What does Obama have to do to restore your trust in his administration?

[BurtWorm]

I put this out to everyone who is disappointed and worse with him, to any degree. What is he not doing that you think he should be doing?

[muntrv]

1. Investigate and prosecute the torturers.

[movonne]

24. Ditto...

[AnOhioan]

2. Same answer as above

And Single Payer Health Care would be nice too

[femmocrat]

3. Uh .... how about health care?

Remember when we were promised the same health care as Congress has? Or is my memory faulty? I want health care, and I want it NOW!

I will give him kudos on the stimulus money to schools, however. Because of the windfall, we will not have an increase in school taxes this year. It's the first year in about 8 years with no increase. And THANK YOU, President Obama for the extra money in my paycheck. Much appreciated.

[Stinky The Clown]

4. Use his bully pulpit to do a couple of things ........

1. Promote REAL health care reform and lay out a plan - or at least the highlights - that he supports.

2. Name names and call out by name the recalcitrant assholes in Congress - particularly in his won party - who are more repubican than Democrat

3. Stop trying to make nice with the hateful jackals across the aisle. They will never go along with us so just leave them by the roadside.



To the reflexive stone throwers - notice - no mention here of the plan I favor - single payer. That is my goal. I will take big steps toward that end as meeting my expectation of real reform.

[ColbertWatcher]

5. First off, I don't think the problem is one of distrust.

What I think he should do is: listen to the people.

We want single-payer, we want to end "Don't Ask, Don't tell," we want the torture photos released.

We want justice though the heavens may fall.

If he allowed us a seat at the table, we could tell him the things we want and he could respond to our concerns.

As it stands, it appears as though we are being ignored.

[mmonk]

6. Uphold the Constitution and the rule of law, draw down our imperial presence and have real

heath care reform, not mandated private health insurance, and veto anything that isn't.

[quiller4]

7. He hasn't lost my trust. I'd prefer to see more pressure put

upon Congress regarding EFCA

[Individualist]

8. Stop emulating DLC

[marmar]

9. Just stop trying to ride the center and appease the center-right people....

..... The same as with Clinton. Dems get into office and lock themselves in the Centrist closet. ....... I'm sick of it.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. Tackle even ONE of the major issues* in a bold and forthright way

while telling the Republicans and DLCers and the corporate media to go to hell. In other words, actually be what he pretended to be during the campaign.

*The Iraq-Afghanistan mess, as in getting the hell out of a place we never should have gone into instead of continuing a pointless war with ever-moving goalposts

Health care: Insist on single payer, appeal to the American people to flood their Congresscritters with phone calls and letters (as Reagan did whenever he wanted something), and, if necessary, "compromise" with nothing less than universal health care and a tight leash (preferably a choke collar) on the insurance companies.

Employment: Is he bold enough to pull a Roosevelt and start high-employment projects around the country?

(Realistically speaking, the second two will be difficult or impossible without the first.)

[Mark Twain Girl]

11. Civil rights. Single payer. Prosecution for crimes. No more big money for Wall St.

No more drones. Keep your damn promises (yes, I said it) about Iraq.

And enough with the $30,000 a plate fundraiser dinners already.

Even if it's just a bully pulpit, grow a pair and use it.

[Lorien]

57. +3

My dad gave thousands of dollars-a lot on his fixed income-to the Obama campaign. Last week he and his girlfriend finished watching Maddow and she said "We were so happy and excited when Obama won. Little did we know that we may have helped to elect a Republican" My dad sadly agreed, although he said that he isn't ready to completely lose hope. He's still waiting for the "checkmate" from all of these "chess moves".

Oh, and I would add to your list his promises to help curb climate change, which is an issue that could render all others null and void.

[OhioChick]

12. As another poster up-thread said "Listen to the people"

Stop the bleeding of jobs through outsourcing/offshoring. (This includes the H-1B problem) http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=451653&mesg_id=451653

Renegotiate NAFTA and other free (but not fair) trade agreements....as well as the unbalanced trade problem w/China.

Affordable health care would be nice.

Stop all the wars.

Just to name a few.... :)

[ChromeFoundry]

25. Ditto. n/t

[derby378]

13. Investigate and prosecute Bush et al for torture, lying us into Iraq, outing Valerie Plame, etc.

And while he's at it, he can get rid of the USA PATRIOT Act, the TSA, and the DHS.

