Am I alone? Or is the greatest President you have ever seen?

[Mike_03]

I am so tired of people trying to beat him down, but I have to say what I have been writing to President Obama. I am so grateful he is my President. He is obviously working 24 hours a day. He is facing adversary every day, but I hope he knows that there are those of us here who are SO PROUD OF HIM. He is working endlessly, and I know that, and thank you for this opportunity to express it. TY.

[Fire1]

1. You're not alone. Plus 1. n/t

[opihimoimoi]

10. I am read to chisel his face on Diamond Head....he is PRICELESS

[avaistheone1]

100. Better chiseled on Wall Street.

[cutlassmama]

17. THIS

[yourout]

2. Way...way...way....to early to say that.

In my eyes Lincoln is the greatest at this time with FDR a somewhat close second.

[disndat]

19. The Baltimore meeting only

showed Obama to be a masterful debater. The latest from his D.O.J., that they are giving John Yoo and Bybee a free pass was a BIG kick in the gut.

[WonderGrunion]

35. You might have seen FDR

But there is just no way you ever saw Lincoln.

[Bluzmann57]

3. Time will tell

I'm middle aged, have seen a lot, so I won't yet say Obama's the greatest, and besides that, he's only been in office for a year; a fact that many need to remember btw. But he may be when his time in office is over.

[donheld]

33. Indeed Time will tell

[MadMaddie]

4. Mike_03 you are not alone.

Welcome to DU!:hi:

[Nancy Waterman]

5. I am with you

I think he is terrific, and I am also tired of the endless carping. He works tirelessly for us to the best of his ability. We forget so quickly what it was like back in the days of bush and how bad it could have been under McCain and Palin or any Republican for that matter.

[Mojambo]

6. Maybe. But Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush isn't exactly a standout class. n/t

[Greenpeach]

7. You are definitely not alone...

and I am old enough to have seen FDR, whom I loved and loved Kennedy too, but, in my humble opinion, Barack Obama is the one.

[EmKayUltra]

8. Intelligent For Sure

I would have to say that he appears to be the most intelligent President of modern times. And crafty at that!
How he made the Rethugs look more ignorant, in their own venue was totally priceless. And how he took command and control, made me very comfortable with him at the helm of this Titanic of a nation.

[madmax]

9. Vent all you want , you're not alone.

:bounce: Welcome back. Stay put this time :P

[Top Cat]

11. kick

[tilsammans]

12. So far, Obama has shown he has the right stuff, i.e., potential, . . .

. . . to be the greatest president in my lifetime. (I was born during the Truman years.)

:patriot:

[FrenchieCat]

13. Too soon to tell, but certainly the potential is there.......

We shall see, but thus far I'm in the camp that he will be much greater,
than some currently believe.

But there is time.
I don't want to judge prematurely...
I am patient and can wait.

[BeyondGeography]

14. He has incredible strengths, that's certain

I hope he isn't wasted on this country is all.

[elocs]

15. Where has the President we have seen this past week been this past year?

:shrug: I would have loved to see this kind of President with a fire in his belly take the fight to the Republicans all this past year.

[Clio the Leo]

16. + 1000! NT

[euphoria12leo]

18. You are not alone n/t

[golfguru]

20. Only JFK was better

JFK was more popular in country than Reagan and had TEN times more charisma.
If he had lived, he wins in 1964 in a landslide.

JFK's press events were a treat. He was not only the wittiest president
I have ever seen, but he had the details of every issue in his head. The
teleprompter was not even invented in those days.

[Fire1]

22. There was no teleprompter at the meeting with the GOP.

I'd say Kennedy was tied with Clinton, in terms of popularity.

[golfguru]

41. By popular I do not mean just the polls

In the 1960's I saw so many places people had JFK's picture hanging.
People don't do that unless they "love" the president.

JFK's press secretary, Pierre Salinger was also very charismatic.
Pierre was very popular amongst the press corps. And he was instrumental
in making JFK popular around the world.

[Fire1]

45. I am not referring to "polls," either. Clinton was and still is

popular on that same level.

[golfguru]

44. May be in strictly poll numbers but...

Clinton was either loved or hated.
JFK was either loved or neutral.
Big difference.

I can't recall meeting a single person who hated JFK.

[Fire1]

46. Unless confirming data is provided this is really a matter

of observation and opinion. Opinions are useless to debate unless one is trying to convince and that is not my objective.

[golfguru]

58. Back in early 1960's....

Polling was not what it is today. Internet was yet to be invented.
Only newspapers and news magazines, and Sunday TV shows such as
Face the Nation etc. were the source of all information.
No such things as "links" we have today for internet articles existed.
So, there is no way anyone alive can provide you with "links" to prove anything.
So, personal observation was very significant.

