We Deserved Better Than Obama for Our First Black President
President Barack Obama addressed a tearful crowd of 20,000 supporters in his hometown of Chicago on Tuesday, reflecting upon his two terms in the White House and calling for action to preserve his legacy. From NBC News:
Obama warned that "if every economic issue is framed as a struggle between a hardworking white middle class and undeserving minorities, then workers of all shades will be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves."
Obama also warned that "Democracy can buckle when we give in to fear. So just as we, as citizens, must remain vigilant against external aggression, we must guard against a weakening of the values that make us who we are."
Obama leaves office as a failed president. Unable to lead as a statesman and work with Congress to secure consensus legislation, Obama built his legacy on a combination of executive orders and administrative rule-making. The incoming Trump administration will be able to reverse as much of that as they wish, all but erasing Obama's presidency.
The failure extends beyond statecraft. As the nation's first black president, Obama had an opportunity that will never again present itself. He was given a chance to set the tone for American race relations for the 21st century. With that opportunity, he could have done anything. He might have chosen to lead the nation toward a truly post-racial worldview, fulfilling Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of a world where individuals are judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. Instead, Obama used his bully pulpit to drag us back to the 1960s. Through both rhetoric and action, the Obama administration worked to demonize law enforcement, undermine domestic peace, and condemn the majority of Americans as bigots.
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There will no doubt be another black president someday. But there will never be another first black president. That unique opportunity to set a post-racial tone will never again manifest. Instead, the next black president will start from a disadvantage, inheriting the divisive baggage of Barack Obama.
On the bright side, the chance remains for the first female president to emerge as an inspiring and unifying figure. Had Hillary Clinton prevailed, she would have no doubt wasted the opportunity in much the same way Obama has. Americans of either gender and all racial backgrounds deserve better. https://pjmedia.com/trending/2017/01/11/we-deserved-better-than-obama-for-our-first-black-president//?singlepage=true
Obama warned that "if every economic issue is framed as a struggle between a hardworking white middle class and undeserving minorities, then workers of all shades will be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves."
Obama also warned that "Democracy can buckle when we give in to fear. So just as we, as citizens, must remain vigilant against external aggression, we must guard against a weakening of the values that make us who we are."
Obama leaves office as a failed president. Unable to lead as a statesman and work with Congress to secure consensus legislation, Obama built his legacy on a combination of executive orders and administrative rule-making. The incoming Trump administration will be able to reverse as much of that as they wish, all but erasing Obama's presidency.
The failure extends beyond statecraft. As the nation's first black president, Obama had an opportunity that will never again present itself. He was given a chance to set the tone for American race relations for the 21st century. With that opportunity, he could have done anything. He might have chosen to lead the nation toward a truly post-racial worldview, fulfilling Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of a world where individuals are judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. Instead, Obama used his bully pulpit to drag us back to the 1960s. Through both rhetoric and action, the Obama administration worked to demonize law enforcement, undermine domestic peace, and condemn the majority of Americans as bigots.
SPONSORED
There will no doubt be another black president someday. But there will never be another first black president. That unique opportunity to set a post-racial tone will never again manifest. Instead, the next black president will start from a disadvantage, inheriting the divisive baggage of Barack Obama.
On the bright side, the chance remains for the first female president to emerge as an inspiring and unifying figure. Had Hillary Clinton prevailed, she would have no doubt wasted the opportunity in much the same way Obama has. Americans of either gender and all racial backgrounds deserve better. https://pjmedia.com/trending/2017/01/11/we-deserved-better-than-obama-for-our-first-black-president//?singlepage=true
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There are many who would have done better in that role who actually love this country.
This article is one of the most intellectually offensive and ignorant pieces of shit you have ever seeded, Jeff. Go crawl back under your rock.
It is a cryin shame that this site has to tolerate this garbage from XX every day.
Maybe he should take his act into the African American communities of this country and repeat his words of wisdom on a street corner.
He might need to make sure he has his health insurance card with him though.
Maybe he should take his act into the African American communities of this country and repeat his words of wisdom on a street corner.
He might need to make sure he has his health insurance card with him thoug
So you think blacks are irrationally violent and not able to handle political discourse?
I think they respect the first black president.
That is my first thought when reading that statement.
Apparently so.
It seems like John has less faith in the humanity of the African American community than I do. He seems to think they would be violent if I told them that Cain or Carson would have done a better job than Obama did.
Maybe he should take his act into the African American communities of this country and repeat his words of wisdom on a street corner.
He might need to make sure he has his health insurance card with him though.
If you're talking about an inner city ghetto, I bet you'd be running out of there as quickly as he would no matter what you had to say.
Hal and John, I'm glad that you liked my seed.
He wasn't interested in race relations. Newsweek named him America's first gay president.
I think 1 of Many should go with Jeff.
they deserve one another.
I think 1 of Many should go with Jeff.
Age before beauty so you go first.
I don't deserve Jeff. You do.
Forget Jeff and just take the rock.
