PRESIDENT OBAMA MAKES A SURPRISE VISIT AS SANTA CLAUS

Feeling Rebloggy

     Watch out, Santa: Former president Barack Obama is coming for your sleigh.

     With a fluffy red cap and a bulging bag slung over his shoulder, Obama delivered presents (and more than a few gasps) to the young patients at Children’s National hospital in Northwest Washington on Wednesday.
     First on Obama’s list was a group of patients 4 and up who were making snowflakes in one of the hospital’s playrooms. After the excitement died down, the former president handed out jigsaw puzzles (which were his grandmother’s favorite, he told the crowd), Hot Wheels sets, remote-control cars, and glittery nail polish, among other goodies collected by Obama and his staffers. Hey, the guy knows his audience.
     “I know they will be talking about it for years to come,” said Kurt Newman, chief executive and president of Children’s National Health System. “At such a busy time of year, when no one wants to be in the hospital, his natural warmth lifted the spirits of those kids, their parents and of each staff member he met along the way.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2018/12/19/barack-obama-dons-santa-hat-hands-out-gifts-surprise-visit-dc-childrens-hospital/?

OBAMA BOULEVARD COMES TO LOS ANGELES

Feeling Rebloggy

The city of Los Angeles voted to rename Rodeo Road to Obama Boulevard,  according to a tweet from Mayor Eric Garcetti Tuesday night.

Rodeo Road is a small stretch of road that runs for about four miles in the Baldwin Hills, Crenshaw, Leimert Park and Jefferson Park areas of Los Angeles, south of the 10 Freeway. It's not to be confused with Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

When he was a candidate for president in 2007, Obama held a campaign rally at Rancho Cienega Recreation Center on Rodeo Road...

~NBC

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Obama-Boulevard-Coming-to-LA-Garcetti-491957461.html?_osource=SocialNewsDeskFB_KNBC

PRESIDENT OBAMA TAKES TOP HONORS AGAIN

Former President Barack Obama is America’s “most admired man” for the 10th consecutive year, according to new survey data from Gallup. 

The annual poll has been taken every year but one since 1946 and asks respondents to name their most admired man and woman, as well as their second choice.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/366561-poll-obama-is-most-admired-man-for-the-10th-year-in-a-row#.WkPsaJ35Grw.facebook


The sample size isn't very large. And they don't limit the number of people who can be nominated. Therefore, someone like Hillary Clinton can "win" at being the most admired woman with only 9% of the vote, with Michelle Obama Obama coming in second with 7%

So this honor isn't that big an honor. HOWEVER...

TrumpleThinSkin The Dorito-Orange Diablo got beat by the Black Prez AGAIN.  

HAAAA!

OBAMA SAID OF TRUMP: 'HE'S NOTHING BUT A BULLSHITTER'

Feeling Rebloggy

Barack Obama doesn’t get upset; in fact, he rarely loses his cool. It was one of the things that troubled me about his presidency. I really just wanted him to stop it with the politics of racial representation and threaten to kick someone’s ass. It isn’t really his fault, though; he knew how to play his presidential position. It was just my dream that one day he would get real Chicago on a senator.

Nevertheless, People magazine is reporting that back in November, after hearing that Donald Trump had won the presidential election and professed his “respect” and “admiration” for Obama after once being the biggest voice in the Birther movement, Obama reportedly said of Trump, “He’s nothing but a bullshitter!”

Boom!

Hiyoooooooooooo! 

~THE ROOT

Read More: 

http://www.theroot.com/obama-on-trump-hes-nothing-but-a-bullshitter-1795305249

I Knew Obama had to have said something like this

I saw it on Michelle's face when she looked at Trump at least twice.

The only thing that surprises me about Obama calling Trump the "Bullshitter" that he is that Obama said it to someone other than Michelle and maybe his daughters before he officially left office.

HAPPY MEMORIES VIDEO:Five minutes of Obama roasting

piggy-eyed 

Trump's wide-load, limited-energy, birther @SS (and Fox News too) at the White House Correspondent's Dinner in 2011, the same dinner Trump was afraid to go this year

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S FIRST SPEECH SINCE LEAVING OFFICE - UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, APRIL 24, 2017

“What’s been going on since I’ve been gone?” joked the former Democratic president as he moderated an event at the University of Chicago in the city where he began his political career and which will be the site of his presidential library.

