If you supported Obama from the very beginning, do you still support him now?

[hedgehog]

I liked Obama way back before he first announced. At the time, I thought I was going to get my heart broken yet again, and I was anxious throughout the electoral season. I think it took mee until March to really realize he'd won.. Now I don't agree 100% of everything he's done/is doing, but then who do I agree with 100%, 100% of the time. In general, I think he's doing a good job with the cards he's been dealt. I can disagree with him without condemning him as a stealth Republican!

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. I didn't support him from the beginning, but I support him now. (nt)

[Kahuna]

2. K&R!

:patriot:

[thereismore]

3. Yes, except when it comes to the extrajudicial matters, war in Afghanistan, and spying on us. nt

[Ignis]

24. +1

I disagree strongly with those policy choices.

That disagreement doesn't mean I hate the man personally. :shrug:

[Pisces]

4. I support him more today than ever before.

[Andy823]

5. I agree!

There is no way in the world that he can please every one that voted for him. Sure I am not happy with somethings that have happened, but all and all I am very happy that he won and not McCain and Palin! Is there more that needs to be done? Hell yes, but in the first 18 month he has done more than any president in many, many years! He has produced more jobs than Bush did in his whole 8 years. He has given us a start on health care reform, financial reform, and a whole lot of other things. Sure it's not as tough as I wanted, but it's a start. What I fail to understand is how so many can say they won't vote for him after the remarks that were made today. Now I know that a whole lot of those "trash" the president were started by our right wing trolls trying to get people all worked up, and as usual, some have taken the bait, but would a republican in the WH be better? I don't think so!

What we need to to is get rid of the DINO's who are voting with the republicans, and we need to get rid of republicans by voting them out of office. We can sit back and piss and moan all day, it won't do any good. The president can only get what the congress votes for, and nothing more. When some in his own party is voting with republicans it makes things even worse. Nelson needs to go and they made a big mistake backing Lincoln and it looks like that will cost them her seat in congress. Does the president need to get tougher? HEll YES! Do we need to keep pushing for the things we want? HELL YES! Do we need to stay home and pout because we haven't gotten everything we want since he took office? HELL NO! He was left the worst mess in our history by Bush, and yet he has still accomplished so much in his first 18 moths. We have to support him, and yes we have to keep on pushing for real change, but we have to do that by voting come November for real democrats, not sitting home and letting the republicans take back congress.

Right now the republicans have pissed off the Spanish voters, they have pissed off those who were on unemployment by voting NO for an extension. They attacked single mothers as lazy welfare queens. They are pissing of millions of Muslim voters with their craziness in NY. They have shown they care more about the rich and big corporations than the average person. I mean who will they piss of next? This could all change in favor of the democrats if they use these things against the republicans. We need to get out and make sure we keep control of congress, not sit home and complain when the republicans take congress back and NOTHING happens for the next two years, or more!

[denbot]

6. I watched him give the keynote speech at the 2004 convention.

The next morning I told my co-worker he was being groomed for the Presidency. I supported him then and I support him now. The alternatives are McCain and Palin.

[doc03]

7. I never supported him in the least from the beginning

but considering the alternative McCain/Palin I certainly support him now.

[movonne]

8. Yes I do...

[Arctic Dave]

9. I did not originally support him but when he won the nomination I was 100% behind him.

Since then he has made decision that make my right eye twitch with anger but I have not fully given up on him.

[appleannie1]

10. I think he is doing the best job it is humanly possible to do given what he inherited and his

bullheaded opposition in the Senate. They are voting against their own proposals just to make him look bad. But then, I never expected in the almost 50 years I have voted, to agree 100% with any official. Hell, I don't agree 100% with my own husband so what are the odds I would with a president.

[kirby]

11. I was a big supporter...

I thought his inexperience in Washington was a benefit and I had high hopes that he would really tackles the tough issues facing us. I cannot express how disillusioned I am with him. It is probably life altering in the sense that I will never trust another politician. To some degree it speaks more about the system than the person.

[Uzybone]

12. He wasn't my first choice for the presidency when it all kicked off

but I eventually voted for him in the primaries and support him now more than ever.

[Kerrytravelers]

13. I don't have to agree 100% of the time to support.

He has inherited a nightmare. I think, in general, he is doing the best he can. While I may not understand all of his choices, I feel like he has a general game plan that is, for the more part, in our best interest, even if he does get a few fleas from laying down with a few dogs. Sometimes you gotta just plug your nose to get shit done.

[sandnsea]

14. I went to see him in 2007 in Portland

I wasn't sure he could win so I thought maybe I should support Biden instead. Turns out I got both!

