I fee ya. 
1 Like
He did a great job, however, it did take him time to come up to speed. Imagine what could have been accomplished if the 2nd term Obama was around for the 1st term…
Agree. I also think he did a great job, and will be judged as among the greatest presidents.
Only Lincoln and FDR had entered the White House facing as much of a wall-to-wall crisis as President Obama.
I pulled back rhetorically because I don’t want to argue with people who will bring up things to nitpick. You know, how the Democrats lost Congress and state seats during his tenure, how he didn’t “fight” for a more robust ACA, how he didn’t jail the bankers and carpet-bomb Wall Street, how he initially opposed same-sex marriage, etc…
6 Likes
No one is ever prepared for the presidency.
4 Likes
That is my point, however, 4 years as VP will go a long way to curing that…
Some much less than others
We like Presidents who have a clue how government works or at least have watched School of Rock
2 Likes
Hiring the right people at the start can also make the difference.
6 Likes
Maybe. We shall see.
And actually, despite some naysayers, President Obama did have accomplishments as a legislator before becoming president.
IIRC, as a state senator, he got a bill passed in the State of Illinois that requires confessions of criminal subjects to be tape-recorded in an effort to provide accountability.
As a US Senator, he worked with Republican Senator Richard Lugar to get a bill passed that got the US to round up and remove loose nuclear material from hot spots, some politically unstable, around the world.
The problematic word here is ‘imagine’. Obama was faced with real-world, real-time issues and concerns that cried out for action. IMHO, he rose to the task as few others might have, and grew rather quickly in office, all things being as unequal as they were at the start of his tenure.
3 Likes
I was going to say that Bill Clinton was decently experienced, but then I remembered he was actually four Presidents ago and who the third in the count besides Bush and Obama actually is and was like … oh 
2 Likes
Not really. Palin was hugely popular with the Republicans despite a very thin résumé. She gave good speeches and even did pretty well in her debate against Biden. She was even an elected governor! But she was woefully unqualified to do the job as President of the U.S.
Beto is basically the same phenomena for the Democrats. No relevant experience or record of major accomplishments. Sure, he looks nice and can read a speech and he says nice things. That is about it, though. His debate performance against Cruz was mediocre, and he lost the race in spite of having twice the money and in a Democratic wave election.
It is amazing to me how many people are fooled into thinking that looking nice and reading a speech well and he saying nice things qualifies somebody to be President. Both Rs and Ds are fooled, apparently.
And whenever I bring up his total lack of qualifications, nobody defends him because there is nothing to defend. He is totally unqualified for the job.
hahahaha yeah. I wondered how many people would do that. The last really competent president we had was Bill and he was more than competent - it was a golden age until they impeached him. hahaha
1 Like
To be fair 2nd term Obama wasn’t dealing with the full court press of dumpster fires 1st term Obama was dealing with.
3 Likes
In some sense, I think it would be easier to address issues with a unified government that it would be to dealing with pure partisanship a la the post 2010 midterm shelllacking…
1 Like
Except he never really got to enjoy much unified goverment due to McConnel’s obstruction in the Senate, the delays in seating Franklin, and Kennedy’s death.
Edit: Yeah, they weren’t able to obstruct as efficiently as when they captured the House, but what they did obstruct had more impact because of the ongoing crisies of the time.
2 Likes
I hope he runs, his Senate race was practically a warm up to a National Race.
2 Likes
It was a bad hand to play, but there was a filibuster proof majority in the senate…
1 Like
Wasn’t it? I hope he does too. He is a phenomenon.
And god I would love a progressive president from Texas. It would force change here.
2 Likes
Was there with the delay in seating Franklin and then Kennedy’s health problems? If memeory serves I think there was about a two month period where they were both around to overcome filibusters.
1 Like