Obama, who once taught constitutional law at the school, recalled starting out as a young community organizer in the city and told a panel of six current and former students that he decided to focus his post-presidency on encouraging young people to engage with their communities. 

"The single most important thing I can do is to help in any way prepare the next generation of leadership to take up the baton and to take their own crack at changing the world," he told an audience of several hundred people.  

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-obama-chicago-idUSKBN17Q29F 

 One of the first things President Obama said before he started this question answer session was that he's wondering what his next job should be. I was really happy to hear him say that he wants to work on create the next generation of leadership.

I'm still listening to the speech. I haven't finished it yet. But I'm hoping he finds a way to communicate, in this speech or the next, that individual black people becoming rich, that the black community creating its own darker-skinned one-percent, doesn't help us collectively.

In fact, I'm wondering if our black one percent doesn't represent the vast majority of the 13 percent of black men and more than a quarter of latino men that voted for Trump.

Whenever I read about Black Wall Street, all I can think about is how little political power those rich (?) black men must have had.

Think about it, black men who were equivalent in power to Bob Johnson and Oprah Winfrey -- or on their way to that kind of money-power -- just had everything snatched away from them...because they couldn't create and control the laws, which his what you have when you have political power.

I've been paying more attention to Trump than most anything else on television and news lately. And it's kind of incredible to watch the republicans just walk up to rules and laws and just change them or ignore them when they want to refuse to put a Supreme Court Justice in place for a year or decide they don't want 60 votes to be necessary to put someone like Neil Gorsuch on the supreme court.

It seems to me there are very few federal laws that has to do with our congressmen that the party in power can't just eliminate or ignore. 

Black folks need the power to ignore or change laws at will too OR the power to enforce them on white men no matter what their title is or how much money they have. 

So the black community does need those people that have the power associated with money. But we also need a heck of a lot more political power than we currently have.  President Obama's presidency showed us that. The republicans held up dozens and dozens of his judicial nominations, not just the supreme court.

We need to tell our young people more than  "Politicians are all cheats and liars and white people will always control everything. Why bother to vote." We need to tell our children to do more than just vote. We need to tell our children to run for office if we don't want to have choices like Hillary Clinton (questionable racial past) and Bernie Sanders (numb and deaf to anything but cross-burning, n-word-yelling white racism)

To be specific, in truth, I think we'll be better off if we place our hopes in creating politically powerful black women. 

In a patriarchal society, boys and men turn toward competition with other men because it's rewarded and seen as normal and good. Steve Harvey wrote an entire book on how men are not going to focus on anything, or any relationship until he feels worthwhile making money. While this is more than somewhat simple-minded, there's more than an element of truth in this. A lot of men feel like nothing if they aren't making money, if they aren't the bread winner. There aren't a lot of Barack Obama's out there who could be married to a woman making 100K more than he is and even take the time to make virtually nothing for periods of time to be a community leader.

Black feminist men understand that competition, greed for money and power without thinking of anything else is something only white men can afford to do. White leaders of corporations know their white political brothers have their backs via having their white male hands on 90% of the levers of power.

Unlike white men, when you are black or brown, in my opinion, you have to think of the collective just as much as you think about your own aspirations. Yes, we need people of color to have money-power. But that money-power isn't safe unless you have a political power shield. In addition to being outnumbered and outgunned, that is the lesson of Black Wall Street for me. 

We need political power at the state and federal level. Again, I think it's going to be black and brown women that get this done.

While female socialization can be very negative in some ways, black women having been socialized to think of the family, to think of the black group first --instead of "I wonder how much money and power it's going to take for me to feel like I'm valuable" like men of all races tend to do-- might actually wind up being a very good thing.

Black and brown women may not put self first often enough, but the flip side of this socialization might make them better community nurturers, better community leaders, and better politicians.Nurturing isn't just for children. We need to nurture our communities. 

President Obama and feminist men like him are rare. Too many black men cannot conceive of looking at feminism in the same way they look at anti-racism. 

Maybe that'll be different one day. And we need to make that different for black boys TODAY for sure. We need to take the straight jacket of masculinity off them. 