I think he's doing an amazing job when you consider the political views of the entirety of the country, along with the racism masquerading as political views in about 5 states that regularly elect Democrats.

Then again, I always figured we would get subsidized health insurance, always knew he wouldn't withdraw from Afghanistan, always believed the no-interest mortgages would blow up and create an economic meltdown, etc. etc.

In other words, I wasn't confused between Cynthia McKinney and Barack Obama.

[azmouse]

15. I supported Obama from the beginning and still support him.

:thumbsup:

[tularetom]

16. I get pissed off at my kids but I love them anyway

I get pissed off at Obama too. There are a lot of things I wish he would do differently. But I still support him.

He isn't perfect but there really isn't anyone else even close.

[BootinUp]

17. yes nt

[quiet.american]

I gave money to Obama's senate campaign and have never looked back.

The ironic thing is, I was turned on to Obama through DU - BEFORE his amazing 2004 Convention Speech.

I kept seeing references here to this "Barack Obama" out of Illinois, who was running for the Senate. Finally, I said to myself, if a guy with a name like Barack Hussein Obama (at the height of the days of Bushco fearmongering) is making a serious play for an Illinois senate seat, let me go check him out.

I've never looked back.

Election Night 2008 and Inauguration Day 2009 are two of the happiest days of my life.

Proud of our first African-American president, and grateful for the tangible changes for the better he has delivered to my family and friends (subsidized COBRA payments; $250 stimulus checks for those in my family receiving Social Security; tuition money for my unemployed BIL; another BIL now planning to study medicine because of the community health centers clause in HCR - CHC's are apparently a passion of his - and his education will be subsidized through HCR; the children in my family now insured in spite of pre-existing conditions - and will never in their lifetimes have to worry about being turned down for insurance because of their childhood illnesses -- I could go on and on.

Do I still support the President?

HELL YES to the NTH DEGREE. :kick:

[bunkerbuster1]

18. As I tell the sore-loser GOPers who ask: "Sorry yet?"

I'd vote for him again any day of the week, and twice on Sundays.

[scheming daemons]

19. Did then... Do now

[jefferson_dem]

20. Yup.

I'm on board with 90%+.

[BluegrassDem]

21. I was supporting him for president before he was even thinking about running

And I'm 100% behind him to this day. GOBAMA!!!

[flamingdem]

22. rec nt

[Pirate Smile]

23. Yes. Supported him when there was no way he could win according to the villagers and still support

him.

[DirkGently]

25. Most who disagree don't call him that. You'd think that was the

case, listening to some people, but it isn't. Instead, every time a legitimate criticism is made, or a cartoon published, or something vaguely related to the administration, like the BP oil spill is suggested to not be going very well, someone complains that Mr. Obama is being called a Republican or George Bush.

Sure, someone's probably doing that, and we can all probably agree that's overreaching. But we can't equate every critique with "calling Obama Bush." It's the same kind of rhetorical snowjob wherein people who criticize Israeli policy are accused of being anti-Semitic, or people who criticized the war in Iraq were asked to "support the troops," as though people opposed to the war somehow didn't support the troops.

Obama's not Bush. Maybe we should all put that in our signature lines and get on with the conversation regarding which policies of Mr. Obama's we support, and which we do not.

[R. P. McMurphy]

26. k & r n/t

[Political Tiger]

27. Yes and Yes.

Actually, at the very beginning I supported Hillary because I didn't really know much about Obama, but once I learned more about the man, the more I realized he was the right person for the job.

[johnaries]

28. Like you said, I don't agree 100%, but he is doing quite well

with the shit hand he was dealt. and, yes, I still support him. K&R

[renate]

29. Yup.

He was dealt a surrealistically difficult hand when he came into office. He's got Republicans in a solid bloc, backed up by DINOs, tying his hands in every possible way at every possible turn. And the teabaggers have everybody's panties in a wad so Republicans are being even more obstructionist than they would have been otherwise, and even Democrats are scared to support him too visibly because of the lunatics on the right.

I admit that I had expected things to be better by this point, but I didn't expect so many people to be so actively trying to hamstring him at every turn.

[Milo_Bloom]

30. I supported him in the primary. I don't support him now.

This isn't about him being a "stealth republican" or any such nonsense.

I supported him in the primary because I felt he stuck to his principles and did what he felt was right over what was popular... and even when he compromised, I felt he didn't treat us like idiots, trying to explain how the obvious was actually a victory.

He is the opposite of that person now and everything I dislike in a politician. He has cozied up to corporate interests, allowing the very people who put us in the financial mess we were make the new, insufficient, rules. Worse, he is now treating us like idiots, trying to sell items he KNOWS are insufficient as revolutionary.

