Can President Obama blame not closing Guantanamo on Republican obstruction?
Indirectly. Although support for "closing Guantanamo" was moderate, support for any actual plan to close it is lower. (Welcome to America, where "cutting the deficit" is good but "shuttering programs with nontrivial budgets" is bad.) Some Democratic politicians start to waffle when you talk about putting the terrorists in their state.At the time Obama took office, a poll showed 53% in favor of closing Guanatanamo. That's a majority, but far from an overwhelming one. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp... And as the torture allegations faded, support dropped further:http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn... Nor is it high on anybody's priority list.http://www.gallup.com/poll/15302... If it was subject only to ordinary 50%+1 majority rules, Obama might well be able to get Democrats to do it. But with the filibuster, it's a complete non-starter; it's not worth the arm-twisting it would take because it would fail. There is no thing that Obama can propose on any subject that Republicans will permit to pass, even if it's their own idea. Today, with fewer horror stories coming out of Guantanamo, it's still a black eye for America, but not the kind of continuous human rights issue that shows up on the daily radar.So Republican obstructionism can be said to bear indirect blame. The fact is that since the 2010 elections, nothing has been done in Congress, big or small. The only bills that have actually gotten passed are the ones that absolutely must be done, routine reauthorizations and budget renewals. At this point, even if we were to wipe that slate clean, support for closing Guantanamo has dropped to the point where it still wouldn't be top priority. Obama could conceivably have struck while the iron was hot, but he seems a deliberate kind of guy, one who prefers to find a compromise. He missed his chance, and given that the Congress is now permanently gridlocked, the Guantanamo prisoners should get comfortable.
I think that President Obama raised the national debt by $9.3 trillion. How can anyone say he did a good job as president?
There are several things one has to remember when discussing the increased debt from FY “09 to FY ’17.On September 30, 2008 (last day of FY 08) the national debt was at 9.2 trillion dollars. Let’s remember this was 112 days prior to Obama taking office. During those 112 days America was in the middle of the 2nd largest economic collapse in US history. On January 21st 2009 the US national debt was at $10.6 trillion dollars. That’s an addition of $1.4 trillion that many on the right are charging to President Obama that was incurred before he even took office.Between Jan. 21, 2009 and the end of FY 10 (21 months) there was $3.9 trillion added to the debt which were expenses for expenses incurred before Obama took office. Including the actual cost of the two theater war which began in the fall of 2001 that Bush II had kept “off book” that Obama placed ON the books. Plus the costs of bank and corporate bailouts due to the economic collapse incurred during the previous administration.Federal dollars given to states to help alleviate unemployment benefits and well as the federal SNAP program, due to the millions of jobs lost during the economic collapse.Medicare cost mainly attributed to an aging population have attributed to $1.1 trillion in the national debt since FY ’09.Following FY ’11 the national debt began growing at a slower rate. This was due to 3 items. 1) Loan paybacks from GM and Chrysler, as well as an Energy department project investing in renewable energy manufacturing. (yes this was the program which began in 2005 under the GWB admin and remains today. This is the same program which received guff for the Solyandra bankruptcy. However, what many have not heard is that beginning in 2012 this program for the first time ever made a profit from repayment of loans given out during FY 2009/10.Beginning in 2013 the debt began growing at an even slower rate when the Unemployment rate dropped at a faster rate and more tax dollars came in.In FY 2016 the national debt grew $546 billion dollars. The lowest growth in the debt since FY 2005. In FY 2017 the debt grew $644 billion, an increase in the growth rate of nearly $100 billion. FY 2017 was the first year the debt growth rate grew from the previous year for the first time since FY 2012.The largest contributor of the national debt since FY ’05 has been decreased tax revenue following the tax cuts enacted in 2003.
Who do you think will win the 2012 American presidential election? (and why)?
In my opinion i hope Romney wins. here's why: -I think America is very separated as a nation right now -whether you're pro gay marriage, pro life, or pro choice i really don't think this is relatively important in the next election because i personally believe we should be working to making America become debt free and focused on fixing the economy...plus no social issue is going to be passed in congress with it being so mixed opinionated. -If you like obamacare or not...i believe it should definitely should have not been passed, at least not at this time, with it adding tons of more debt in a economic crisis....plus Obama clearly lied to the American people saying it would not be a tax-when that was the only reason it was in fact deemed constitutional. -I want a president that will at least try to fix the damn economy...i mean all obama has done is add more and more and more debt to America....Now is not the time to try to advocate a healthcare law that half the population is against and adds debt. -In my opinion Obama is a great talker, but to me i feel like all he does is straight up lie to the American people and deceives them ... I feel like he'll say anything to get re-elected (not that Romney won't either) -Overall, American needs a president that is focused on fixing the economy. We don't need to be debating social issues or putting in a new healthcare system, rather coming up with new solutions to fixing the economy. Obama has failed in every aspect in fixing the economy...As i see it, Romney is a successful businessman and therefore will at least have a better shot at fixing the economy.