But for now, I think we feel most hopeful about placing our focus on moving our black girls toward community service, leadership programs with links to city jobs and city offices, running for office in small towns, and getting on city boards for this or that. 

If we don't move toward leading ourselves at the federal and state level, we're going to have to deal with someone that will capitalize on Trump's white supremacy gains.  

This country is getting browner and browner. White supremacy is not going to go down without a fight. We need to be politically ready to deal with that.  

Read More

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-obama-chicago-idUSKBN17Q29F

h

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S COMMON SENSE ANSWER ON WHY HE DIDN'T INVADE SYRIA

SHORT SUMMARY OF 

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S ANSWER: 

NO WAY TO WIN WITHOUT A HUGE OUTLAY OF AMERICAN LIVES IN THE FORM OF U.S. TROOPS   
plus 
NO EXIT STRATEGY 

equals
NO REASON TO PLAN AN ENTRANCE STRATEGY


Hear it for yourself

COMPARE: TRUMPS NON-PLAN

1) Bomb Syria without any thought to a whole foreign policy picture for Syria - no fully formed entrance strategy or even a next step...much less an exit strategy. (We've seen this U.S. made movie before in Iraq. And it birthed ISIS)

2) Drop 59 bombs and somehow miss the damn runway,  making sure Syria can continue to do whatever it wants to do from that very same airport.

3) Ensure Iran, Russia and the Assad Regime become even more united against the United States in Syria. 

 

headline 
Russian warship moves into area near U.S. destroyers that launched Syria attack
read more

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/russian-warship-moves-u-s-destroyers-syria-article-1.3030934


BLACKCHICKROCKED.BLOGSPOT.COM

OBAMA APPOINTED JUDGE DENIES DOJ JEFF SESSIONS REQUEST TO DELAY CHANGES TO BALTIMORE POLICE

Feeling Rebloggy

"The time for negotiating the agreement is over," [Judge] Bredar wrote. "The only question now is whether the Court needs more time to consider the proposed decree. It does not."

The order is effective immediately, and Bredar gave the parties two weeks to deliver a new timeline for implementing the deal....

~BALTIMORE SUN 

BLACK LIVES MATTER

The consent decree calls for significant new restrictions on officers, including limits on when and how they can engage individuals suspected of criminal activity. It orders more training for police on de-escalation tactics and interactions with youths, those with mental illness and protesters, as well as more supervision for officers.

The deal also requires the city to invest in better technology and equipment, and for the Police Department to enhance civilian oversight and transparency...

~BALTIMORE SUN 

PRESIDENT OBAMA IS A GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

Read More: 
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-consent-decree-approved-20170407-story.html


Mayor Pugh Video: 
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/93000266-132.html

For Everyone Who Thinks They Suffered During Obama's Presidency

feeling rebloggy

When a Facebook friend told Scott M, "We suffered for 8 years. Now it’s your turn,” this was Scott's reply:

"I am surprised you would wish suffering upon me. That of course is your right, I suppose. I do not wish harm on anyone. Your statement seems to continue an ‘US v THEM’ mentality.

The election is over. It is important to get past campaigning and campaign rhetoric and get down to what is uniting not dividing and what is best for ALL Americans.

There will never be a President who does everything to everyone’s liking. There are things President Obama (and President Clinton) did that I do not like and conversely there are things I can point to that the Presidents Bush did that I agree with. So I am not 100% in lock step with the outgoing President but have supported him and the overall job he did.

And, if you recall, during the Presidential Campaign back in 2008 the campaign was halted because of the "historic crisis in our financial system." Wall Street bailout negotiations intervened in the election process.

The very sobering reality was that there likely could be a Depression and the world financial markets could collapse. The United States was losing 800,000 jobs a month and was poised to lose at least 10 million jobs the first year once the new President took office. We were in an economic freefall.

So let us recall that ALL of America was suffering terribly at the beginning of Obama’s Presidency.

But I wanted to look back over the last 8 years and ask you a few questions. Since much of the rhetoric before Obama was elected was that he would impose Sharia Law, Take Away Your Guns, Create Death Panels, Destroy the Economy, Impose Socialism and, since you will agree that NONE of this came to pass,I was wondering:

Why have you suffered so?

So let me ask:

Gays and Lesbians can now marry and enjoy the benefits they had been deprived of. Has this caused your suffering?