The problem is that he is just like Clinton... far more interested in his own re-election than really doing what DESPERATELY needs to be done.

[Scurrilous]

31. K & R

:thumbsup:

[FDRLincoln]

32. obama

I supported him in the primary, and I still support him.

He's not perfect. But given the circumstances, with the awful economy (NOT his fault, inherited from Bush), lockstep GOP obstruction, and idiot conservative Dems in Congress, I think he is doing OK.

There are things I wish he was more aggressive about and I am more liberal than he is. But I don't think Hillary would be doing any better, and he's 10000000% percent better than McCain and Mussolini-with-boobs would have been.

[DevonRex]

33. Yes. nt

[Phx_Dem]

34. More than ever.

[mcar]

35. Supported him then, support him now

[Change Happens]

36. Yes I do - BIG TIME!

[damntexdem]

37. Oh no! I didn't support him from the very beginning -- but I'll answer anyway.

I did support him through most of the primaries, including being a delegate for him in Texas.

I still support him as president (and plan to vote for him in 2012); but I am disappointed in him.

Yeah, he's not just a better president than recent Repukes have been, he's also a fairly-good president. Unfortunately, we don't need just good right now.

[Jennicut]

38. I supported Obama after Iowa. I did not have one main candidate before that but

after Iowa, he got my attention. I wanted Gore to run honestly, and liked him since he was VP. But what was to be was meant to be. I have supported Obama since then.

[Powdered Toast Man]

39. Absolutely.

I don't have to like everything he does, but by and large I am happy with what he has accomplished thus far.

[elizm]

40. Signed up as a volunteer the day he announced...and abosolutely still support him. nt

[flpoljunkie]

41. I do, but I think he could have led more and earlier on healthcare and finreg.

And, I think he does, too.

[CBR]

42. Yes! nt

[Sheepshank]

44. I find it very interesting.....

ok, first let me back up. Obama has my support.

Now back to my observation. Has anyone else noticed a rather large uptick in recent posters (less that 300 posts), that are hyper-ragging on Obama? Not questioning, not offering alternative suggestions, not merely disappointed, but out and out name calling, of anyone and everyone in the administration.

Now in comparison, how many recent posters (below 300 posts) have checked in on any of the Obama supporters threads? Makes me question where these highly negative posters hail from.

[sea_dream]

45. I have fewer than 300 posts

and he has my support now and in 2012.

[Sheepshank]

51. haven't you noticed you're one of the few, then?

...good thing I didn't state it was a 100% correlation, rather a general uptick.

welcome.

[impik]

43. I was with him from the start and i'm with him for the whole run, even if

i'm quite sure it means only two more years.

[elana i am]

46. well i was a kucinich voter

but i think he's doing a damn good job considering he's not a progressive or even a liberal and he has a congress that's trying to run him down.

there's weirdness here. all kinds of it.

[4lbs]

47. Yes and Yes. It's amazing he's accomplished so much in just over 18 months with a hostile Congress.

A Congress with Republicans who are publicly admitting that their sole purpose is to delay and block everything as much as possible.

A Congress with spineless Democrats that care more about

Could he have done more? Yes.

Do I wish he did more? Yes.

However, I realize the reality of the situation in Congress, and how he was forced to allow weakened legislation to get anything passed. Sure, he could have stuck to his principles and said he wouldn't allow it at all, but then nothing gets passed.

Then what would the people and media be talking about?

"Why can't President Obama get any legislation passed? Why isn't he compromising like he said he was going to?"

[FrenchieCat]

48. I did and will support him......

Although not on every level of everything.....
but I will concentrate on the good stuff done,
cause those are the things I voted for,
and the things the Republicans voted against.

[BeyondGeography]

49. Yes

K&R

[Arkana]

50. Yes.

Do I agree with everything he's done? Heavens no.
Do I have criticisms? Hell yes I do.
Do I think he could have done some things better? Damn right.

But I refuse to sandbag him because his Press Secretary got really fucking tired of seeing "HURR CAT FOOD COMMISSION" on FireDogLake, and I'm not going to get hot under the collar because his already-famously-profane chief of staff flew off the handle at MoveOn in a White House meeting and *gasp* said something profane.

If I was on Obama's senior staff, I expect I'd rationalize it like this: I expect stupid, uninformed commentary from the Republicans and their drooling legions of morons. But it really bothers me when I see people who are supposedly on my side screaming about a perceived slight without actually doing their research first. The reason we're Democrats is because we THINK, not because we like the color blue more than the color red.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

52. yes

[frazzled]

53. He was my senator, and I knew exactly what I was getting

I knew I'd be getting:

(1) Someone who actually takes the time to write a letter (or in my case, an email). I was shocked to receive a personal response to a fairly stock email I'd sent him. I've been writing my senators in 3 different states over 20 years, and I'd never encountered that.

