I Could Use A Little Outside Perspective...

[alphadraighon]

I live in the US. To be more exact, I live in a very conservative part of the US. Needless to say, I hear quite a bit about what an evil person our president is. I hear it a lot, and personally don't believe a word of it.

 

What I'd like, though, is to hear the thoughts of people who are not themselves American. I would like the real opinions on Barak Obama from people who are outside of the issues. As Americans, sometimes my fellow countrymen can't separate their own feelings and beliefs from solid facts, and I believe that it is beginning to color their opinions on, what appear to me, to be a decent president doing his best with what he's got to work with. So far, he's impressed me as neither better nor worse than the average for a president. He's only been in office a year, and some of my countrymen are already calling for his impeachment, although to my knowledge he's not actually done anything.

 

I would like to hear from other people, people not of the US. I want to know what's being said in your countries, what the opinions are (among those who have them; I realize that American politics probably isn't anyone's favorite thing to keep up to date on.)

 

So tell me what you think. I'm eager to get the world's opinions and see how they contrast or compliment the feelings of many of my countrymen.

[Nedew]

Most people here (England, 'The South') like him, but they'd struggle to name 5 of his policies. It's basically because he can talk well and isn't Bush.

 

I just see him as a black David Cameron though. All mouth. I find it laughable to hear certain right-winger Americans call him a socialist, even a communist - he'd barely qualify as a centrist over here.

 

But yeah, i'm just some wacky peace-loving hippy. I'm not exactly the best demographic representation.

 

Basically, people like him but don't know why.

[Self]

Hmm. I was under the impression all Americans LOVED him. I guess I watch too much liberally-biased TV. Damn you, Hollywood!

 

Personally, I have zero opinion of the guy. One American President is much the same as the rest, I reckon... Except that Lincoln dude. He had a pimpin' hat.

[The Masked Orange]

I think his health reforms are one of the better things that has tried to be introduced into America for a long time.

 

In America, there's alot of media swing. Bush was a conservative republic who was popular in the south, but his decision to allow IVF treatments was glazed over in the conservative media.

 

I think that his economic reforms haven't been that great, but then again, it's all in hindsight.

[Nevermore]

Don't like him... at all.

 

Purely because he's completely failed to deliver what he promised.

 

Constitutional restrictions? Separation of Powers? Meh... he's fronting a unified government and rumours are abounding that the reason he's stalled on health reform is because of financial incentives from insurance companies.

 

Conspiracy theory? Maybe but as a political science student, I've come to expect the worst from the US political system. No offence, mind. The UK's one is even worse in my opinion.

 

I think you can count the amount of 20th century presidents whose heart was in the right place on one hand. Obama doesn't qualify for me. It might have been a year ago... but you know the whole saying about power.

 

Then again, I don't have to deal with it so I'm not too bent out of shape .

 

EDIT:

 

In America, there's alot of media swing.

 

Jesus, try living in Britain.

 

Quote The Raven

Nevermore

[Hyde Hill]

Seriously the US media is even worse.

 

First of he is a lot better then Bush Jr. in every aspect.

 

That he finally got health care done to a certain degree is a major achievement and should not be overlooked given all the opposition. Plus he is only one year in so its hard to judge on the rest the next two years will be the important ones as it has always been the first year to settle in, two years to get things done and the last year to gear for re election.

 

The dude is doing fine and he isn't liberal/anti american/socialist etc that is just the right wing stufffing your head with non sense.

 

20th century presidents with the heart in the right place: Wilson, Coolidge, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr, Clinton. That's not a bad batch at all. None where perfect granted but all did good things or intended to do good. Compared to all those guys Bush Jr. was an utter failure even-though he is a 21st century one lolz.

 

And I am also a political science student btw.

[The Masked Orange]

Jesus, try living in Britain.

 

Pessimistic much.

 

The US media is much worse, from what I understand, news channels that try to run down the middle often don't get the ratings they want, or eventually have one side blast them so they're labelled as one sided anyway.

 

And then there are the ones that just like the perks of being on a "side" and pandering to it.

 

Hey, know your audience and all that jazz...

[Nedew]

I am amazed that anyone can even begin to consider Reagan good in any way, shape or form.