When Obama took office, the Dow was 6,626. Now it is 19,875. Has this caused your suffering?

We had 82 straight months of private sector job growth - the longest streak in the history of the United States. Has this caused your suffering?

Especially considering where he the economy was when he took over, an amazing 11.3 million new jobs were created under President Obama (far more than President Bush). Has this caused your suffering?

Obama has taken Unemployment from 10% down to 4.7%. Has this caused your suffering?

Homelessness among US Veterans has dropped by half. Has this caused your suffering?

Obama shut down the US secret overseas prisons. Has this caused your suffering?

President Obama has created a policy for the families of fallen soldiers to have their travel paid for to be there when remains are flown home. Has this caused your suffering?

We landed a rover on Mars. Has this caused your suffering?

He passed the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Has this caused your suffering?

Uninsured adults has decreased to below 10%: 90% of adults are insured - an increase of 20 Million Adults. Has this caused your suffering?

People are now covered for pre-existing conditions. Has this caused your suffering?

Insurance Premiums increased an average of $4,677 from 2002-2008, an increase of 58% under Bush. The growth of these insurance premiums has gone up $4,145 – a slower rate of increase. Has this caused your suffering?

Obama added Billions of dollars to mental health care for our Veterans. Has this caused your suffering?

Consumer confidence has gone from 37.7 to 98.1 during Obama’s tenure. Has this caused your suffering?

He passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Has this caused your suffering?

His bi-annual Nuclear Summit convinced 16 countries to give up and destroy all their loose nuclear material so it could not be stolen. Has this caused your suffering?

He saved the US Auto industry. American cars sold at the beginning of his term were 10.4M and upon his exit 17.5M. Has this caused your suffering?

The deficit as a percentage of the GDP has gone from 9.8% to 3.2%. Has this caused your suffering?

The deficit itself was cut by $800 Billion Dollars. Has this caused your suffering?

Obama preserved the middle class tax cuts. Has this caused your suffering?

Obama banned solitary confinement for juveniles in federal prisons. Has this caused your suffering?

He signed Credit Card reform so that rates could not be raised without you being notified. Has this caused your suffering?

He outlawed Government contractors from discriminating against LGBT persons. Has this caused your suffering?

He doubled Pell Grants. Has this caused your suffering?

Abortion is down. Has this caused your suffering?

Violent crime is down. Has this caused your suffering?

He overturned the scientific ban on stem cell research. Has this caused your suffering?

He protected Net Neutrality. Has this caused your suffering?

Obamacare has extended the life of the Medicare insurance trust fund (will be solvent until 2030). Has this caused your suffering?

President Obama repealed Don't Ask Don't Tell. Has this caused your suffering?

He banned torture. Has this caused your suffering?

He negotiated with Syria to give up its chemical weapons and they were destroyed. Has this caused your suffering?

Solar and Wind Power are at an all time high. Has this caused your suffering?

High School Graduation rates hit 83% - an all time high. Has this caused your suffering?

Corporate profits are up by 144%. Has this caused your suffering?

He normalized relations with Cuba. Has this caused your suffering?

Reliance on foreign oil is at a 40 year low. Has this caused your suffering?

US Exports are up 28%. Has this caused your suffering?

He appointed the most diverse cabinet ever. Has this caused your suffering?

He reduced the number of troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Has this caused your suffering?

Yes, he killed Osama Bin Laden and retrieved all the documents in his possession for analysis. Perhaps THIS caused your suffering?

From an objective standpoint it would appear that the last 8 years have seen some great progress and we were saved from a financial collapse. Things are not perfect. Things can always be better. We are on much better footing now than we were in 2008.

I look forward to understanding what caused you to suffer so much under Obama these last 8 years.

Please copy & paste to share."


A Black Face
In
The White House
Is The Only Thing
That Caused
Suffering
For Some
This is what Trump understood
when he was started his presidential campaign
using that Birther crap, 
saying Mexicans coming over the border are rapists etc, 
then spreading Islamophobia by the shovel full.

Make America WASPy White Again was Chump's real campaign slogan. And those receptive to his message voted for him and some fools who think they can be honorary WASPy Whites via playing respectability politics successfully.
 