Please, please...let's not make me the center of attention here.
Now, now.... Beauty was a horse.
Now, now.... Beauty was a horse.
Worms live under rocks . . . better to be a horse so he may still go first.
If you want thought provoking discussions and reasoned debate, please visit my newer seeds in the Fox News Nation, Jefferson Conservatives, Christian Issues, and Blue Lives Matter groups. All are welcome to participate as long as they can tolerate a diversity of opinion and beliefs, can live and let live and use comity and civility in all discussions there.
X - This is an opinion piece. Don't you think it would be more appropriate in one of the following forums?
Nope. It's a political opinion piece and it is in the news and politics section
Correct.
Well I disagree X but there doesn't seem to be much of a desire to use the categories so it is what it is. ((shrug))
Or you are simply wrong.
I think that we deserve better than Trump as the first Orange Julius to be our president.
".....then workers of all shades will be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves."
Said, right before he moves to his walled private enclave. I do not believe President Obama was inclusive, I believe he did not look out for all Americans. We don't need a black president or a white president or a orange president, we need a president that wants to bring all Americans forward together.
Everybody with a brain understands that you can't please all of the people all of the time. Obama made an awesome effort. Trump's popularity is but a fraction of Obama before he even takes office, and will likely sink even further when he tries to actually govern.
So what? That doesn't effect his powers.
-
I agree with the sentiment but for my own reasons, not the OP's article.
I'm just glad the Republicans were able to block most of his socialist agenda. Had they not won the house in 2010 we would have been in big trouble.
Bullshit article! XXX Palin, you have sunk to a lowest low. Guess it should have been expected, from you.
Yes, these types of articles do nothing to bridge the divide and only accentuate the hate from some Americans for President Obama. I'm disappointed that X would seed this but he shows a lack of empathy in what he seeds sometimes. I've come to expect it.
Disappointment of something or someone is an occurance that happens once in awhile. This shit is becoming endemic with Palin for XXX and others of the same opinion and supposed beliefs that govern their miserable lives.
That's ok I'm disappointed with everything the Democrats believe in.
Me too Dean. I was so disappointed that I left the democrat party.
It's too bad you lack the ability to simply not visit those threads tgat offend your ideology so much.
It is common knowledge that XX seeds are mainly garbage. Very repetitive and boring too. I have never read one all the way through for fear of falling asleep in mid-sentence.
You are the one posting ridiculous fake news, John. Find a mirror.
You are the one posting ridiculous fake news, John. Find a mirror.
Note these kinds of comments Perrie. This is where the forum will be heading. The right is adopting a strategy of calling everything that proves them wrong to be "fake news". This is the strategy anointed by their buffoonish leader Trump.
This is the sad direction many discussion forums will be taking in this fantastical era.
Another cogent response from our resident spammer.
Well if you want serious enlightened conversation visit and join my groups. You don't get to dictate content here on the news and politics forum to your opponents. There is nothing wrong with saying Cain and Carson would have been better for all of America than Obama was.
Yes, these types of articles do nothing to bridge the divide and only accentuate the hate from some Americans for President Obama.
Disappointment of something or someone is an occurance that happens once in awhile.
It's just the start of their "Reverse Reagan" policy.
The right took the mediocre, (at best), Reagan years and have spent decades polishing that crap into jewelry they're proudly wearing to this day.
( moose poop jewelry)
They'll praise Reagan for his early tax cuts but ignore the tax increases he pushed through when his trickle down crap didn't work and, of course, they hope we'll forget what a scandal plagued Administration Reagan lead.
Reagan administration scandals. The presidency of Ronald Reagan in the United States was marked by multiple scandals, resulting in the investigation, indictment, or conviction of over 138 administration officials, the largest number for any U.S. president.
Now that Obama has shown them how well the job can be done, doing so with grace and skill during extreme times, they'll spend the next several decades trying to re-write history.
As President Obama, the most admired man in the world since 2009 steps away from the job, with his high job approval ratings and and more than 75% of his campaign promises kept , his 8 years in office having been as scandal free as humanly possible of course our friends on the extreme right will start their tear-down job.
Can't really blame them, look what they've chosen to contrast Obama with. They really are going to have to go into extreme whirling Dervish mode to cover for all the crap coming from our next Commander and Chief.
You guys have been trying to trash Reagan for decades.
Most if not all presidential historians, and over 90% of the common citizens consider him one of the two greatest modern presidents. (Kennedy being the other, and Eisenhower is rising almost to the level of making it a greatest top three)
The man had faults, I aught to know, I worked for him, but he WAS a great president and a good man.
And any one that really knew him will agree.
Well, I'll take your word for it that Reagan was a great guy but I could do without another Reagan on policy. I've had enough of obama's policies and Hillary would have been worse. Trump reminds me of the worst aspects of Reagan so I don't want him either. To me, our political parties are incapable of nominating a suitable candidate because they are dominated by their extreme wings. The two party system should be abolished and replaced with a system that encourages others to run. I want more choices and more ideas.
