ICYMI
"(This) paper finds that while President Obama had wide discretion and appropriated funds to relieve homeowners caught in the economic crisis, the policy design his administration chose for his housing program was a disaster. Instead of helping homeowners, at every turn the administration was obsessed with protecting the financial system — and so homeowners were left to drown.
"As a result, the percentage of black homeowners who were underwater on their mortgage exploded 20-fold from 2007 to 2013."
http://peoplespolicyproject.org/2017/12/07/destruction-of-black-wealth-during-the-obama-presidency/
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Monday, 11 December 2017 17:07 (six years ago) link
obama fetishism is even more loathesome now than it was pre-trump
― marcos, Thursday, 28 December 2017 03:27 (six years ago) link
you're right, it's disgusting when we have such an excellent current president
― crüt, Thursday, 28 December 2017 03:30 (six years ago) link
Presidents need to be measured by the yardstick of all the other presidents who preceded or followed them. The job is unlike most any other job and places peculiar burdens and demands upon the people who seek and fill the office. You can't measure them accurately by comparing them to some unicorn that exists only in your imagination, which will never appear in real life, no matter how long you live. Within the framework of the U.S. presidency, Obama perhaps doesn't make the top five list, but he easily makes the top ten.
― A is for (Aimless), Thursday, 28 December 2017 03:45 (six years ago) link
what kind of yardstick do you own?
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 December 2017 03:48 (six years ago) link
(top twenty for sure)
i see your moral relativism and 'unicorn' bullshit, Aimless, and fuck it, along with Obama
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 28 December 2017 04:29 (six years ago) link
mass murderers tend to ruin the grading curve
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 28 December 2017 04:37 (six years ago) link
morbs, ranking presidents relative to one another is, by definition an exercise in relativism. the job of president has such vast ramifications upon so many millions, for both good and ill, often due to the same decision, that moral purity is not an option. if you ever had the misfortune to find yourself doing the job, you'd not only be thoroughly miserable, but, unless you were paralyzed by moral indecision, you'd do some amount of irreparable harm each time you tried to do some indisputable good, and therefore become a pariah to yourself.
― A is for (Aimless), Thursday, 28 December 2017 06:33 (six years ago) link
Sliding scale relativism, civilian drone deaths and "hilarious" comedy Caribbean accents aside, his current guise as benevolent billionaire with much hypocritical + platitudinous drivel + smugness to impart to us mere mortals - his global fan club of course, makes him an even worse example of a presumptuous + arrogant twat than Blair.
― calzino, Thursday, 28 December 2017 11:47 (six years ago) link
these people pursue the job relentlessly, Aimless, and hence are sociopaths by definition
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 28 December 2017 13:28 (six years ago) link
Sociopaths get good things signed into law too. We know this.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 December 2017 14:50 (six years ago) link
"You're too hip baby, I can't carry you anymore"
― "Taste's very strange!" (stevie), Thursday, 28 December 2017 15:03 (six years ago) link
don't ask me to love em
peace out
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 28 December 2017 15:13 (six years ago) link
there are maybe three presidents better than obama and that's pushing it
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 28 December 2017 18:53 (six years ago) link
No one here wants to grab a micro brew with Bam, for god's sake.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 December 2017 18:54 (six years ago) link
I'd totally grab a micro brew with him
― Moodles, Thursday, 28 December 2017 19:25 (six years ago) link
i dunno he seems busy
i wouldn't wanna waste his time
― j., Thursday, 28 December 2017 19:34 (six years ago) link
Seems like a potentially awkward situation. "Sorry Barry, I have to turn down this highly imaginary invitation to grab some beers because I think you have more important things to do with your time." I think he'd be bummed.
― Moodles, Thursday, 28 December 2017 20:07 (six years ago) link
never forget
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2009/07/30/us/31obama_600.jpg
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 December 2017 20:08 (six years ago) link
that looks like a very un-fun and contrived liquid lunch, would definitely pass on an event like that.
― calzino, Thursday, 28 December 2017 20:15 (six years ago) link
plus the beer looks like shit beer
― Lyudmila Pavlichenko (dandydonweiner), Thursday, 28 December 2017 20:16 (six years ago) link
and Biden's drinking near beer!
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 December 2017 20:17 (six years ago) link
I can take the shit beer all day long, just not the shit people!
― calzino, Thursday, 28 December 2017 20:19 (six years ago) link
good beer makes shit people more survivable
― Lyudmila Pavlichenko (dandydonweiner), Thursday, 28 December 2017 20:21 (six years ago) link
how many Mafia dons are better than Obama, J.D.?
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 28 December 2017 20:24 (six years ago) link
Mafia dons don't get the poor subsidized health care or the Lily Ledbetter Act sighed. Man, you are so tedious about this -- it's like you can't imagine people can have complicated reactions to things other than Spielberg joints.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 December 2017 20:27 (six years ago) link
they do kill people they don't know, however
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 28 December 2017 20:29 (six years ago) link
tho usually not children
I had a complicated reaction to at least one Spielberg joint.
