostile congresses and partisan politics but still did well. Look at Clinton.

TARP wasn't Obama. The fed has been pumping billions into the market - wait till that balloon bursts.

@pook99: I dont think he meant litterally "for being black",Just the the mountain of opposition against him just because he is black deserves a great deal of respect. in earlier times in this country just running for city council and being the wrong color would get you shot, let alone running for president... getting elected... and staying there for two terms. his life is in danger everday, just like any other president. Just a few more groups gunning for him because of his color. at least thats what i got from it.

He's certainly the best President since Clinton. The real problem with Obama is that he is not liberal enough.

I think the Democrats did okay to meh on the domestic front. Overseas, they're fricking terrible which is why I have no plans to vote Democrat on 2016.

Bernie Sanders will go down as the greatest president since FDR.

Obama has a nice character, has confidence in himself and he's smart and witty (did I mention funny?). I like him as a person.

@jun_aka_pekto: Too much of an increase in diplomatic relations?

@sSubZerOo: "I have to say, whether you support the president or not.. He has received historic levels of opposition from the moment he has gotten into office.."

I wonder why..

Good video, better President.

The right wing hates the man and have basically been calling him a terrorist since he was elected. Have you ever seen an uprising like the Tea party started? Every right wing media source was twisting every word the man said and it was a campaign to destroy the man's character every single day. Anyone who has ever listened to Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, or Rush Limbaugh, or watched Fox News, you know what I'm talking about.

He has been very diplomatic in our foreign affairs which is driving the right wing crazy right now.

From what I see about the US getting back into relations with Cuba (a communist country), I'm not surprised.

Can you elaborate on this, please? Unless good foreign policy is just bomb the shit out of everything I don't see how Obama's administration has been terrible.

I'm not interested in more diplomatic relations. I'm more concerned about how this administration seems willing to leave fellow countrymen, who are overseas, out in the cold.

The latest episode was the evacuation of US citizens from Yemen. The Chinese and Russians cared about their citizens. They were willing to send ships into the danger zone to get their citizens out. Good thing they were around.

The US? Nope. Their reasoning was those US citizens didn't follow previous calls to evacuate. In my view, extracting and protecting fellow citizens abroad is one of the main reasons to put US forces in harm's way. Kids may act like idiots and be stubborn. But, the parents wouldn't abandon them. I certainly wouldn't leave my kids out in the cold. The whole thing plus other snafus (Benghazi, email) soured me in my regard for them.

I think the video make some excellent points. I don't necessary agree with every one of his decisions or positions but I think he is a good president. He oversaw some progressive and monumental milestones in American history. First and foremost, the first black president as the video mentioned. I didn't agree with his focus on obamacare in lieu of economical recovery, but it turned out he was right and if he waited the proposal wouldn't have went through after they lost Democrat controlled house. Gay right was another important step that he played a role in.

It's not an awful video and Obama certainly is not a bad president, although I disagree with him on the ACA. It doesn't go far enough in ensuring that people have good affordable health insurance. In fact I think it rewards the hospitals more than it rewards the people on the program. It does nothing to address the skyrocketing costs associated with hospital visits either, hospitals now know they are getting their money so they can charge whatever they want for service. When you are mandated to buy insurance managing the rising costs has to be 1st priority or else we cannot afford to insure ourselves and our families. Hopefully we don't get stuck on Obamacare and can switch over to a single or two tier insurance program like almost every other civilized nation in the world. He did lead us through a fantastic recovery that is still continuing today and he's put up with a ton of crap from Congress and still managed to get stuff done. That in and of itself is an accomplishment.

Let's see.

Between Clinton, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter etc. I'd say Obama is a shining star really.

Why are they terrible? They didn't manage to start two unfunded wars, one based on faulty intelligence with no way whatsoever to pay for them.

And he really didn't swoop in and take your guns and bibles, so I guess that's a good thing; although he still has almost two years left, so be ever vigilant for the "gubment" is always hiding in wait somewhere...

Why are they terrible? They didn't manage to start two unfunded wars based, one faulty intelligence with no way whatsoever to pay for them.

He's done a pretty good job.

There you go making an ass out of yourself by assuming again. I'm not a religious individual, never have been. So I couldn't care less about Obama "taking [MY] bibles". And to be completely honest, Obama's half ass attempts at "taking [MY] guns" have been the best things for the firearm industry since ever, so yeah, that is a good thing.

@samusbeliskner: The United States is a central right country if you want a country that is more liberal I suggest you move to one that is more liberal. The area that have exclusive liberal control are disasters.

He was getting it just from the get go into the office, before he even put forward any policy.. Say what you will about the president, but that doesn't point out the fact that the Republicans have radicalized in these past several years.. And have been basically become the party of no, even when quite centrist plans have been put forward such as the whole budget fiasco..

Not sure about removing it, but the fact of the matter remains there is a vicious cycle in this country.. Good luck getting a good job if you have been convicted of a felony in the past.. Before some one goes on and says "well they deserve it, they shouldn't have committed a crime".. Yes because closing all doors to them, thus leading them to a greater chance of repeated offense and creating a even greater burden on society is a better option.

[citation needed]

.... This implies all felons are violent offenders that will murder you.. Over 50% of the prison population consists of non violent drug offenders alone.... I say it should be the discretion of the government.. After all I don't see how getting a position as a manager at a restaurant for instance should be stopped because you have a drug felony on your record from 15 years ago..

I agree with subzero. It's a tricky situation, but once you get labelled with a criminal past it becomes almost impossible to make an honest living. These people are ordered by the courts to get a job and lead productive lives, but no one will hire them - so they regress to crime.