WHEN A BLACK PRESIDENT RETIRES HE LEARNS TO KITESURF

YOU KNOW HOW WE DO!

President Obama Kitesurfing

Feeling Rebloggy

Richard Branson said, 

It was a huge honour to be able to invite President Barack and Michelle Obama down to the British Virgin Islands for a complete break after Barack finished his second term as President and the family left the White House

So it was tremendous to offer him the chance to learn to kitesurf... 

https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/richard-vs-barack-kiteboard-and-foilboard-challenge

VIDEO

MICHELLE OBAMA IMPRESSION OF BARACK OBAMA

Feeling Rebloggy

Turns out everyone in President Obama's family does an impression of him, usually at the dinner table. But the leader of the free world would rather gossip.

She talks about Barack's being "Swagalicious"

DEAR PRESIDENT OBAMA from A FORMER DIE-HARD REPUBLICAN

Feeling Rebloggy

Dear President Obama,

Seven years ago, I met my husband, and seven years ago, I met his Obama shirt. As a card-carrying, registered Democrat, it was a shirt he wore with both pride and honor. 

I hated it. 

See, I had grown up in a Republican family and had been bred to despise all candidates and platforms blue. So when he would ask me to wear his shirt from time to time, I vehemently denied. I wouldn’t be caught dead. 

But then something funny happened. 

You. 

As I graduated from school and began to spread my wings, I learned to separate my political viewpoints from those of my parents. I started to examine my world, both political and otherwise, with fresh eyes and an open mind. I gave myself a clean slate. And you made that bare tapestry your own. 

Throughout the next seven years, I would watch you log achievement after achievement, despite steady opposition and a dearth of proper acknowledgment. I’ve seen people call you the worst president of all time, despite objective measures that indicate the contrary. After all, this presidency has been one for the history books. The Dow Jones has hit unprecedented highs. The automotive industry has set all-time sales records. We recorded the longest streak of overall job growth in United States history. And I can actually fill up the tank of my environment-killing SUV without filing for bankruptcy. 

Were things perfect? No, of course not. But they seldom ever are. And why should the standard be perfection anyway? You’re only human, after all. Your turkey pardon jokes prove as much. 

No, for me, the standard is improvement; and by that measure, you’re every bit the success you set out to be. Unemployment is down. Wages are back on the rise. And while one could point to an increase in debt, that’s only one side of the coin, as our deficit has shrunk considerably. The main attack on your performance has been the underwhelming GDP growth, but such a criticism rings a bit hollow to me when, before you took office, we were migrating in the opposite (read: negative) direction. 

Call me crazy (and I’m sure many reading this will), but criticizing a man for only marginally improving the economy when we’re coming out of the second greatest recession of all time would be like criticizing a homeless man for only finding a way to move into a studio apartment and not a mansion. To me, context matters... 

Read More: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/5880ce91e4b09d73ca3373cc?timestamp=1484845009661

PRESIDENT OBAMA IS ONE OF THE MOST COMPLETE MEN I'VE EVER MET

Feeling Rebloggy

Author Junot Diaz said,  

“I had lunch with President Obama on Friday, which was surreal and extraordinary to say the least,” Díaz writes.  “I figured after all my criticism of his policies I wouldn’t be high on his list for anything but clearly there’s room at his lunch table for dissent, something we won’t be seeing a lot of with the next president.

Junot Diaz Books

What surprised me was how completely unbowed President Obama was, how certain he was that the country would find its way. He burned with optimism and faith invincible.

If President Obama could still be positive after all the Republican b*llshit he’d been through – that gave me hope. He was certainly one of the most complete man I’d ever met. With only a few days left before he leaves office I find myself, more than anything, overwhelmed by the knowledge that over the next four years we’re going to be missing Obama something awful. “

Source:
http://remezcla.com/culture/obama-reading-junot-diaz/

PRESIDENT OBAMA AS FATHER AND FEMINIST-IN-CHIEF

NEW PHOTOS 

BUT A

 REPOST

 YEARS AGO
EARLIER IN BARACK OBAMA'S PRESIDENCY 

I was going to write about how I thought Michelle Obama was fibbing when she said "I don't like labels" when someone asked her if she was a feminist. 

