No I’m not kidding, I’m completely serious. Name another president who came into power with nearly every bank and scores of major U.S. corporations facing bankruptcy. Name another president who walked into a housing market that had 1 in 4 American mortgage holders underwater and literally millions losing their homes in foreclosure.
Name another president who walked in to month after month of over 500K job losses. Name another president who walked in to two unpaid for ground wars that were poorly run and creating chaos in our image across the world. Name another president who had to deal with the worst oil spill in U.S, history and a crashing stock market.
Name another president that had to deal with a 24-hour news network that spins, slants or lies about every single thing he says. Name another president who had to deal with an angry tea party that organized the week he stepped into power. Name another president who is leading a House that routinely brags about shutting down the government and defaulting on the nation’s debt.
Name another president who has been accused of being Un-American, a terrorist a socialist and Marxist on national TV. Name another president with a kazillion “new” web-sites and blogs that spin lies and embellish everything he says.
Name another president who has to deal with dozens of manufactured and organic uprisings in the Middle East with tyrants and former allies murdering their own people.
Name another president who had all of those events happening simultaneously during his first two years in office.
And still, In the face of all of this, he has passed, compromised or have “in the works” 78% of the 500 promises he made according to Politifact.com. He has only broken 11% of his promises but if you read the 44 of them carefully, he tried to get most of them passed as well.
When one honestly considers the difficulties he’s had to manage over the past 2.5 years, you have to admire this great president. He gets screamed at daily from the left, accused and lied upon from the right and completely stonewalled by congress. He gets blamed for everything and credited for nothing but he keeps fighting to improve the lives of average Americans.
Obama is one of the greatest presidents of all time because of his intellect, temperament and heart. He’s a pragmatist that focuses on the possible and is willing to give up the best scenarios to get 80% of what he wants done. Hillary Clinton didn’t deliver a Public Option nor did she help Americans get insurance with pre-existing conditions. She failed because she tried to operate in a vacuum and impose her will on the congress—it never works.
Obama fixed the banks, nearly doubled the value of the market and is winding down both wars. While unemployment is still high, he still has managed to get 17 straight months of modest private sector job growth. He has stopped the oil leak in the Gulf and is repaying claimants for their losses. He has reversed Clinton’s DADT policy and saved GM. He captured and killed America’s greatest enemy which Bush, Cheney nor Clinton ever done.
Think about this for a second, conservatives honestly believe Reagan was one of the greatest presidents of all time. Do you believe Obama is already better than Reagan?
What Obama needs most is a second term so he can free himself from the grind of campaigning and raising money to share more of his heart. Obama is a great president because of his pure heart—a heart that is sometimes clouded because of exterior forces or political expediency. But it’s still there.
That community organizer who worked with the churches; that young senator who fought for the family farmers is still there. That guy who fought for better education and who truly wants all Americans to have good health is still there. That guy who has been beaten and battered by so many manufactured and real events is still standing.
He remains a thoughtful, effective and pragmatic leader with a pure heart.
Yes, he’s already one of America’s greatest presidents and we need to give him the chance to finish what he started.
[Updated] I had to jump back in to speak about FDR because so many of you mentioned him. I believe he is the absolute "Greatest" progressive president--ever.
But folks, he served 12 years--that's right, 12 years with up to 75 "real" democrats in the Senate and up to 333 in the House.
His term occurred during America's most difficult economic times which is confirmed by these numbers:
"The U.S. economy grew rapidly during Roosevelt's term.[87] However, coming out of the depression, this growth was accompanied by continuing high levels of unemployment; as the median joblessness rate during the New Deal was 17.2%. Throughout his entire term, including the war years, average unemployment was 13%.[88][89] Total employment during Roosevelt's term expanded by 18.31 million jobs, with an average annual increase in jobs during his administration of 5.3%.[90]"
That's right, the average unemployment was 13% during his term.
Why?
Because he "inherited" the worst economy in U.S. history. Well guess what; Obama's inheritance was a close second.
FDR was a womanizer who cheated with his secretary and his Internment Camps made Gitmo look like a pre-school.
I've read your Obama complaints carefully and I haven't seen the actual policy disagreements that have led to so much progressive disappointment.
Obama didn't close Gitmo "yet" and he didn't deliver the public option that he never promised. However, he "is" giving us 78% of what he promised and frankly, I can't ask for much more than that--in two years.
After reading the posts of those who are disappointed with him, you have solidified my support of him even more. Although he's only been in power a little over two years, he really is one of our greatest presidents.