(2) Someone who is temperate in his demeanor and more focused on accomplishing something (as opposed to nothing) than grandstanding and failing. I happened to be invited to dinner with a group of people several months after Obama became senator. The guy across the table from me happened to be a law professor at the U of C, who had been a close colleague of Obama's. I said to him, "I know he's just starting out and he's the junior senator so he has to tread lightly in the beginning, but I do hope he starts raising a little more hell and breaks out of the reasoned, deferential stance." That's who he is, my tablemate explained drily. I got the message early on.

(3) Someone who is passionate about a number of things, but is willing to compromise to get a glass half full rather than an empty glass. That is how he got a law passed in Illinois to get police interrogations videotaped, to put an end to the practice of torture (of mainly black suspects). Could the law have been even stronger? Maybe. But it was a huge step forward, and he managed to get both the police and Republicans to sign on.

[babylonsister]

54. Yes to both. nt

[Odin2005]

55. I was an Obama supporter before it was cool. Now I feel stabbed in the back.

Just another Goddamn corporatist.

[Number23]

56. Yep. And not only that, I find most of his detractors entertaining in a monstrous, impotent way

:)

[Hansel]

57. Yep. nt

[CTLawGuy]

58. like 90% of liberal Democrats

I support him!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=404542&mesg_id=404542

[SoxFan]

59. Signed up the day Mark Warner decided against running

Haven't looked back since.

[gblady]

60. yes, I support him

enthusiastically, then and now.

[saltpoint]

61. 'Supported Edwards and his very strong pro-Labor position

in the primaries but once it was clear Obama would be the nominee, and in my opinion that was not later than the week before South Carolina, I was strongly for him and am strongly for him tonight.

[depakid]

62. Depends what he's supporting (or working against)

Unlike some, I'm interested in policies not politicians and principles, not party lines.

[Cha]

63. Thanks hedgehog.. I like Obama

even more now than I did just before Iowa because I know him better and appreciate him immeasurably!

Thanks for your thread. :)

[SwampG8r]

64. yes i was there for him in 08 since iowa and i will be with him again

despite our minor policy disagreements
i do wish he still took my calls

well
i guess "still" is too strong a word since he never took any of them

[old mark]

65. Voted for him in the primary and the GE, not happy with his performance, but

I will vote for him simply because the republicans are worse.

I'm not happy to do it, but I'm afraid not to.

mark

[LittleBlue]

66. Supported him before he announced his candidacy. No longer.

He has completely lost me over the wars, the healthcare debacle, and his general disdain for those who put him in office.

[Hekate]

67. You bet I do. KnR.

[McCamy Taylor]

68. I did not suport him during the campaign, but I support him as president.

[gort]

69. Supported Edwards, first

I then supported Obama after Edwards "mysteriously" and "abruptly" dropped out.

I support President Obama all the way and we cant abandon him now. He is up against a racist and very powerful 41 seat Republican Majority. We need 59 Democrats plus Bernie to get our agenda across.

Defeat the 41 seat Majority!

[TheKentuckian]

70. Supported him in the primaries and lets just say he has an uphill battle to ever get it again

Joe Lieberman or Bob Dole may as well be in the Oval Office as far as I can tell.

[msanthrope]

71. Supported Hillary. Support Obama now. n/t

[DailyGrind51]

72. Against ANY Republican, yes!

[whistler162]

73. yup

[JoeyT]

74. Yes I did support him from the very beginning.

I supported him in the primary, and in the general I donated more than I could afford, phone banked, and knocked on doors to get him elected.

No, I do not support him now. The D's will crash and burn or win by a landslide in the next election, but they'll do it without me.
Most of them will get my vote in the generals, but nothing more.

[killbotfactory]

75. I knew what he was up against, so I still support him

He's doing a little better than I thought he would on some issues, a little worse on others. It's nice to open up a paper and read about progress and good legislation rather than Bush or Cheney doing something malicious and corrupt.

I also have a basic understanding of how our government works and realized that a lot of power had been put into the hands of conservative democrats due to the way the Senate operates.

[Kind of Blue]

76. Not at the very beginning, but now very much so.

Thanks for asking.
KnR

[tallahasseedem]

77. Absolutely.

I still think he's great! :)

[LatteLibertine]

78. Yes

and I still voice objections in a constructive manner when I disagree.

I really don't see the point of working hard to get someone in office then abandoning them half way through their term. Without support he definitely won't be able to get a lot done. I'll evaluate if I want to continue supporting President Obama when his four years are up.