 

I think if Obama was a socialist, it would do a lot of Americans a lot of good. Good luck persuading them though.

[Hyde Hill]

Hey I personally am not a big fan of Reagan but his hart was in the right place and good things did happen during his term although it is questionable if it happened because or despite of him but that's a whole other debate.

[Nedew]

Nicaragua, The War On Drugs, ignorance of AIDS, bugger all welfare. "But hey, the economic numbers looked pretty!" doesn't really compensate.

[Nevermore]

Seriously the US media is even worse.

 

First of he is a lot better then Bush Jr. in every aspect.

 

Yeah but who hasn't ?

That he finally got health care done to a certain degree is a major achievement and should not be overlooked given all the opposition. Plus he is only one year in so its hard to judge on the rest the next two years will be the important ones as it has always been the first year to settle in, two years to get things done and the last year to gear for re election.

 

Personally, I don't think it works like that. With mid-terms coming up this year, the first eighteen months is vital for public perception.

 

What opposition exactly? Granted, there is a traditional opposition to welfare in the states but he has a more favourably partisan Congress than any Democratic president has had since the Great Society - apart from maybe Clinton in '92. I don't pretend to know the exact numbers. You cannot argue with the logic (or the statistics that support said logic) that unified government always provides the greatest platform for proactive and major legislation.

The dude is doing fine and he isn't liberal/anti american/socialist etc that is just the right wing stufffing your head with non sense.

 

That's kind of the point, though. Doing "fine" after all the jesus-hype is not exactly kocher in my book.

 

20th century presidents with the heart in the right place: Wilson, Coolidge, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr, Clinton. That's not a bad batch at all. None where perfect granted but all did good things or intended to do good. Compared to all those guys Bush Jr. was an utter failure even-though he is a 21st century one lolz.

 

Again, no dispute on the Bush comment.

 

...but Coolidge, Truman and Nixon? Really?! Especially Nixon... I'm not sure that man had a single redeeming feature. I mean evidence suggests he only was so politically succesful thanks to the regional split caused by Wallace in '68 and the McGovern/Muskie debacle leading up to '72.

 

I won't say your wrong since it's obviously a matter of perspective but I think your being very kind to some very shady, or at least indifferent/inactive, individuals there. I mean, personally, I would blame much of the Cold War tension on the Truman administration and what did Coolidge actually do in terms of meaningful policy?

 

Nicaragua, The War On Drugs, ignorance of AIDS, bugger all welfare. "But hey, the economic numbers looked pretty!" doesn't really compensate.

 

Actually, to a very large extent I do think it compensates for many, many reasons. In the words of the Clinton campaign team, "It's the economy, stupid (not you, Nedew ). It's always the economy".

 

Pessimistic much.

 

The US media is much worse, from what I understand, news channels that try to run down the middle often don't get the ratings they want, or eventually have one side blast them so they're labelled as one sided anyway.

 

Very pessimistic, yeah. I'm planning to emigrate .

 

I don't necessarily disagree actually. The only distinction I'd draw is that American society seems to know how partisan their press are. Britain seems to house the most ignorant and apathetic electorate in the "western" world. I mean we don't even have the same justification - negative campaigning and "issue advocacy" (or whatever it's called) is nowhere near as much of a problem over here and yet our turnout is still pathetic. Our knowledge levels, I'd venture, are even more woeful.

 

As I always say, US politics is extremely corrupt and everyone knows it. UK politics is extremely corrupt and everyone is either ignorant or simply doesn't care - I've never quite worked that one out.

 

Quote The Raven

Nevermore

[The Masked Orange]

In all fairness, Coolidge helped to get rid of the corruption left in the upper echelons of American politics due to Wilson (???) and the Ohio Gang. And during his presidency there was a big boom in the economy.

 

EDIT: Not Wilson, Harding. Wilson was before Harding. And Coolidge doesn't grant pardons like that sissy Ford.

[Hyde Hill]

Depends on your definition of corrupt. If one uses the wide definition all politics and actually all organizations etc are corrupt to a certain extent. What really matters is how said corruption works out.

 

Simple example: Corruption in Africa -> Not good.