― Lyudmila Pavlichenko (dandydonweiner), Thursday, 28 December 2017 20:32 (six years ago) link
It would get expensive to put a bullet in the head of every sick person in America, it's true
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 December 2017 20:33 (six years ago) link
lol @ calzino piling on for no reason
― El Tomboto, Thursday, 28 December 2017 20:57 (six years ago) link
I try to stay out of US politics, but he invaded my space on the radio the other morning. There are plenty of other reasons to pile on Obama, other than he seems a loathsome person tbf.
― calzino, Thursday, 28 December 2017 21:06 (six years ago) link
This a purpose built Obama's Faults thread as well.
― calzino, Thursday, 28 December 2017 21:09 (six years ago) link
idk, as faults go, "seeming loathsome to calzino" rates as pretty marginal.
― A is for (Aimless), Thursday, 28 December 2017 21:14 (six years ago) link
well the accelerated use of drone strikes on civilians that he signed off on is pretty loathsome to anybody who isn't a brainwashed apologist.
― calzino, Thursday, 28 December 2017 21:17 (six years ago) link
for a start.
― calzino, Thursday, 28 December 2017 21:18 (six years ago) link
I think you might be confused about what the job is that he held for 8 years. But I’m not getting into this with you, my attitudes regarding the legitimacy of the state’s use of lethal violence and espionage are all over the place
― El Tomboto, Thursday, 28 December 2017 21:28 (six years ago) link
Yeah, you'd think he'd at least ask them to change the name 'Drone Strikes on Civilians' to something a bit less conspicuous.
― Frederik B, Thursday, 28 December 2017 21:32 (six years ago) link
He personally changed the rules of engagement, which led to escalating civilian deaths during his presidency, there is no Bama-splaining or bullshit sophistry that gets him a free pass from that.
― calzino, Thursday, 28 December 2017 21:33 (six years ago) link
That's part of his legacy and he can wear to it to the fucking grave.
― calzino, Thursday, 28 December 2017 21:37 (six years ago) link
xps Are you saying that Obama signed off on drone strikes solely against civilians? As in, "Let's forget about killing soldiers or military leaders; let's just kill off some civilians as our military objective and see if that helps"? Or would you say the motive that lead to the action maybe a bit more complex than that?
This no doubt counts as apologetics in your view, but my point is not that killing civilians is trivial, but that your characterization of his action was not complete, and the omission was significant. It is easy, once you've arrived at a judgment, to distort facts to eliminate any which tend to run counter to your opinion. If you've ever been the target of such distortions of your actions or motives, you may perhaps recognize the unfairness of doing the same to others.
― A is for (Aimless), Thursday, 28 December 2017 21:43 (six years ago) link
― calzino, 28. december 2017 22:33 (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― calzino, 28. december 2017 22:37 (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Except it's not really true, though, is it?
― Frederik B, Thursday, 28 December 2017 21:54 (six years ago) link
The Drone PPG is from 2013, after the escalation. Or are you talking about something else?
― Frederik B, Thursday, 28 December 2017 21:58 (six years ago) link
I already stated that he changed the rules of engagement that rendered the killing of civilians quite a trivial matter under his watch, thus me saying his laissez faire drone strikes are a major part of his legacy. You're all fucking crazy tbh!
― calzino, Thursday, 28 December 2017 21:58 (six years ago) link
But that's not true?
― Frederik B, Thursday, 28 December 2017 22:00 (six years ago) link
I'm not trying to be an apologist, I'm not trying to apologize for his actions. What you're saying isn't really his actions, though?
― Frederik B, Thursday, 28 December 2017 22:01 (six years ago) link
― calzino, Thursday, December 28, 2017 9:33 PM (thirty-four minutes ago)
this is fucking moronic. obama's predecessor launched a needless war that resulted in hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths. he also started the drone war. you have to be a shameless republican apologist to argue that obama "escalated civilian deaths."
incidentally, the guy in office now killed more civilians in his first seven months than obama did in eight years:
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-has-already-killed-more-civilians-obama-us-fight-against-isis-653564
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 28 December 2017 22:15 (six years ago) link
The drone war escalated under Obama, though, exactly because he de-escalated conventional warfare. I think civilian deaths escalated as well in 2009-2013, but I just can't find that personal change in rules of engagement that calzino is talking about.
― Frederik B, Thursday, 28 December 2017 22:19 (six years ago) link
Can we just get to the heart of the matter and admit that Obama’s greatest flaw is being buddies with Prince Harry and that’s why calzino is actually here tonight
― El Tomboto, Thursday, 28 December 2017 22:55 (six years ago) link