Why didn't Obama repeal the Patriot Act when he had the chance?
You will notice he used the words "Carefully CRAFTED" proposal. Words mean things and he is also a very clever man to not vote against it in such a volatile climate. These are Terrorists Pal, not daughter Judy from the Jetson's living down the street, people who want you GONE! The Patriot act has absolutely NOTHING to do with the invasion of Privacy, it has to do with listening in on KNOWN TERRORISTS plans who are making arrangements to carry out those plans. You folks try to muddy the waters by trying to call it something it is not to play Politics and gain support from the Muslims and Middle Eastern immigrants,as to call to arms because of the terrible Conservative Racists trying to invoke on your Rights as United States citizens. I am surprised you folks don't really think that your lives are in Danger if we do not know who is about to come to dinner. Why was it important we thwarted another attempt of a bombing because of this technology. You really ought to count your blessings you do have people who understand these things and don't allow you to go running in the streets unattended................. Oh and ah Mr Jefferson sir, I understand your concerns here, but not that we are talking about Water Gate things that will be taking place. I know Politicians are VERMIN but I do not think Political ideology of Conservatives is that of Growing of Government, I think it is always been difficult to do when there are so many issues that are constantly being debated on and takes more people to further a cause or agenda. I will agree with your Jeffersonian take about his continual warnings about "BIG GOVERNMENT", but it does not concur with Conservative values at all. I think it is a warning from the Grave that Big Brother is and has started entering the Hearts and minds of what once was envisioned as a Great Nation, and the Liberal stance on Government being the answer was Jefferson's real fear to be realized...................
How did Obama get you to support the Patriot Act, Bailout, and Telecom Immunity for Spying?
I don't support those things but 3 out of a whole list isn't enough to make me change my vote.
What were things President Obama got wrong?
Obama was an incrementalist in a time when people needed real change to happen. That is the principal reason why we have Trump now. A lot of people got hurt in the downturn and although the US economy has emerged from the 2007 financial meltdown thanks to Obama, a lot of Americans did not; so, now we have Trump.The excuse that there was a Republican Congress most of the time has some truth to it but Obama failed completely to provide anything visionary for the future. He never got up in front of the American people and articulated what can be done only what he may be allowed to do.For example, Obama’s vision of healthcare was to implement an idea proposed by the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation and first implemented by a Republican Governor Mitt Romney. This was the ACA and basically tries to fix the stupidest healthcare system in the world with nothing more than the equivalent of duct tape. It would only prolong the pain. Obama never talked about the real shortcomings of the private health insurance system. He failed to mention that the US has among the worst patient outcomes with by far the highest patient costs.We never got any closure on the torture and renditions that happened during the Bush administration. The wars were continued.The Obama administration supported giving radical Muslim sects weapons if they were against Assad resulting in an even worse problem in Syria and Iraq.College Students went into deeper and deeper debt during Obama’s time without Obama articulating a clear vision of what should be done about College tuition,Obama waited too long to get rid of the nationwide testing required by the Bush era No Child Left Behind initiative. The effectiveness of K-12 education declined during the Obama years. There was no effective leadership there either.Obama failed to speak boldly about climate change. He failed to call it what it really is, an existential threat to humanity.Obama failed to provide an effective vision of Space exploration.The forces that caused the original financial meltdown in 2007 remain in place. No bankers were punished. The worlds economy is completely dependent on the quantitative easing. The Fed still owns trillions of dollars worth of bad assets on its balance sheet that it cannot get rid of. Basically there is no reason 2007 won’t happen again only this next time it will be worse.
Politics: Do you feel safer now under President Obama or previously under President Bush?
Much safer. Personally... I didn't feel safe on September 11, 2001, when a bunch of terrorist activities took place about 100 miles north and 100 miles south of where I live. That happened, at least in part, because of the hubris of the Bush Administration in ignoring basically everything the Clinton Administration had told them about US security threats. Ok, in retrospect, no reason for someone in rural South Jersey to be worried, though I don't live far from a nuclear reactor that would have been a possible target in a much larger attack. And while it was happening, no one had a clue about the extent of the attacks, or even really what was going on. Fear and the unknown are two sides of the same coin. In the bigger picture, I feel more secure now because President Obama isn't a hot-head and has the intellectual ability to both make cool-headed decisions and evaluate input from multiple experts. Under President Bush, while the President himself did listen to people, his inner circle was small, limited, and composed of people with their own agenda, who decided on thing before they knew the facts. Even more personally concerning was the economic collapse of 2007-2009. President Bush and his people were basically running around in full panic mode, not really understanding (again) what had happened or what to do about it. President Obama got into office and, against much opposition and painful compromise, did enough to stave off a devastating Depression. More US citizens would have died in the Depression than died in New York, Washington, Iraq, and Afghanistan combined, if history is even a slight indicator.