Corruption in Italy post WW2 till the 90's -> economic boom.

 

But this is going way off topic and into actual politics which I could debate endlessly lolz.

[Nedew]

Actually, to a very large extent I do think it compensates for many, many reasons. In the words of the Clinton campaign team, "It's the economy, stupid (not you, Nedew ). It's always the economy".

 

Rich people getting more money compensates for people's deaths?

[Prophet]

Don't like him... at all.

 

Purely because he's completely failed to deliver what he promised.

 

Constitutional restrictions? Separation of Powers? Meh... he's fronting a unified government and rumours are abounding that the reason he's stalled on health reform is because of financial incentives from insurance companies.

 

Conspiracy theory? Maybe but as a political science student, I've come to expect the worst from the US political system. No offence, mind. The UK's one is even worse in my opinion.

 

I think you can count the amount of 20th century presidents whose heart was in the right place on one hand. Obama doesn't qualify for me. It might have been a year ago... but you know the whole saying about power.

 

Then again, I don't have to deal with it so I'm not too bent out of shape .

 

EDIT:

 

 

 

Jesus, try living in Britain.

 

Quote The Raven

Nevermore

 

*starts drawing up documents for world domination, with the plan to make Nevvy supreme high emperor of the world ... and Prophet gaining the role of defender of bars, pubs, and alehouses.* Muahahahahaha!

[Hyde Hill]

*Starts studying on Oswald and making his own one in case that happens*

[Genadi]

Australia here, I think he's great. I've explained to many of my American friends why.... I travel a fair bit for my work sometimes internationally, I love politics so I always seem to strike up a convo with someone regarding it. He changed the perspective the World had on the US quicker and more drastically then I thought possible. If only for that I think he's thousands of times better then your last president who didn't seem to realise the Globalisation he strived for so much is a reality that he ignored and paid the price for.

 

Obama isn't Superman and the people expecting to have health care reform etc done in his first year or even term were dreaming and had their expectations rightfully shattered.

[MrOnu]

Province of Quebec here, not to be confused with Canada in general as our media/politician/image makers are on a different pattern than the rest of the country.

 

So to give you a basic understanting of our situation :

- In some regards, social policies in PQ could be compared to France one's aka we'd be called damn socialists in South US (result is : we have the biggest deficit in Canada and we're are the most taxed state in North America. And yet, no one seems to care, but that's another topic for another day)

- Namely, we have a public health care system. It's illegal to run a private hospital, only small private health clinics doing very specific interventions are tolerated. Private health insurance is inexistant, there's only the governement one.

- We like to present ourselves as leader in the environment department, climate change fighting and such.

- Media and politicians are vastly against war. Any war; under any circumstances. Not that it matters since the army is a federal entity, but people can always complain.

 

As you can see the pattern here, everything Bush represented was simply the worst thing on Earth. It even resulted in some kind of racism toward Americans at some point, which is very lame. Since Obama ran for presidency, he's presented in our province like the second coming of God. Anything he'll do, anything he'll say will be reviewed as extremely positive. Sure there is some groups that are more harsh or realists on Obama, but they are usually shut down by mainstream media.

[mjdgoldeneye]

I'm American, so my input wasn't requested, but I have to say that (even as a fairly liberal guy), Nixon and Reagan weren't entirely awful. Basically the moment Reagan was sworn in, the Iranian crisis ended... I wonder why?

 

Nixon, on the other hand, had some great foreign policy (not counting Vietnam, obviously, but that kind of fell into his lap). He also got some surprisingly liberal programs going.

 

Don't like him... at all.

 

Purely because he's completely failed to deliver what he promised.

 

Constitutional restrictions? Separation of Powers? Meh... he's fronting a unified government and rumours are abounding that the reason he's stalled on health reform is because of financial incentives from insurance companies.

 

Conspiracy theory? Maybe but as a political science student, I've come to expect the worst from the US political system. No offence, mind. The UK's one is even worse in my opinion.

 

I think you can count the amount of 20th century presidents whose heart was in the right place on one hand. Obama doesn't qualify for me. It might have been a year ago... but you know the whole saying about power.

 

Then again, I don't have to deal with it so I'm not too bent out of shape .