I was sure that she was fibbing because I could see "feminist" leaking out of her left, right, center, and everywhere. She made 100K more than her husband in 2006. Furthermore, she and her husband trusted one another enough that he didn't work as much sometimes (so he could build his political resume?) And...And...And....And...

I was sure because I also knew that a google search of "feminist" pulls up all sorts of hateful crap just a few years ago. Michelle couldn't afford to have anything blow back on Barack, especially not during his first term.

Team Obama is solid. So I thought she fibbed.

In sacrifice for his chance to be president, she'd already quit her career and then proceeded to act more and more like her brain only really functions for children and physical fitness. She did that for a good long while. After seeing what happened to Hillary while she was first lady, for the first four years of  Barack's presidency Michelle Obama dumbed-it-way-down when she was in front of the press.

And dumbing it down still wasn't enough. She was still attacked constantly.

After Barack Obama was re-elected she was able to open her mouth and display her wit, commitment, and intellect a little more. And she was braver than I thought was wise at times -- though I was glad. But I know she's still fairly shut down because she still cannot afford to draw but so much negative attention to her husband the president.

Negative attention in patriarchy land 2016 is a president's wife displaying that she has more than a little common sense.

I think Barack and Michelle are a team down to their collective bone marrow and I always have. I think the president would be a fool to not listen to her advice any time she gives it. And he's no fool even if I don't agree with him all the time.

But in patriarchy land? It WOULD BE foolish for a male president to appear to be sharing his presidency, sharing official decisions with his wife -- even if that's more true than not.

Michelle Obama's sacrifices for her husband will likely never be known, but I'm thinking her halfway denying her feminism was likely one of them -- unless you think Barack Obama is a feminist raising feminist daughters without Michelle being one too?

* * * * * 

While I was doing research to write this blog post,  I found out Barack Obama wrote an essay on being a feminist father. 

"The September issue of Glamour magazine will carry an essay, already published on the magazine’s website, written by President Obama on the issue of feminism. Obama, who has made it clear in the past that he’s a feminist, both explicitly and implicitly with his policy implementations, took the opportunity to talk about how being a dad has helped him recognize the need for gender equality as he’s watched his daughters grow up in the White House. Obama said prior to moving into the White House, his long commutes made it difficult for him to be the type of father and husband he aimed to be. That changed, he said, when almost eight years ago he began working in a home office. Obama candidly admitted that in retrospect he’s able to see how the demands of his previous professional schedule unfairly impacted Michelle Obama’s life and ability to raise a family."

  ~NY TIMES

Read More

 Source: http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2016/08/05/president-obama-writes-essay-on-feminism-for-womens-magazine/

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-barack-obama-feminism-20160804-snap-story.html 

Read THE ORIGINAL STORY

http://www.glamour.com/story/glamour-exclusive-president-barack-obama-says-this-is-what-a-feminist-looks-like

http://blackchickrocked.blogspot.com/

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S TOP 50 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

I admit to being quite annoyed, in 2009, that it took so long for President Obama to completely give up on bipartisanship and move like he had limited time to get things done.  In fact, I was livid that he didn't get Obamacare done with THE PUBLIC OPTION as part of it -- which he could have done had he moved faster when Ted Kennedy was still alive -- or not.

Little did I know, until I watched the problematic "THE DIVIDED STATES OF AMERICA" on PBS that, YES, republicans did their best to scuttle any sort of healthcare plan and failed to contribute any positive ideas. But it was a democrat, Joe Lieberman that actually demanded THE PUBLIC OPTION be removed.  It was Lieberman that made sure there would be no competition created between THE PUBLIC OPTION and lock-step-walking Health Insurance Corporations.  This democrat made sure that health insurance prices are high for all of us including those who desperately need the financial assistance of Obamacare.

But, I never blamed him for not being able to get gun control passed. 

Who would have guessed that the white majority would let a vocal white minority given a racist megaphone through people like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and the brainless rest of them stop sweeping gun control changes after two dozen white children were killed in Sandy Hook? According to "The Divided States Of America" he had republican votes for gun control -- but then Beck, Limbaugh, and Hannity and the gang scared the  5 republican votes needed away from the bill.  

Just five votes 

However I can't say the same thing about the stimulus package that stopped us from sliding into the depression.  

