Do You Regret voting for Obama?

One of biggest things he campaigned on was healthcare, and it is an EPIC failure. The democratic party is a FAILURE. They had tremendous support and they squandered it.

I think a two party system is not good. We need more options.

 

Independent... No regret... Palin.

 

I wonder what kind of cultural shift or unaddressed issues would create another viable party. I guess the 1820s Jacksonian Democrats arose because the Federal Government was still a little too much like the Founding Fathers: insular and upper class. And Republicans arose in the 1850s because Industrialism and expansion made slavery irrelevant to anyone outside of the South, and they wanted a sniff o' that sweet, spicy, non-union labor.

The Depression, World War II, batting cleanup for the British Empire made massive government budget a neccessity for both parties. Current times notwithstanding, are we rich enough, and our (white, Christian) allies strong enough, that we can do away with entitlements and mind-numbing defense spending? Which gerrymandered black liberal Congressmen would risk his six-figure salary opposing social programs? Which 6-term Republican from a working-class, under-educated white district would risk his Committee Chairmanship cut back on military salaries, troop-levels or defense spending, or hike taxes to actually cover the tab? When will the gays, sluts and Jesus freaks finally be happy enough to just fight their battles in local government?

 

I didn't vote for him, so I can't regret voting for him. I think Obama may have been disappointing for his voters, but I'm not sure how they believe McCain would be a better choice, and I voted for him.

 

Independent who voted for Obama. I don't regret because I didn't want to take the chance of having Palin in the oval office.

 

It really was not that insane when you think about it. McCain was not considered a particularly conservative Republican and he was not sure he was gonna get the votes from his base, he chose her to do that for him. And honestly, I think both Palin and Biden would make terrible presidents. Not voting for a prez based on their VP is kinda silly imo.

 

Well, I was cautious. I knew Obama would represent a change, which we desperately needed, but at the same time I had my concerns about his inexperience. But everybody thought I as a democrat supporter was crazy for saying stuff against Obama's presidency.

 

useless president if he doesn't bring back AD.

 

It's hard to regret voting for him because there isn't a lot of things he's done that were unexpected. And even if you were hoping for more successes from him, I'm not sure you could expect anything better from the other candidates. Personally, I'm still very happy I voted for him.

Ahh yeah, love me some Arrested Development.

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Silly huh? With an old guy like McCain as president? Nothing silly about it. And when you look at the very negative influence Dick Cheney had on the Bush administration, anybody that DIDN'T consider the V.P. choice last year when voting was short-sighted.

If you felt this way in 1980, 1988, 1992 or even 2000, I could understand it.

 

Is it a coincidence that the Arrested Development movie is scheduled to come out during Obama's first term? I think not.

 

Maybe if you added an option for "Republican who would never have voted for the guy who wants the terrorists to win and still wouldn't vote for that socialist/fascist/Muslim sleeper agent now" you might get a result more in line with your expectations.

As it is, you exclude everybody who didn't vote for him. Logically that that would pretty much make up the core group that disapprove of him today.

I mean, I hate to get in the way of your "The BBS is a liberal cesspool" screed, but it seems logical.

 

Private bbs polls are more useless than public.

 

Wow. It's almost as though you have no idea what you're talking about.

 

Actually, it wasn't a comparison at all.

Of course, approval ratings and "regret about voting for him" are totally different things too.

 

No. You go ahead. From watching Fox News, I know the right has been pretty much obsessed with trying to prove his support is eroding since he was elected. It's guaranteed that every time they poll their panels, one of them will claim that X is proof of that the American public have seen the light and will vote us back into power at the midterms. I kid you not, literally a week after his inauguration, I saw Fox News trumpeting the "lame duck status" of Obama. If you look, you will find someone who will provide you with a comforting analysis.

From my perspective, he's nowhere near 25% GWB territory or 20% Truman territory. If you look at the big downward spikes between 1 and 1.5 years into their presidency for Truman, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and GWB, then Obama is doing pretty well. Even the savior of the human race, Ronald Reagan, was below 40% at this point. So at 48% - if he can maintain over 45% for the next year or so he will be doing pretty well historically.

If he goes below 35% that is where you can usually see presidents that are in big trouble. That was where Truman, Nixon, Carter, Bush I and Bush II all had their big cratering.

Obama's 48% is way above historical average. The only president who did better were Eisenhower, and Kennedy (who probably would have fared much worse if he hadn't been assassinated when he was).

 

Although I voted Republican, I have to admit that Obama isn't doing too bad of a job, considering the ridiculous economic and security tasks presented to him. (Getting that stimulus bill passed through a polarized Congress was really quite impressive, in my opinion)

And besides, Obama fits the bill (pun, get it?) for good photoshopping!

Spoiler