Will Obama get a second term?

[Zyn]

Bush gets re-elected.

[Dr. Crawford]

well, no matter who won in the past election, they still had to clean up a lot of what bush left behind. that being said, i still don't believe obama has done enough positive change to get continued support for the next election. but that also comes down to who the republican candidate may be. so at this point its hard to say, but im leaning towards no - he won't get reelected

[Kommie]

The fate of the infidel is inevitable, such decisions do not matter.

[Fenris Wolf]

well, no matter who won in the past election, they still had to clean up a lot of what bush left behind. that being said, i still don't believe obama has done enough positive change to get continued support for the next election. but that also comes down to who the republican candidate may be. so at this point its hard to say, but im leaning towards no - he won't get reelected

Pretty much what I wanted to say.

[Burris]

well, no matter who won in the past election, they still had to clean up a lot of what bush left behind. that being said, i still don't believe obama has done enough positive change to get continued support for the next election. but that also comes down to who the republican candidate may be. so at this point its hard to say, but im leaning towards no - he won't get reelected

Eventually has to stop blaming bush and realise he's created a massive deficit of his own on pet projects that most americans really don't care about, while remaining indecisive and more concerned about pullout dates than real progress in the mission in Afghanistan.

Remember he furthered the "throw money at it" problem with the economy that bush started. IMO, increased it too.

[straybullet]

Eventually has to stop blaming bush and realise he's created a massive deficit of his own on pet projects that most americans really don't care about, while remaining indecisive and more concerned about pullout dates than real progress in the mission in Afghanistan.

Remember he furthered the "throw money at it" problem with the economy that bush started. IMO, increased it too.

This is pretty shortsighted. Conflating long term national deficit with the stimulus package and *unemployment benefits is a mistake a lot of people are making. Bailout money continues to be paid back, and most economists AFAIK think that it was necessary and worked (I've heard numerous times that it actually wasn't enough).

The recovery I think has been hampered by the European crisis, along with the oil spill, along with recent poor reports in a number of sectors (jobless rates, housing market, individual corporate earnings reports) that has created a sense of despair about the economy. A lot of companies are sitting on tons of capital, but are holding off expansion in case there is another shock to the economy. None of this is really within the president's powers to control.

What "pet projects" are you referring to? I can't speak much to his policy on Afghanistan, or Iraq for that matter. Could you explain what his stance is, and what you would do differently (if possible)?

I also think if you're blaming the president for the state of the nation, you should pretty much blame all of Washington. The Democrats seem to have their thumbs up their asses and don't have the balls to take the offense, while the Republicans are so caught up catering to the loud, angry Tea Party fringe that common sense traditional conservatives (a la David Frum) are getting shitcanned for being too liberal.

[Faceman]

Bush did start some unfinished and every administration will leave some remnants behind, but Clinton was supposedly to blame for the real estate bust. So they say at least. The policies he initiated during his term finally overflowed and created a mess.

Then there is the rumor that all of this was planned to happen to make certain parties rich during the mess.

Who knows what to believe. You never know exactly what goes on unless you live it. We live our normal lives and listen to what is fed to us. The full truth never is known. I'm not building a conspiracy case here but as I get older and see that just about every person in power is the same and looks out for their powerful friends it just makes you so disenchanted with the whole process. One thing you do notice is that one party is about private power and the other is similar to communism.

[Zao]

I don't know exactly what to predict, but I will say that excitement over Obama has dwindled from all but the most rabid fans. About the time of the election, I knew a number of people who he swayed over to his side after fence-sitting for months. None of them are particularly enthused about him anymore. Personally, I think a vastly large number of Americans are going to vote for whoever else makes it into the running this next go-round, purely to be done with Obama.

All I know is that it would be nice to have a sensible third option that isn't the TEA party. Those people scare me. Both the Democrats and the Republicans are full of shit. Also, why the fuck am I hearing about Sarah Palin all the time? All over the goddamn news, tabloids at the supermarket checkout line. The name "Bristol" started pinging my radar a few weeks back. I get the feeling they're trying to groom Sarah Palin for the next president. Now that we've had a black man in office, a woman is next. Hillary is... not a viable option in my mind. I really don't want Palin for president.

[straybullet]

Can people who don't like what Obama's been doing please give me a few concrete examples? I'd like to understand what for and why he's responsible. I'm no rabid fan, and there have been a number of mistakes, but I think the President's actually doing as good a job as anyone could.

Also, I don't think it's particularly the fault of Republicans or Democrats, but the system that's messed up, for a lot of reasons. Single-issue/undereducated/party-adherent voters that don't try to understand all the issues, that demonize the other side of whatever argument they're on. Horse-race, soundbite, 24/7 media that's more concerned with strategy, drama and breaking news than talking about issues. Politicians worried about re-election, not talking to each other, compromise being seen as weakness. People thinking the President can solve everything. People thinking the President is to blame for everything.

Seriously, I just wish that people would stop protesting and start talking.

[President Shrub]

I liked when Obama authorized the Navy SEALs to snipe the Somalian pirates. Triple headshots. That was cool.