[sibelian]

14. Stop sacrificing queens.

We are, after all, the most powerful pieces...

[chill_wind]

17. :-)

Welcome aboard DU.

[peacetalksforall]

15. Torture, torture, torture. Fair health. Geitner and buddy criminals Bilderberg plan for us.

glbt rights. Torture is number one - it has to be stopped now. It must be reversed, admonished, prosecuted. A plan must be drawn to establish relationships with the Moslem world. We need a national apology and we must stop the profiting from torture.

[Dappleganger]

16. Replace Geithner and Summers

with people who aren't corporate shills.

Kill DADT.

Specifically address the problems dealing with corporations taking US jobs overseas and commit to rebuilding the US manufacturing base.

Give better help to the mortgage problem (more specific and immediate, open to the unemployed and upside-down).

Take the gloves off and embrace the gay community, committing to civil rights for ALL.

Cut out the nepotism shit in some of his appointments (ambassadors).

[westerebus]

18. Water board Cheney would be a good start. n/t

[LooseWilly]

19. I'll settle for definite signs of work for issues important to the base.

DADT has to go through Congress?... fine, but impose a moratorium on dismissals until Congress "gets to it".

Don't want to release the photos? Fine... appoint a special prosecutor to investigate, and hand them off to him or her. The abuses (torture, attorney firings, politicization of the DoJ, AG refusals to enforce/serve legally issued subpoenas, etc.) of the previous administration must be investigated. It is called accountability, and it is the law... and it is the only way to ensure that future Executives at least think twice before trying to turn the Executive branch into a Monarchy.

Acknowledge that the Turkish genocide of Armenians occurred (for this I acknowledge the recent revelations coming out of Beverly Hills... 90210 I presume... for something I hadn't been paying attention to).

Some bully pulpit wrangling for EFCA. And then a little more bully pulpit wrangling (hell, how many of those union jobs are in industries that are now subsidized by the Feds/receiving "bail out money"? Why not make it a prerequisite to get bail out money?).

As for the "military tribunals", I'd be willing to settle for some serious discourse on the ramifications of declaring indefinite detainees "POW"s in order to legally detain them... essentially forever. I'd like to hear some well thought out points regarding possible ideas for the legal definition of a "cessation of hostilities" in a "war on a stateless foe"... so we can consider whether or not they are a "reasonable" framework for the possibility of holding prisoners potentially for the rest of their lives.

Some real signs of progress on some real proposals for regulating the financial industry. How about something cheap and easy?... propose that court fines for corporate malfeasance will also be imposed on executive officers whose departments can be tied to said malfeasance? Take the money of the executives, and the corporations will begin to behave differently.

Absolutely do not allow HMOs to dictate the taking of a "public option" off the Health Insurance Reform table. As long as that option is there... the real competition will improve health care. A single payer option would be nice... but that would reasonably be a next step.

There you go. A set of "compromises"... Obama is supposed to like compromises... It would be nice if the administration decided to get tough and ask the other side to compromise a bit too... instead of all compromise feeling like a one way street.

[MannyGoldstein]

20. Start Helping The Middle Class Instead of the Bankers [nt]

[rug]

21. Get out of Iraq. Carelessly, carefully, just get the fuck out.

[jwirr]

22. Universal health care with a public option.

[Wwagsthedog]

23. All of the above!

And put an end to the military-industrial and medical-industrial complexes.

[glinda]

49. All of the above PLUS go full force in Environmental changes.

[readmoreoften]

26. Have a major political awakening and change his whole strategy.

I personally never thought Obama was trustworthy (I also tend not to put much faith in politicians) but even I never thought he'd go as far as he has.

1) He needs to stop speechifying. We don't trust him anymore. He's not "a fierce advocate" for the LGBT community. He's not against the war in Iraq. He doesn't care about rights of untried prisoners and detainees. He just doesn't. Period. He needs to send a bold message about torture and he needs to release the photos.

2) He needs to stand for something and not sign his name to some struggle other people worked for, then undermine it behind their backs or sit idly by doing nothing. A few union appointees don't mean shit when you give money to banks to steamroll EFCA and then don't even chastise them about it. Because he stands for nothing, he is a tool of the multinational rich.