 

Obama is powerless, actually.

 

Over here, you can't get JACK done without a super-majority in Congress. Congress is screwed up.

 

Obama didn't change his mind or bend to corruption, he just realized it's nearly impossible to pass any meaningful legislation without endless pork and huge lobby influence on Congress.

 

However, it is worth noting that Obama seems to be trying to pander to the right to gain their support without realizing it's a pointless endeavor.

 

This video sums it up pretty well, starting about a minute in: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-january-27-2010/blues-clueless

 

Obama said he'd rather be a good 1-term president than a mediocre 2-term president. That's kind of breaking political kayfabe.

[CQI13]

I'm sure that can be arranged.

[mjdgoldeneye]

I'm sure that can be arranged.

 

For him to be a good 1-term president?

 

I sure hope so...

 

[CQI13]

The good or the 1? Either way I'll be happy.

[BHK1978]

First of he is a lot better then Bush Jr. in every aspect.

 

Hate to be a jerk, but Hyde he is not a junior. This bothers me every time I see it. He is George Walker Bush whereas his father was George Herbert Walker Bush two different names. What is weird is nobody ever calls John Q. Adams a junior but they do it to Bush all of the time.

 

Okay back to your topic.

[Stennick]

Basically the moment Reagan was sworn in, the Iranian crisis ended... I wonder why?

 

To be fair that had zero to do with Regan and had everything to do with the Iranian Government not wanting to give the satisfaction of releasing them under Carter's watch. They were sitting on a plane literally waiting for Reagan to be sworn in.

 

I'm not much of a Reagan fan and I agree that very few 20th century presidents had their heart in the right place. Nixon surely not, Bush Sr. was proven to be in bed with OPEC. Clinton well I'm not sure where I stand on that guy.

 

I have to say I'm quite impressed with the knowledge the UK and Canada have of our politics.

 

I'm sorry to say all I know about UK politics is that some time ago guns were outlawed in the country thus destroying the past time of fox hunting? IDK I briefly worked for the NRA, not because I believed in their cause but because they paid me an absurd amount of money to do so. So when they gave me talking points to cover when dealing with the media they wanted me to push the whole "we'll wind up like the UK with our guns taken away" and I was to throw that in between bashing the Clinton's for their evil gun law. I didn't care if it was true or not they were paying me and the Clinton's weren't so I said whatever they told me to say.

 

So yeah other than extreme strict gun laws and the belief that most people in the UK hate being in Iraq more than the U.S citizens do and Tony Blair is thought to be a puppet created by the United States to do whatever we tell him to.

 

Other than that though I couldn't tell you a single thing about politics. Although I still think "Blackpool, England" is the coolest hometown name ever.

[alphadraighon]

I'm glad to see so many people weighing in, and glad to hear such varied opinions. Believe it or not, folks, but this sort of discussion isn't all that common here in the States (at least not where I live.)

 

To help give some perspective to you guys overseas about just how bad the reaction to Obama is over here, I'll site two things that you may not hear on your own news. Heck, I'm an American and I haven't even heard some of this stuff on any of my local news sources.

 

First, that there is a group here in the US called "Birthers". They have decided that, for some reason, Obama's American birth certificate is fake. They claim it's a vast conspiracy on a multi-national level (although none can say who is running in or why.) These people actually have the support of people in our Congress and our Senate.

 

Second, there is a pastor named Steven Anderson, who preached to his congregation that he hates Obama as a human, and prays daily for the man's death. He actually believes that the Bible itself condones this action, and that "Jesusu himself" would pray for Obamas death. (His reasoning is based on the whole abortion issue, which for everyone's sake lets not get into here.)

 

The hatred for Obama is HUGE. Personally, I think the jury is still out, but for a lot of people where I'm from, this man is the Anti-Christ. Not to sound bigoted myself, but it's mostly white people who are so outraged. Now, I know a good deal of the world classifies itself as Caucasian, but here in the States the term white people has its own meaning. On a nearly daily basis, I hear people say everything from "he's an idiot" to "he's a commie" to "somebody should just JFK that n***er." It's wild.

 

Thank you all for being so honest. I hope to hear more opinions soon.