Date: January 15th, 2009 12:30 PM Author: Carnelian ratface
I don't know why, but lately I've been feeling sorry for the guy. Sure I disagree with most of his policies, and his two terms have been pretty terrible, but he just seems like a good guy who was clearly not ready to be POTUS. It seems like he was led astray early on by shitty advisers who were actually pretty awful people (Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove), and yes it is fault for appointing these guys, but when 9/11 hit he looked to them and they pointed him in the wrong direction. For some reason this makes me feel bad for him. The allegations of him being an evil person seem extreme.
Date: January 15th, 2009 12:36 PM Author: unhinged opaque factory reset button coffee pot
One thing to say in his defense- that dude never flipped on anything and didnt give a flying fuck about polls or politicking. I respect that. I honestly believe he did what he thought was right and never did anything for the sake of public approval (which PWN3D the shit out of his own party over time).
Date: January 15th, 2009 12:38 PM Author: Carnelian ratface
Depends on the context too, though, because he clearly waited too long to change strategy in Iraq, and it wasn't even debatable like some of his positions (abortion, etc)
Date: January 15th, 2009 12:54 PM Author: unhinged opaque factory reset button coffee pot
Right, that is the obvious price of sticking to your guns. However, BHO has already flip flopped on twice as much stuff over the course of his campaign and transition than Bush did in 8 yrs.
Date: January 15th, 2009 1:06 PM Author: Carnelian ratface
I wouldn't vote for a President like Romney who changes his position on many issues depending on which election he's running in. I wouldn't have any idea what I was voting for, and once in office, I should (ideally) pretty much get what I expected
Date: January 15th, 2009 1:16 PM Author: unhinged opaque factory reset button coffee pot
I would say Kerry's defeat was decisive. I would also argue that Obama might have had trouble if the GOP ran a team that had half a shot of winning. McCain/Palin would have been a better double play combination that Pres/VP.
Date: January 15th, 2009 12:59 PM Author: balding antidepressant drug
The only thing that makes me feel really badly for him are the positions where he was dead right but everyone opposed him just because they wanted to: Dubai ports deal, Social Security privatization, immigration reform. He pleased nobody when trying to broker a third way. And it failed miserably. And it was sad.
Date: January 15th, 2009 1:01 PM Author: Carnelian ratface
Agree. He opened up his second term by trying to tackle very difficult issues that nobody else wants to touch (immigration and SS), and he ruined almost his whole second term because of it
Date: January 15th, 2009 12:40 PM Author: amethyst lay roommate
Ed Gein thought making lampshades out of corpse skin was a good idea. He didn't give a flying fuck about the "law" or public opinion of him (which PWND him over time).
Date: January 15th, 2009 12:57 PM Author: Cracking incel
He thinks his biggest mistake in his 2 terms was putting up a "mission accomplished" too early. i don't think he's evil, but he doesn't deserve our pity or empathy. he's an idiot; he knows he's an idiot; and he doesn't even care.
Date: January 15th, 2009 1:02 PM Author: Carnelian ratface
As someone else mentioned in the other thread, he also should get credit for making 2 pretty good appointments to SCOTUS (minus the harriet miers fiasco)
Date: January 15th, 2009 1:47 PM Author: Carnelian ratface
"Bush acknowledged “disappointments,” citing the mistreatment of prisoners at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, and the discovery that Iraq didn’t have the weapons of mass destruction that provided a rationale for the Iraq war."
Date: January 15th, 2009 1:49 PM Author: Histrionic meetinghouse
"Yeah I brutally raped your mother, made your sister watch, then carved my name in her forehead; but what I really regret is not wiping my feet before entering the house."
Date: January 15th, 2009 1:56 PM Author: Supple talking really tough guy
Honestly, there's not much he could say. He's had years and hasn't changed a thing, including his policies on torture.
But I'd want him to start by admitting flat out that the war was a mistake and that he was aware there was little evidence of weapons of mass destruction when he made the decision to invade.
Date: January 15th, 2009 1:55 PM Author: Histrionic meetinghouse
His language was interesting on the Iraq point.
His demeanour suggested that he was upset about the entire thing, but his exact language was essentially "disappointed we didn't find nukes". Two entirely different things. The second isn't a regret at all.