3) He needs to renounce what he's doing and take another course. He needs to fire the banksters on his economic team and denounce them. He needs to stand against Prop 8 as abhorrent. He needs to retract his position on charter schools and fight to make non-corporate schools work. He needs to embrace single payer even if it means losing the massive amount of campaign money he received from health insurers and financiers.

But he's not going to do any of this. So what I really want is for HIS SUPPORTERS to stop cosigning all his concessions to their values and start fighting for what's right and criticizing/condemning what's wrong.

[L0oniX]

27. Stop the fucking wars. Reverse the fucking patriot act. Quit spying on us.

Reverse the decision of using troops on the public. Prosecute war crimes. Pull out all of our military bases. Prosecute the banksters. Stop the out sourcing of our jobs. Stop the imperialism bull shit. Make health care a human right. Do what the people who voted you into office want you to do, not the fucking assholes who got us into this mess. Stop discrimination on cannibals.

[The Hope Mobile]

43. Habeas corpus. Real credit card reform. Real mortgage reform.

Real regulation of the economic sector. Real health care reform. Get rid of DADT. Real and serious effort to combat global warming immediately. Tax the wealthy and the corporations and get back the people's money. Really find out what happened with those off shore accounts. What happened to our trillions? PROSECUTE!!!!

Get rid of Rahm and all the other DINOs. Hire Dean.

[solstice]

28. Nothing. It's too late now.

[rucky]

29. Fire Geinther and Summers

that's about it. I'll be patient about everything else.

[progressoid]

55. That would be a good start.

Those asshats have to go.

[sandnsea]

30. End torture. Sign stem cell research. Sign equal pay law. Select a woman

for the Supreme Court. Repeal the global gag law. Pass a stimulus to help ease the Depression. Protect millions of acres of wilderness. Implement Kennedy's national service program. Expand Children's Health Care. Organize the country to fight for health care.

If he did any of that in the last 140 days or so, I'd be a happy camper!!

[Alexander]

59. LOL! Excellent answer!

Unfortunately I think many people will miss the point of your post.

:thumbsup:

[MadHound]

31. Restore my trust? He's a politician, which means that he has to earn my trust first

There are very few politicians currently on the national level that I actually put my trust in, simply because to one extent or another virtually all of them are bought and paid for corporate whores, beholden to the corporate interests that funded their campaigns, and putting those corporate interests above and ahead of the interests of the people. Obama is no different.

[HughMoran]

32. Tap dance & juggle at the same time

:rofl:

[defendandprotect]

33. You have to ask?

Stand up and announce to our troops that there will be no more TORTURE of
any prisoners -- that the Geneva Accords and our Constitution will be obeyed.

Stand up and inform Military Leaders of that same info --

And then Stand Up and announce that you will protect all military whistleblowers --

And that there will be war crimes trials here in America --

Our own prisons need to be looked into as well -- huge imprisonment of citizens --
and evidently torture going on there, as well -- certainly sexual humiliation,
harassment, rapes, etc. - male and female.

End "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" -- and education the public on homosexuality vs homophoia

Neither should Obama hide behind his own personal religious beliefs on that subject nor
the subject of homosexual marriage! His own personal beliefs have nothing to do with
Constitutional rights -- equality for all.

Obama embraced enemies when he took the DLC into the White House -- this is the corrupt-wing
of the Democratic party - corrupting and poisoning it.

Obama must end the wars -- not refinance them.

Stop telling Americans we can't afford Single Payer Health Care -- !!! What hypocrisy!
$8 TRILLION - $12 TRILLION in bailouts for criminal capitalism?

I think you know all we object to -- and it's getting worse every day.

[Cleita]

34. Get the insurance foxes out of the health care hen house.

Obama is demanding a health plan by the end of the year and is telling Congress to do something about it. Well, there are two plans, one in Congress HR 676, sponsored by Congressman John Conyers, and in the Senate a bill sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders and co-sponsored by Senator Edward Kennedy was introduced in February of this year. Both plans extend Medicare to everyone. It's his opportunity not to blow this very important issue, which can be what defines his Presidency, by insisting on doing the right and the most cost effective way of delivering health care to all.

[pscot]

35. He needs to show some grit

Put some markers down. Every time he meets resistance he retreats. If he continues to let himself be rolled he'll lose all credibility. If he doesn't start to push back, it's going to be a long four years and he won't get a second term.

