Be honest.

[Robb]

Poll question: Be honest.

Lot of noise today. Cut through it.

[Craftsman]

1. I do not trust any politico period.

Most politicos are cheats and liars, and when they are not kissing babies they are stealing their candy.

[Robb]

2. It's "lollipops."

"When I'm not kissin' babies, I'm stealin' their lollipops."

[Craftsman]

5. That one scene spoke the Lord's truth on most politicos.

[baldguy]

3. Other: Obama is better than *ANY* alternative the GOP could come up with.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[baldguy]

16. Robb asked us to be honest.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8473514&mesg_id=8473514
http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/economy/
http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/foreign-policy/
http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/health-care/
http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/taxes
http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education
http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/fiscal

http://pr.thinkprogress.org/2009/04/pr20090429/index.html

[Ken Burch]

33. That wasn't the question

And it's not like we have to back the war or lose in 2012. The people weren't baying for Afghani blood.

[Bitwit1234]

4. You don't have the one I would vote for

"I trust Obama only and if he gets rid of Emmanuel."

Emmanuel wants to be the ONE and he is pushing Obama to do his bidding. Obama who is too fresh and un knowledgeable about how politics works is too trusting of Emmanuel. Look at Health Care. He is the one most obvious person who wants there to be no public option. He does not want any opposition to the Health Companies, his brother is in charge of a health organization. Most of the stuff Obama is pushing is directly from Emmanuel's brain.

[leftynyc]

19. Unmitigated horseshit

You should be ashamed to admit you think President Obama is anyone's lackey. He certainly knew enough about politics to get himself elected when someone else was the presumptive nominee for 18 months. And blaming Rahm? Childish nonsense.

[stray cat]

6. I prefer Obama to McCain/Palin or any other democrat in the election

I think our congress and senate has only a couple of people I would trust to do what he thinks is good for his constituents. Russ Feingold for one -

[willing dwarf]

7. A question of who owns the office.

How about : I used to trust him, but I'm wary now.

I guess maybe trust is like pregnancy. Either you trust or you don't? But we all like gray areas. I mean, who do we usually trust? Not many people, especially people we don't know personally. So maybe the problem is more that we (I) trusted him before, and now as he is making choices that are severely disappointing -- like dropping the case against John Yoo -- it's natural that one becomes wary.

But if I trusted him before, it was before he took on the mantle of presidency. Maybe it's more a question of who "owns" the office, and who "owns" the presidency. It certainly appears that there are owners of the office who are not the man in office. Who owns Obama? We'd like to think he's his own man, but with so much power inherent in the position, and so much money required to get in to office, maybe he really is not his own man any more.

What's really galling is the thought of all the individuals as the grass roots who really believed that he was going to restore the office. That we the people would be back in power.

[daleanime]

8. Good way to put it...

now how do we change it?

[willing dwarf]

14. Wish I knew

When you see the person who was all about change getting ground up by the system, it's hard to get excited about joining the fray. Seems like speaking out in ways that encourages engagement and doesn't seem cynicism is key. To keep asking "why," and to continue to be honest and not idealogical.

Wish I had more to offer.

[progressoid]

9. I want to trust him but

he's losing me.

[rucky]

10. I take his words and actions at face value.

There's no chess game going on. He's pretty direct. I trust he tries to do what he says he's going to do, but I don't always trust he'll make the right decisions.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

11. What I've said all along...

I never had any expectation that I would agree with every single action this President takes. Politically speaking, I don't think that would be an option even if I WERE THE PRESIDENT MYSELF - sometimes you just hold your nose and do what you have to do, even if you're the Leader Of The Free World. Polictics is the "Art of the Possible," and sometimes what you would rather do just isn't politically possible.

That being said, the difference between this President and the last one is that I trust Obama to make an intelligent, informed decision. That's one hell of an improvement over his predecessor. Not to say that I agree with all of his policies or all of his strategies, but I respect him and the job that he's doing. And I'll judge his level of success two years from now.

[cilla4progress]

13. Consensus and pragmatism

Well, I don't think it's about who owns him, so much as his conciliatory, consensus-driven, community organizer approach to governing.

That's OK to a point; and I know he does have many constitutencies and concerns: Dem congress-people who are worried about the next election; both wings of his own party; as well as the repubs who, no matter what we think of them, are his responsibility as Pres of the entire country. I believe he believes he's doing right melding the needs and demands of all the above, but at some point, he's going to have to stick his neck out a bit more. Although, in doing so, he will still consult with the pragmatist within: does it make sense to bite off one's nose to spite one's face? That is, to take a moralist position that has no chance of success? We know this about this President: his is more about the art of the possible, than making the perfect be the enemy of the good.