Just curious, were you of adult age during JFK period?
If not, it will be difficult for you to imagine what JFK was really like.

[NOLALady]

60. He was indeed hated by some.

Hated enough that he was assassinated.

My husband was an adult during JFK period (I was a teenager). Some at his job cheered when the news of JFK's death was announced.

[golfguru]

61. That day in November 1963...

I saw so many people crying. Never seen so much grieving since then.

[Fire1]

67. Yes. I was but a teen-ager but I vividly recall that day in history.

I am sticking by my original assessment.

[win_in_06]

84. Hmmmmm....

I can't recall meeting a single person who hated JFK.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

One person immediately comes to mind...

[golfguru]

87. Thank goodness I never met that guy....Oswald eom

[verges]

24. I don't think

anybody could beat G. Washington for popularity.

[golfguru]

42. LOL probably but I did not see George first hand

My post was strictly based on presidents I observed live.

[Ildem09]

32. JFK? really

sure the dude was obama in the fact that everyone loved him and he really didnt do anything he had ideas. but it took LBJ to get shit done. LBJ= 100x better than JFK. LBJ inherited Vietnam and gets a bum wrap. much like Afghanistan. Obama and LBJ took the wrong path there. but que sera. still LBJ was in the top 3 best presidents of all time obama is in the top 15

[MadPossum]

39. Top 3 huh?

When he took over the Presidency after the death of JFK, there were about 16,300 U.S. soldiers in Vietnam. This was the war LBJ "inherited." By the end of his Presidency in 1968 there were over a half-million U.S. soldiers in Vietnam.

The deaths of 58,000 Americans and somewhere between 1 and 2 MILLION Vietnamese civilians are on LBJ's and Richard Nixon's hands.

Medicare and even the Civil Rights Act isn't enough to put this man in the top 3.

"que sera" ??

[Ildem09]

56. in regards to vietnam

LBJ was following the paradigm of the time. sure we look back with 20/20 however, LBJ didn't want to be the first american president to loose a war. i realize it's bullshit but still when reviewing the overall goodness of LBJ one has to view it within a framework that takes into accounts the mores and prevailing thought at the time. The same could be said for any president. The fact that I rank LBJ high is not without precedent CSPAN's polling ranks LBJ as 11

[avaistheone1]

96. LBJ was a giant.

I have just come to understand that recently. LBJ cut poverty in this country in half within four years of his presidency.
That's pretty incredible.

[golfguru]

43. You are confusing popularity and love versus legislative success

I am referring to former while you are thinking of the latter.

[Fire1]

47. That's a premature conclusion regarding Obama. n/t

[Bette Noir]

90. LBJ was able to get so much done, in part, because of

JFK's martyrdom. That includes the moon landing.

[avaistheone1]

94. LBJ and Nixon escalated Vietnam.

It was not JFK. You are definitely not a student of history.

[Oregone]

21. Get caught up in the moment much?

Take a couple decades to get a breather in, then judge it all in its historical context

[MissDeeds]

23. The OP must be very young

:rofl:

[flyarm]

34. +1

[pecwae]

52. + another.

[Skittles]

76. VERY, VERY young

[MindandSoul]

25. I totally agree! And it hurts me when imbecile try to put him down!

[Kind of Blue]

26. You are not. I openly stand firmly with you. KnR n/t

[TCJ70]

27. He's got some ground to make up until anyone can make that claim

What we've seen since the State of the Union has been good...but we need a bit more action before we can tell if he's really back on track.

[IndianaGreen]

28. FDR saved us from Hitler

No one comes near him.

[Ildem09]

31. not only that the dude saved the world

he set up bretton woods. the economic system that allowed nearly 60 years of unprecedented growth.. So comparing Obama to FDR is unfair to Obama it's like your star minor league player going up against some weird combination of Mikey Mantle/ Babe Ruth/ Yogie Berra/ Peyton Manning/ Tom Brady/ Eli Manning/ Phil Mickleson etc. Best President since LBJ? sure i'll give you that.

[IndianaGreen]

53. The OP's premise is that Obama is the greatest President we have ever seen

Like those dastardly True or False questions on test that have words such as "always" or "all" or anything that indicates it is true or false in 100-percent of the cases.

Obama does not even compare to JFK. Obama would have killed us all had he been President during the 1963 October Missile Crisis. Unlike JFK, Obama would have followed the advice of crazy generals like LeMay which would have resulted in a nuclear holocaust.