That's why i agree with this bipartisan bill trying to decriminalize more minor crimes such as marijuana possession, etc. We dont need our jails full of young people arrested for trivial crimes. That only hardens them and then makes it impossible for them to become productive citizens and thus they become dependent on social welfare.

I just don't see how anybody can support the ACA. I am 35 years old and have been uninsured for the last 12 years of my life. I am a hardworking, well educated person who happens to work at a job that does not provide healthcare, I have been waiting for years to get health insurance so when obama announced his plan to change things up I was beyond excited to finally get a chance to get an affordable health care plan.

However, what is currently available is horrible, and if you do not think it is horrible you are either getting your plan subsidized(I make too much money to be subsidized, and I make under 45000 a year), or you are just touting its praises because you are a blind liberal fool.

The lowest level plan is around $350 a month for me, much cheaper than private plans that go for $700, but still out of my budget. Even if it was in my budget their is a $10,000 deductible which is absolutely ludicrous and makes the plan completely worthless for me, barring an extremely major tragedy. I can't go to the doctor when I get sick, I can't go to check on sports injuries, I can't go to get allergy medication, I can't go for anything that the average person does when they need to go to the doctor.

The ACA is horrible, and anyone singing it as an achievement of Obama needs to educate themselves on how bad of a solution this plan is.

Uh, yeah, no. The country is becoming more liberal every day. You claim that areas under liberal control are disasters? Gee, that's strange. Red states are the most financially dependent on government, are the poorest, have the worse economies, and are the most gun violent. Go figure...

1. Obama has never attempted to take anyone's guns. That's just stupid.

2. I never claimed you were religious.

3. We have seen a small uptick in sales the first quarter of this year, but nothing close to covering last year's losses and overall Firearms industry sales are down over a three year period Colt is bankrupt. S&W is down 35% in sales over a three year period. Yes, a bunch of irrationally paranoid racists ran out a bought a few guns after a black man was elected president, but only really needs to do a simple web search for something like "gun sales down" to see the truth.

He is personable, optimistic, and intelligent. I do not agree with every action he has taken, but he certainly has good intentions and (also important!) has the right idea about the modern United States.

1)Hence the quote.

2)Yet you just happened to mention the bible out of nowhere.

3)Nope you are just plain wrong on that account. Colt is bankrupt because they haven't made a single notable firearm since the 60s and the fact that everyone and their mothers are getting into the AR business. Pretty much all of the articles you find about gun sales being down is actually just the market normalizing after the 2013 spike. If you look at the overall trend, Obama is responsible for an estimated 9 billion boost to the gun industry (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/03/11/barack-obama-may-have-been-at-least-a-9-billion-boon-to-the-gun-industry-so-far/)

Also FBI data supports this: https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics/general-information/fact-sheet

Colt going out of business is largely do to a poor business model that was heavily reliant on government contracts. They ignored the civilian market after winning military contracts in the 70s and 80s and then found themselves behind everyone else once the government contracts dried up. Colt has been on the verge of going out of business for a long time and was only temporarily saved from bankruptcy by the uptick in military spending after 9/11. Honestly, Colt's fate was sealed in the 1980s when Glock stole the law enforcement market and Beretta won the military sidearm contract. Even with people buying AR-15s nobody is buying Colt AR-15s.

Yeah it's been long time in the making. I think it's mostly the lack of original offerings. Colt is still counting on 1911s and ARs, products which anyone and mostly everyone make. Losing the M16 and M4 contract to FNH certainly didn't help.

I'm will LJS on this. I don't think he deserves the hate but he's nothing phenomenal in my opinion.

Another corporate "taker" then?

@bmanva said:

@samusbeliskner said:

@bmanva said:

@samusbeliskner said:

@bmanva said:

I think the video make some excellent points. I don't necessary agree with every one of his decisions or positions but I think he is a good president. He oversaw some progressive and monumental milestones in American history. First and foremost, the first black president as the video mentioned. I didn't agree with his focus on obamacare in lieu of economical recovery, but it turned out he was right and if he waited the proposal wouldn't have went through after they lost Democrat controlled house. Gay right was another important step that he played a role in.

And he really didn't swoop in and take your guns and bibles, so I guess that's a good thing; although he still has almost two years left, so be ever vigilant for the "gubment" is always hiding in wait somewhere...

There you go making an ass out of yourself by assuming again. I'm not a religious individual, never have been. So I couldn't care less about Obama "taking [MY] bibles". And to be completely honest, Obama's half ass attempts at "taking [MY] guns" have been the best things for the firearm industry since ever, so yeah, that is a good thing.

1. Obama has never attempted to take anyone's guns. That's just stupid.

2. I never claimed you were religious.

3. We have seen a small uptick in sales the first quarter of this year, but nothing close to covering last year's losses and overall Firearms industry sales are down over a three year period Colt is bankrupt. S&W is down 35% in sales over a three year period. Yes, a bunch of irrationally paranoid racists ran out a bought a few guns after a black man was elected president, but only really needs to do a simple web search for something like "gun sales down" to see the truth.

1)Hence the quote.

2)Yet you just happened to mention the bible out of nowhere.

3)Nope you are just plain wrong on that account. Colt is bankrupt because they haven't made a single notable firearm since the 60s and the fact that everyone and their mothers are getting into the AR business. Pretty much all of the articles you find about gun sales being down is actually just the market normalizing after the 2013 spike. If you look at the overall trend, Obama is responsible for an estimated 9 billion boost to the gun industry (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/03/11/barack-obama-may-have-been-at-least-a-9-billion-boon-to-the-gun-industry-so-far/)

Also FBI data supports this: https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics/general-information/fact-sheet

Gun ownership is at all-time lows. Time to accept it. The government is buying up all the ammunition.