[TankLV]

36. PERSONALLY call me and hand over a check for a cool million...

Oh wait - I haven't lost trust - can I still have the million?

[Greyhound]

48. OK, I'll take that and get out while he finishes burning the country to the ground.

After further consideration, he doesn't even have to call, just let me out.

[Neecy]

37. Here's my list:

Stop handing over the wealth of this country to the obscenely wealthy. If a company is too big to fail, it's time to bring back antitrust laws so stop this 'too big to fail' bullshit. And where is the regulation we were promised?

And GET OFF YOUR ASS about DADT. Start making the case NOW for repeal, y'know, with that bully pulpit. But our 'fierce advocate' has been SILENT. He's too busy ramping up the war in Afghanistan and keeping our troops in Iraq and bailing out the very institutions who have already bled us dry. He won't lift a finger to say even one word about our civil rights, but he's waxed enthusiastic about Rick Warren. I'm sick of this shit.

[gblady]

38. he has....

not lost my trust.

[glitch]

39. All of the above.

And probably all of the below.

edit: ok, not ALL of the above. Most of the above. Probably most of the below.

and for God's sake reform the election process so that we can have verified election results.

[Toasterlad]

40. KEEP HIS FUCKING PROMISES.

Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? And yet, he's apparently finding it ridiculously hard.

[Missy Vixen]

47. Toasterlad, I responded before I read your comments.

I can't improve on them. It would go a long way to restoring my faith if I believed that Obama remained dedicated to the promises he made BEFORE the election.

[nadinbrzezinski]

41. Investigate and prosecute those who ordered torture

won't happen, but that is what it will take

[Mari333]

42. I think its too late

[glitch]

44. Your post and your sig line just broke my heart.

I really hope you are wrong Mari333 but I have a sick feeling you are not.

[Greyhound]

45. Fire his cabinet, roll back the bailout of the financial sector,

Find and nominate a flaming liberal for the SCOTUS to bring a bit of balance to it,

Direct his new AG (Ms. Obama?) to investigate and prosecute all criminality in the previous administration regardless of who is found to be complicit,

Push HR676 through in toto,

Slash the DoD budget by 60% starting with the plethora of useless toys that have great "cool factor" but are completely useless in the 21st century,

Recant his abandonment of Rev. Wright,

Push the money recouped from the Wall Street criminals into American small businesses and start-ups,

Draft and promote federal election laws with teeth and public campaign financing laws outlawing all private contributions,

Promote a federal law requiring equality in the state of marriage, or abolishing any legal differential in the status in civil unions,

Impose a 10 year moratorium on public servants becoming or working for or with any lobbying firm or group.

You asked.:shrug:

[truedelphi]

51. Good list. And I am with you on these. n/t

[Missy Vixen]

46. KEEP HIS PROMISES

It would be nice if he kept his promises re: affordable health care for all, the promises he made to the LGBT community, the promise he made to withdraw from Iraq in the sixteen-month timetable... It would also be nice if he showed some dedication to the rule of law, no matter who it affects.

I spent eight years listening to someone who didn't give a shit about the rest of us. Unfortunately, I have low tolerance for those who promise and don't deliver as a result.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

50. For Most Zealots Here? Become Dennis Kucinich.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Political Heretic]

52. It's what he IS doing, not what he's "not" doing:

Single Payer is left off the table. The administration EPA is tossing out ridiculous environment screwing policy. We are escalating wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan and leaving residual bases and forces in Iraq. We're making Bush-era legal arguments against government transparency, and against civil liberties, We're "moving forward" on the biggest federal crime scandal in the history of our government, proving that there is no accountability and no meaning to the concept of "law" when you have enough power.

The Wall Street bailout is a disgrace to working America, designed to reinflate a false bubble for rich people without fixing the fundamental flaws and excesses that will ultimately bring our economy to complete collapse (you can't ask for a bigger warning sign than what we've just experienced, and instead of really doing something about it, we've punted the problem to our children while propping up the very people who are doing the most damage). There is silence on EFCA and push make concessions to Business. Don't Ask Don't Tell is off the Table. So far the highlight of educational policy reform is the failed GOP idea of so-called "merit" pay.

It's not that positive things haven't happened. It's that the sheer contrast between the scale of the positive things that have happened, vs. the extensive number of major issues on which the exact opposite of anything I could support has happened is simply shocking. It's that every morning I get headlines and find more bad news about something this administration is doing that I completely oppose.