(Sorry for the cliche-laden post! :) )

[Onlooker]

15. I still trust Obama, but ...

... I don't think he's leadership skills properly. Rather than using those skills to compromise, he should be using them to push the US more aggressively in a new direction. He should be loud and clear making the case for liberalism, but instead he's trying to bring everyone to the table. That's not leadership. That's what Carter tried.

[polichick]

17. imo it's foolish to trust any politician. nt

[showpan]

18. Pssssssst.....

Obama's policies are the same as the neocons....don't tell anyone though, let's keep it a secret.

[leftynyc]

20. You aren't fooling anyone

Go crawl back under your right wing rock and worship Sarah.

[Blue_In_AK]

21. I've always had an uneasy feeling about Barack Obama

as far as whether he was as "special" as some folks seemed to think he was. I WANT to like him and trust him, I had hoped that he would prove my cynicism unfounded, but so far I've been underwhelmed.

In some respects I'm glad that I was never fully on board because now I don't feel betrayed or let down particularly. Things are just as I had thought they would be.

I'm not saying he hasn't taken some positive steps forward; it's just that the pace is maddeningly slow.

[LatteLibertine]

22. Honest?

I am utterly torn. I use to deeply believe in President Obama and now I am unsure.

Part of me feels he knows what he's doing and things will eventually evolve for the better. The other side of me feels I've been naive and he may just be another politician who happens to be extraordinarily slick.

It is true he was the best choice. The Democratic Party does have a large number of corporatist politicians like the GoP, however they have far fewer; racists, sexists, classists and homophobes. Personally, I could never vote Republican unless they made huge reforms within their party. As it stands today, no way, no how.

[ebbie15644]

23. The question shouldn't be

do we trust him I do. I just don't agree with him on everything. I am also disappointed that he isn't fighting for us the way I believe he should. Yes, I think he is honest about what he believes. I don't know if that makes sense or not!

[depakid]

24. Trusting a politician is the height of naivety

Although I admit to trusting Bush to make counterproductive decisions while padding the pockets of his crony's and was rarely disappointed.

[FrenchieCat]

25. Guess he can be trusted more than most politicians......

As for me, my jury is still out.
I'll wait for a track record that is long enough,
to gather the evidence to make a judgment.
I'd rather call it, giving benefit of the doubt
as opposed to
"Trust" at this point in the life of his presidency.

[depakid]

27. The reason is as much a practical matter as anything

too many constituencies with competing interests to deal with. One would like to think that one can trust some on "big picture" matters (as opposed to more detailed aspects of policy) but even those may eventually get whittled away, for a variety of reasons- not the least of which being the dysfunctional nature of campaign finance in the states- and the unfortunate truth that Lord Acton wrote about years ago- power corrupts even the best of us.

[FrenchieCat]

29. True that money should be out of our electorial system.....

Can't argue with that...

But till then, there are some politicians that are more trustworthy than others,
and again, with this President, I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt.

[depakid]

30. Benefit of the doubt is one thing- trust is another

For instance, I half trusted that an Obama administration would bring back accountability and the rule of law- as was stated many times in many ways.

What we got instead (which I half foresaw, based on Obama's conciliatory nature) is a Justice Department that can only thus far be compared favorably with Bush II. Or maybe some administration from the 19th Century.

I recall thinking when Holder was announced last year that we'd be in for a series of disappointments, though the degree of the actions and omissions surprised even me.

[27inCali]

26. I like Obama, want to trust him, see a lot of good things he is doing, but...

also see some troubling warning signs that he is being a little too cool-headed and conventional to inspire the base.

[LovinLife]

28. I don't have 1000+ post so nobody will take make me seriously should be an option.

One person just told me that I'm republican and a white man. Both were news to me. :wtf:

[FrenchieCat]

31. So you're a woman, hey?

:rofl:

[Ken Burch]

32. I'd have gone with

"I used to trust Obama, but I'm not SURE I trust him now. And I damn sure don't trust his foreign policy team."

[apocalypsehow]

34. Proud to be #116 for the "used to trust Obama and STILL DO."

:thumbsup:

[Balbus]

35. Anyone who trusts a politician is a fool.

[Robb]

36. Kicking.

This seems to do the trick.

[Vidar]

37. I wanted believe for several months & gave him the benefit of the doubt. No more!

[babylonsister]

40. You're full of it. I haven't seen one positive thought from you, ever. nt

[Zodiak]

38. I do not trust ANY politician

Trust is a big word for me.

In fact, without knowing Obama personally, I have a hard time believing anyone can truly trust him. Perhaps the better word would be "faith" for the phenomenon of believing a politician will do the right thing when all you really know is a projected image.

Hell, I don't even trust Kucinich!

[NJmaverick]

39. Interesting, very interesting