[Bette Noir]

91. That's a reach.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

97. Stalin saved u s from Hitler.

Stalin was the greatest president ever.

:eyes:

[salguine]

29. My dog died, and I took it to the President, and he laid his hands on it, and there was this glow,

and Bipper sprang back to life, wagging his tail as if nothing had happened.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

30. Um...it's a little early for that. It was a good week, isn't that enough for now?

We'll see what happens next.

[Beacool]

36. "The greatest President you have ever seen?"

Surely you must jest.

:eyes:

[IndianaGreen]

54. If one were born in 2009, the statement would be true

If one were born in 2002, the statement would still be true.

The farther one moves back in time, the more ridiculous the statement sounds.

[Beacool]

57. So true.

Only someone very young or adverse to studying history would make such a blanket statement. Besides, after a mere one year in office, it's way too soon to tell if Obama will be an effective and succesful pesident.

;)

[newtothegame]

37. Yep, he's really 'inspiring.'

Progress be damned, at least he made the history books!

[Starbucks Anarchist]

38. I like him, but it's way too early for a statement like that.

[Usrename]

40. It's too bad he doesn't have some sense of justice.

Turning a blind eye to all the criminal conduct is NOT the American way.

[jpak]

48. BOOOOOooooooo hero-worshiping cheerleading is not allowed!!1111

no pony for you!!11

























:evilgrin:
:hi:

[Autumn]

49. You are not alone, but no he isn't

the greatest President I have ever seen.:shrug:

[SunsetDreams]

50. Mike, you are not alone!

I think he has great potential here, and he is starting on a path, to be on the right side of the history books.

[Aramchek]

51. to the top with ye!

[SKKY]

55. It's crazy early to be saying that, but as long as he continues to learn...

...from his mistakes, I think he'll go down in history as one of the greats.

[uponit7771]

59. Time will tell

[pjt7]

64. I just love the way he sold us out to

Goldman Sachs. I feel so proud in my heart that they stole $Billions directly from the bailout & $$Billions thru AIG.

I just swell inside, that the Treasurer of the United State, Tim Geithner directed this from the NY FED & his COS was no#1 Goldman Sachs lobbyists.

What Sage selections by our Greatest Thief Ever. Oh, I mean CHIEF.

[tbyg52]

70. Bingo. nt

[grahamhgreen]

62. I suppose, if you like endless war, torture, nukes, bailouts for billionaires, shipping jobs 2 China

wiretaps, patriot act, tax cuts for the uber-rich, and forced mandatory private crapsurance, sure.

But he does give one heck of a speech!

As great a salesman as reagan, i suppose....

[Lorien]

69. Shhh..don't trip them up with silly things like facts

Obama makes them feel good about the team, and by extension, themselves. FACTS, action, results etc. don't matter-it's how he makes us all FEEL that's important. Reagan knew that...or at least his handlers did.

[impik]

71. Bullshit

Endless wars? He is ending the war in Iraq and at least trying to stabilize Afghanistan, so at some point this war could end. I know you couldn't care less, but it's actually his responsibility to protect you.

Torture? What torture? No one is torturing. Or at least you have zero proof for your crazy accusations.

Nukes? What nukes? He's close to sign historic agreement with Russia to reduce the number of nuclear bombs and he's gathering the world to fight against the spread of nuclear weapon.

Bailouts for billionaires??? WTF??? TARP started under Bush. Obama managed this plan so the money now is actually coming back. And if you don't understand that it was necessary to save the banks, then you're seriously dumb.

I can go on, but this is waste of time, energy and oxygen. You are no better than those Teabaggers who spreads lies about Obama wherever they can.

I'm disgusted that someone like you actually consider as "Liberal".

[grahamhgreen]

79. "at some point this war could end" - OK

Torture? - Obama's Secret Prisons: Night Raids, Hidden Detention Centers, the "Black Jail," and the Dogs of War in Afghanistan (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anand-gopal/obamas-secret-prisons-nig_b_440401.html)

Nukes - "building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants" - Obama SOTU - (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/us/politics/28obama.text.html?pagewanted=4)

Bailout for Banksters - "Bush to Ask for TARP; Obama to 'Rebrand' It" - http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Economy/story?id=6626721&page=1

Heck, you could win me over just by expanding medicare....

[grahamhgreen]

83. "Report: No sanctions for lawyers who OK'd torture"

WASHINGTON – Bush administration lawyers who drafted legal theories that led to waterboarding and other harsh treatment of terrorism suspects showed poor judgment but won't face sanctions for professional misconduct, according to a published report.