Why do Canadians like President Obama?
That is an economic issue. They haven't brought up God in legislation. You might want to do a little research, Bush tried to regulate Frannie and Freddie, but the Democrats stopped him. And the banking is Bush's fault? Carter made banks lower their loan requirements, because they believed everyone has the "right" to own a home, whether they can afford it or not. Tax breaks help stimulate the economy, but only if SPENDING does not surpass the amount taken in. That's basic economics. Have you ever gotten a job from a poor person? I haven't. Many CEO's are telling Obama his economic policies are destroying America. Even Steve Jobs told Obama that. You mean the super rich and Wall Street members who gave tons of money to Obama? Like George Soros? Or how about Michael Moore? Their kind? Hate to tell you, but the rich mostly support liberals. If Obama is all for supporting the "poor." Why doesn't he allow homeless people to live in his multimillion dollar Martha's Vineyard home that he's
Why do you all hate obama so freaking much?
Hello Justin. Great question. The truth is that (unfortunately) Yahoo Answers has turned into a Republican propaganda site. You will notice that the majority of the questions in the politics section are anti-Obama, anti- Liberal and completely unbalanced. I hate to say it, but we are fighting an uphill battle here. I've personally had DOZENS of questions removed (questions that were fair and followed the Terms Of Use Agreement) just because they made a point that agreed with a liberal philosophy. At the same time, while providing fair and truthful answers to republican questions (like "Why did we elect a Muslim President?) my answers have been deleted. This answer will probably be "trolled" and deleted as well. On the other hand, I've read answers from people saying they wanted to kill Obama (which is even illegal) and their answers not only remain on the site, but receive a higher proportion of "Thumbs Up" to "Thumbs Down". It's too bad, because Y!A can be really fun and informative. Unfortunately many will use it as a platform to push their beliefs and promote hatred towards others.
Has there ever been a President Worse than Obama?
Democrats give this Guy a pass at every thing he does. More Taxes...No Problem, Kill Terrorists with out a Civilian Trial...Whoopee.....Cripple Domestic Energy Production in the name of better relations with China....Go Ahead.....Run a record deficit while promoting Unconstitutional Government Bills that scare employers away from hiring.....Bush is to Blame....after all he had 4% Unemployment that makes Obama's 10% Unemployment look even worse than it should be.
Whom do Republicans hate more, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama?
Obama now, Hillary if she is elected the next president. Seriously, though, could you REALLY stomach looking into the hang-dog droopy-eyed phizog of Ted Cruz for the next 4 years? Talk about "egotistical"? How could any president work with an opposition that vowed to defeat him at every turn? "On Jan. 27, 2009, House Republican leader John Boehner opened his weekly conference meeting with an announcement: Obama would make his first visit to the Capitol around noon, to meet exclusively with Republicans about his economic-recovery plan. 'We’re looking forward to the President’s visit,' Boehner said."The niceties ended there, as Boehner turned to the $815 billion stimulus bill that House Democrats had just unveiled. Boehner complained that it would spend too much, too late, on too many Democratic goodies. He urged his members to trash it on cable, on YouTube, on the House floor: 'It’s another run-of-the-mill, undisciplined, cumbersome, wasteful Washington spending bill … I hope everyone here will join me in voting no!' "“It was stunning that we’d set this up and, before hearing from the President, they’d say they were going to oppose this,” Axelrod says. “Our feeling was, we were dealing with a potential disaster of epic proportions that demanded cooperation. If anything was a signal of what the next two years would be like, it was that.” "Vice President Biden told me that during the transition, he was warned not to expect any bipartisan cooperation on major votes. 'I spoke to seven different Republican Senators who said, "Joe, I’m not going to be able to help you on anything," ' "The Party of No: New Details on the GOP Plot to Obstruct Obama | TIME.comNo sir, the hand was extended MULTIPLE times by the Obama administration, but the Republican leadership had a priori conspired to obstruct everything the Obama administration tried to do, even when/if it was beneficial to the country and to the Republicans themselves to do so. Eight more years of Hillary might scare you to death, and I'm not too thrilled about it either. But ANY more years of the Republican status quo scares the living hell out of me!