I still wish Colin Powell had run...
I still wish Colin Powell had run...
If he had run, I might have voted for him.
I would have, for sure!
I think of him as a man of principle and integrity.
I think of him as a man of principle and integrity.
Me too and those two qualities are the bedrock of what I look for in a candidate. If I do not see those two qualities firmly embedded in a candidate's character, then it's a deal breaker. I do not vote for rats. Period.
I still wish Colin Powell had run
Me too sister, me too....
I find it absolutely astonishing that some of the right leaning members on this site are actually trying to take away President Obama's right as the first black President.
You all are so full of hate and spite that you're actually taking it so far as to try and de-legitimize his race? Geesh - I didn't think you guys could get any lower but you've surprised me.
Wow, such stimulating conversation that NT has to offer. White people asserting that Obama isn't black.
Newstalkers: Get Dumber Here
It's all they got Hal.
And you contribute as much as anyone to the atmosphere around here Hal.
Thank you for the admission as to what you help make.
Do you have any specifics, or was that just a vacuous cheap shot?
Well lets see... (thank you for asking)
QUOTE:
Wow, such stimulating conversation that NT has to offer. White people asserting that Obama isn't black.
Newstalkers: Get Dumber Here
Well pretty general statement condemning everyone on Newstalkers.
And I just figured that your part of the everyone your condemning.
(or, is it everyone but you, or, everyone but you and those that agree with you?)
Context is very important here if you missed it. I just took the general line, it is up to you to clarify it further and declare what you really mean.
So the logic goes, either you are part of the problem your complaining about, or it is just another biased statement asserting your superiority over all others.
Either way the statement stinks.
You make the choice.
Just trying to be logical you know.
Whew . . . I thought NWM was going to give a complete list of examples.
Lol - he couldn't even provide one. A bunch of white conservatives coming together to discuss how Obama isn't black - that's like watching people get dumber in real time.
I did, all it took was one.
Sorry your too elite to admit your just as much at fault as those you complain about.
I'm elite because a bunch of white conservatives can't admit that their President is black. Ok.
He's not.
I don't have any problem with him characterizing himself as black, half black, half white or white even.
This is America he can be whatever he chooses to be.
My reference is to you saying come to Newstalkers and get dumber here.
Of which you are a prime contributor to that paradigm, since you believe it to be true.
So, why don't you stop trying to lump me in with the brainless and comment on the point I made.
If we are all getting dumber here, why are you sticking around?
Maybe when I put it that way you will get the point, and maybe not, I mean your at least as dumb as the rest of us aren't you? since you do hang around and keep responding.
Your doing a bang up job of demonstrating dumber....
I expect you will demonstrate some more.
But alas I cannot and will not sink you your level of dumbness.
Point was made, the more you answer to it the more you prove the point.
And there is no escape from your own trap. So go ahead prove the point even more.
You are here and being here makes you dumber, by your own admission.
What more can be said.
Pretty stupid to continue to respond if you ask me.
"So, why don't you stop trying to lump me in with the brainless and comment on the point I made."
My original comment was clearly aimed at those NT white conservatives who won't admit that Barack Obama is black. You decided to make a conversation out of it, even though you claim to not be part of that "brainless" group. Why is this an all or nothing thing with you? You could have just agreed that it's a dumb assertion. What's next? Are we going to have a conversation about Bob Marley not being black?
Like Hendriks, Bob Marley died way too young. I would be on your side in that argument.
Besides how great is one when he dies in 1981 and can still go back and counsel Scrooge on how to be a good man in 1881?
That's pretty FF'in great in my book.
The seeded article doesn't deny that obama is half white or half black or even African American. It simply suggests there were many better African American men and women who would have been better of America as our first African American President than he was.
Thanks NM for the ....... whatever that was.
Hal made the only point worth repeating.
Obama is black. In the US people self identify their race , as long as it is reasonable. For someone half white and half black like Obama it is totally reasonable for them to consider themselves black. And society considers him black, other than the hardcases that prefer that Obama not even be considered human.
Why dont all the whiners just shut the F up and let this man leave his stage with dignity and a thank you instead of this annoying and pointless jibber jabber about his racial makeup.
First of all not my jibber jabber, that is all your doing. I'm just happy to see the man leave office finally. Four years later than it should have happened (thank you republicans) in my opinion. What he identifies as is irrelevant to me on the basis of heritage..
Hal made a point that the site has a problem.
I made the point that he is part of that problem if he leaves it as generic as he stated.
Up to him to clarify that.
Which as I pointed out would be foolish to even attempt as he would be claiming he isn't, or he and everyone who agrees with him isn't.
And it was so simple to make that point I didn't need a long list of examples.
That is a whole mess of jibber jabber right there.
Of course to you it would be, or better put, how you MUST depict it.
But it stands to reason, your responses are part of what makes this site what it is, so you ARE part of the problem your complaining about.
As your response clearly demonstrates.
Case closed.