A forthcoming government ethics report initially concluded the two key authors of the so-called torture memos, Jay Bybee and John Yoo, who were officials in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel during the Bush administration, had violated their professional obligations as lawyers when they crafted the memos that allowed the use of harsh interrogation tactics.

But a senior Justice Department official, David Margolis, later softened the department's finding to say the authors simply showed poor judgment, Newsweek reported.

Margolis, who is a career lawyer and not a political appointee of the Obama administration, has supervised the department's internal discipline through several administrations from his post in the deputy attorney general's office.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100131/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_torture_memos;_ylt=Av2Ym5VaAWVrE8JnBMs8qYIuQE4F;_ylu=X3oDMTM1YTYxYTYyBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMTMxL3VzX3RvcnR1cmVfbWVtb3MEY2NvZGUDbW9zdHBvcHVsYXIEY3BvcwM3BHBvcwM3BHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDcmVwb3J0b

[win_in_06]

85. Bush Doctrine, is that you?

[change_notfinetuning]

63. He could be, in time. It's all up to him, but he'll have to listen better. n/t

[liquid diamond]

65. Welcome to DU.

Now put on a cup. Obama praise is not tolerated here.

[impik]

66. He's got the potential to be the greatest ever

But he's paying a bit of a price for his inexperience. For the sake of this country, i hope that people will have more patient with him - Because such talent arrives once in 50 years.

[Lorien]

68. So far I've never been more disappointed in any politician that I've voted for

He's got the biggest Dem majority in 40 years, yet he's more focused on winning over repugs and propping up the status quo than he is in passing legislation that would help working and middle class Americans or save the planet. The best we've gotten is the Ledbetter Act. If this keeps up November will be a bloodbath.

[Raine]

72. After only one year, it's way to early to call. nt

[quiet.american]

73. That I've ever seen? I'll not only say 'yes', but DAMN STRAIGHT, YES! nt

[seaker]

74. Nope.

You are not alone!
:hi:

[firedupdem]

75. Too late to rec'....but I agree 100% n/t

[Democrat_in_Houston]

77. He doesn't even come close.

I love him, but it's too early to tell what kind of legacy he will leave. So far, it's probably 60/40 - although I give him plus points for his wife and kids! :)

[riverdale]

78. You are alone

Obama has been a massive disappointment. His cabinet and advisors are a bunch of conservative clowns. He has shown no backbone on many issues liberals care about. It appears his goal was to be elected, and now that he's here, he has no agenda except appeasing Republicans.

[MissDeeds]

80. +1

Well said.

[akbacchus_BC]

82. -10

[akbacchus_BC]

81. Mike_03, I honestly admire President Obama for remotely campaigning

for the Presidency knowing in small measure that he will be inheriting a mound of shit from the past 8 years and beyond. A broken country cannot be fixed in one year, it will take time and I am now pretty sure that after one year in Office, President Obama is now realizing the magnitude of the problems he has inherited and trying to fix them takes a lot of balls and he is trying.

Not sure if I will rate him as the best President ever after one year, perhaps after three years and I want him to repeal DADT, not do another study. However, I understand where you are coming from and I wish President Obama all the best, was just hoping he had a person to watch his back like how JFK had his brother. Alas, President Obama has no one but he is trying. I wish him all the best especially with HCR and DADT.

Edit to change bound to mound.

[burning rain]

86. The greatest president ever?

Over a year in office, and not even one piece of serious social reform legislation... and he's the greatest president ever?

[LWolf]

88. You are obviously not alone, but I'm not there with you.

Obama is a disaster for the future of the party and the nation, imo. I am angrier now than I was 2000-2008, probably because the bullshit is now coming from a Democrat.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

89. Uh. So far, no.

A year in and he has yet to show me any reason for me to think him the best President I have ever seen. :shrug: Ask me again in three years.

[CakeGrrl]

92. k/r - tired of the constant bashing. It's not warranted, IMO. n/t

[avaistheone1]

93. No way. Obama is a pretty mediocre president.

Yes, he is a good speaker. He is not much of a leader. Obama reminds me of a Tony Blair at best.

Obama is a corporatist, and really hasn't created any fundamental change, except for expanding the power and wealth of the elites.

[Lord Helmet]

98. lol

[Hutzpa]

95. Some of us have known this

for quite awhile and comes as no surprise, but yes, and I also believe he is going to win the Nobel Peace prize again.

You can take that to the bank.

[avaistheone1]

99. Yeah I am going to get me another one too.

[Ter]

101. I like Clinton better

Sorry, the 90's were much better times for me.