Quote:
Originally Posted by timg1414
I dont think he has lived up to my expectations but I also did not envision the economy tanking as bad as it did. I think he has lost a ton of political capital with the healthcare issue. I think this should have been a second term bill or at least a late first term type of bill. He is going to force through a bill that a lot of people dont like and its extremely expensive. He has wasted a lot of time on this issue and lost whatever minimal support he had across the aisle and from million Americans.
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This is the issue. Most of the criticism simply amounts to slamming the Pres. who happens to be in office during a time of a bad economy. It's the worse possible situation for any President. Everyone hates the Pres. during a bad economy. Reagan inherited a bad economy and everyone hated him his first couple years. His approval ratings were about where Obama's are, or lower.
I think the stimulus was needed. I don't like that it puts us more in debt, but I agree that was the way to go. I am in full support of paying off the debt, and yes, he'll have to raise taxes. Definitely get rid of the Bush tax cuts which are abig reason we are in this mess to begin with. I would have tweaked the stimulus a little differently, like put more money into infrastructure, and not given any tax breaks. (I don't think that giving me an extra 15 bucks a paycheck, will do anything to help me) I want employment to go back up, and I think it will soon, but Obama and every economist has said over and over again, that employment is always the last thing to improve. I think the economy is a terrible thing right now, but I just wonder how
any President would have handled it, and whether
anyone would be happier with it.
I disagree that Obama should have waited to pass healthcare reform. If he is losing political capital, it's because it's taking too long. But, that isn't his fault. Blame Congress for that. If he would have put it off until later, he would have lost twice as much support than he's supposedly losing now. He was elected on healthcare reform. If people didn't want it, they wouldn't have voted for him. It makes no sense to say that he losing support on it. He has the same amount of support he's always had. Why should Obama put off his primary agenda, simply because we perceive that some moderate voters who voted for him are now changing their mind about whether they want health care reform? Polls go up and down depending on a lot of factors. Obama is about health care reform. If people didn't know that, then they were ill informed. The economy is distracting people, but he would never be able to pass healthcare reform if he waited until later. I wouldn't support Obama nearly as much if he would have wimped out and put it off. And from a political, strategic point of view, it makes no sense for him to put it off.