[Faryn Balyncd]

53. Stick to his promise of a VIABLE PUBLIC OPTION & don't cave in to the corporatists.

[snot]

54. Restore US Constitutional & other fundamental human rights, instead of shredding them further.

[JustinL]

56. more like hope than trust

Anyway, in no particular order:

1) Issue an executive order halting the firing of gay troops.

2) Condemn the California Supreme Court's ruling on Prop 8.

3) Stop fighting release of the torture photos.

4) Use indefinite detention only for those who are clearly prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions, where "war" does not include such an absurdity as the "war on terror".

5) Stop belittling proponents of marijuana legalization.

6) Stop the raids on medical marijuana facilities.

7) Appoint a commander in Afghanistan who wasn't in charge of a secret war in Iraq and who didn't falsify the account of a soldier's death.

8) Appoint a Secretary of the Treasury who pays his or her taxes.

9) Prosecute, at the highest level, those responsible for Bush-era crimes (not that I expected this to have happened already, but I'm now not very confident that it will happen at all).

10) End the War in Iraq (again, I didn't expect this to have happened by now, but considering the other disappointments, I'm now in "I'll believe it when I see it" mode).

[puebloknot]

58. Get over his "post-partisan" b.s. and take a stand for the restoration ...

... of constitutional law. Stop playing cozy with right-wing extremist fundamentalist Christians. Get out of the way of congressional and/or indpendent investigations into torture and crimes against humanity, committed by Bush, et al. over the last eight years.

The honeymoon is over. Charisma, intelligence, good looks ... all are fading in the light of his failure to take a stand for the rule of law.

[barbtries]

60. prosecute the bush admin

seek justice for don siegelman
end the wars
put single payer on the table, then pass it

there's more. and i knew before the election that i wouldn't see all of these things that are so important to me coming to pass. he's still heads and shoulders above any republican. it's just a sad commentary on how far the USA has strayed from being my country tis of thee.

when is the next march on washington?

[Chovexani]

61. To grow a spine and a sense of empathy, that's all

I kind of liked it better when he was just ignoring LGBT and not outright making fun of us and kicking us when we're down.

I don't expect him to turn water into wine or any other such nonsense, I don't expect him to suddenly proclaim the injustice of Prop 8 and DOMA because I never held any pretense that he would do anything about marriage equality, not with all that "God is in the mix" bullshit he talked that I've incidentally also been hearing from Talibornagain anti-gay bigots since I was 12. I had no expectations at all on that score so I'm not disappointed.

DADT is another thing entirely. Lt. Choi's situation is not "only" something for us "nuclear gays" to be upset about, it speaks to the very heart of our national security and military readiness. Why the fuck are we throwing some of our most skilled people out of the military over stupid, irrelevant bullshit like this--it was wrong, pigheaded and counterproductive at any time but especially now. We NEED people with his skill set, desperately. This entire situation just underscores how goddamn foolish this whole issue is and how damaging it is to our country.

This is not to downplay the fight for marriage equality, but even the most optimistic, 100%-faith-in-the-President person has to see that DADT has implications for all of us, LGBT or straight, beyond "just" equality for our men and women in uniform, and that Obama's inaction on this score is epic fail. Jon Stewart made the point far better than I could on TDS the other week when he said we can debate and allow torture, but treating our LGBT soldiers with dignity is a line we can't cross?

[DaveinJapan]

62. Not disappointed but...

I'm not disappointed in the administration, but I agree with others that I'm surprised they aren't doing more on going after those who commit war crimes.

Jesse Ventura said something interesting on Olbermann today..that it's because the Democrats were too involved and everyone would pretty much go down (something like that). Do you guys agree with that?

[LWolf]

63. He never had my trust.

He's not likely to gain it.

He COULD earn my support, if he wanted it. I don't think he does.

He COULD stand up for single-payer health care.

He COULD end the war on terror and get out of the middle east.

He COULD work to get rid of the high-stakes testing and other unacceptable portions of NCLB.

He COULD investigate and prosecute torturers.

This list COULD be longer, but I'll wait until he's done any of the above before I add to it.

How long do you think I'll be waiting?

[stuntcat]

64. stop mountaintop removal