According to "THE DIVIDED STATES OF AMERICA" 5.1 billion jobs were lost at the end of Bush Jr.'s presidency.  The new president had to get the economy back on track. That meant President Obama could not take the TIME to fix the crooked system. He had to repair the crooked system as it was.  Creating a new foundation for a wholesome(?) new financial system  --which is what's required to truly fix "too big to fail"-- probably would have meant leaving people out of work for a longer period of time, letting more banks and financial institutions collapse, letting the foreclosures roll on. Letting the economy keep sliding down hill for a while.   Maybe that would have been better in the long run. But I doubt I'd have had the guts to experiment with a new financial system right after 5.1 billion jobs were lost and houses were being foreclosed on left, right, and center. 

However, I don't understand was why there weren't ANY conditions put on getting the bail out. The banksters should have been made to use some percentage of our federal tax dollar bail money for debt forgiveness for the public. The banks should have been made to eat some losses over time, something they could easily absorb so the economy and stockmarket stayed on track.  BUT,  Barack Obama was new to the job of president. And maybe I'm underestimating how shocky the market and economy would have been with any demand for making banks and their investors take the hit ---- even spread out over time.   

Besides, the economy tanking wasn't the only thing going on at the time. There were people to stop torturing at Guantanamo, two wars to stop, a terrorist who killed nearly 3000 of us. President Obama had to have inherited one of the worst messes since George Washington. And we're all still here. 

President Obama hung in there and kept hope alive. And he kept the U.S. from going into a depression. That's major all by itself. 

And I believe, no matter what happens next, some sort of healthcare will have to be made available to every American.  I knew Obamacare 1.0 was going to have to go to Obamacare 1.1, Obamacare 1.2, and Obamacare 2.0 once things settled down -- because the health insurance companies really are making money hand over fist without the some sort of COMPETITION coming from something like THE PUBLIC OPTION. But if they kill Obamacare and bring in Trumpcare and it's better, that's fine. But Obamacare is the vehicle that made sure Americans have access to healthcare. We cannot go back to nothing. President Obama made that happen.

And I think Trumpcare will probably be a version of Obamacare. Trump will just lie and say it's a brand new thing rather than Obamacare 1.1. That's okay too. Eventually we will make sure the record is set straight. 

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S TOP 50 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

from Washington Monthly

1. Passed Health Care Reform: After five presidents over a century failed to create universal health insurance, signed the Affordable Care Act (2010). It will cover 32 million uninsured Americans beginning in 2014 and mandates a suite of experimental measures to cut health care cost growth, the number one cause of America’s long-term fiscal problems.

2. Passed the Stimulus: Signed $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 to spur economic growth amid greatest recession since the Great Depression. Weeks after stimulus went into effect, unemployment claims began to subside. Twelve months later, the private sector began producing more jobs than it was losing, and it has continued to do so for twenty-three straight months, creating a total of nearly 3.7 million new private-sector jobs.

3. Passed Wall Street Reform: Signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010) to re-regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great Recession. The new law tightens capital requirements on large banks and other financial institutions, requires derivatives to be sold on clearinghouses and exchanges, mandates that large banks provide “living wills” to avoid chaotic bankruptcies, limits their ability to trade with customers’ money for their own profit, and creates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (now headed by Richard Cordray) to crack down on abusive lending products and companies.

4. Ended the War in Iraq: Ordered all U.S. military forces out of the country. Last troops left on December 18, 2011.

5. Began Drawdown of War in Afghanistan: From a peak of 101,000 troops in June 2011, U.S. forces are now down to 91,000, with 23,000 slated to leave by the end of summer 2012. According to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, the combat mission there will be over by next year.

6. Eliminated Osama bin laden: In 2011, ordered special forces raid of secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in which the terrorist leader was killed and a trove of al-Qaeda documents was discovered.

7. Turned Around U.S. Auto Industry: In 2009, injected $62 billion in federal money (on top of $13.4 billion in loans from the Bush administration) into ailing GM and Chrysler in return for equity stakes and agreements for massive restructuring. Since bottoming out in 2009, the auto industry has added more than 100,000 jobs. In 2011, the Big Three automakers all gained market share for the first time in two decades. The government expects to lose $16 billion of its investment, less if the price of the GM stock it still owns increases.

http://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/marchapril-2012/obamas-top-50-accomplishments/