For Those Who Say "Obama hasn't accomplished anything"

I've seen a trend here on ATS where many people are saying that Barack Obama, new president of the United States of America, has no accomplishments or has not done anything yet for the nation. In this thread, I would like to counter this argument and provide sources that prove otherwise. I would also encourage other members to post articles that they may find, throughout his presidency, which pinpoint the things that Obama has done for the nation.

Obama Trumpets 'Bipartisan' Success

This article talks about Obama's efforts to increase communication and work between the republicans and democrats. It also talks about the healthcare plan and proposed tax on cigarettes to fund healthcare for children.

politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com...

President Barack Obama pointed Friday to a "bipartisan" legislative success, at the end of a week in which his economic stimulus bill triggered a partisan divide.

The president hailed the Senate's passage of a bill to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by more than $32 billion over five years.

"As the worsening economy causes families to lose their jobs and health insurance, it is vital that we redouble our efforts to ensure that every child in America has access to affordable health care," the president said in a statement.

"That is why I am pleased that the Senate has joined the House in passing bipartisan legislation to provide health insurance to children whose families have been hurt most by this downturn."

The vote in the Senate was 66-32. All those voting against the bill were Republicans, but nine Republicans voted in favor.

The bill now moves to the House. Although the House passed a similar bill earlier this month, the Senate made a change involving physician-owned hospitals, so the House will vote again.

...

SCHIP covers more than 6 million children whose parents earn too much to qualify for Medicaid — the federal health insurance program for the poor — but who can't afford private insurance.

The bill's supporters say it would extend the program to an estimated 4 million additional children, paying for it with a 61-cent-per-pack increase in the federal tax on cigarettes.

Opponents argued that, among other things, it will allow undocumented immigrants to illegally access taxpayer-financed healthcare, and is insufficiently funded.

[edit on 1/30/2009 by ravenshadow13]

[edit on 1/30/2009 by ravenshadow13]

World Welcomes President Obama's Executive Order to Close Guantanamo, Despite Concerns

www.voanews.com...

President Barack Obama – on his second day in office – signed executive orders to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within a year, to ban the harshest interrogation methods, and to establish procedures for handling future detainees. Much of the world welcomed the new U.S. president’s initiatives, but questions remain over where the remaining Guantanamo detainees will be tried and where those who are freed can safely be relocated.

This article also provides the perspectives of other countries on the Guantanamo issue. It's a very interesting article, and also proves that Obama's work is being commended throughout the world.

Barack Obama's Formative Years in Chicago

www.usnews.com...

As a community organizer in the Altgeld Gardens public housing project in the mid-1980s, Obama, then 23, quickly emerged as a tireless and pragmatic advocate for the community—traits that characterize the kind of president he says he wants to be. "His work as a community organizer was really a defining moment in his life, not just his career," his wife, Michelle, told U.S. News. It helped him decide "how he would impact the world"—assisting people in defining their mutual interests and working together to improve their lives.

After graduating from Columbia University in 1983 with a major in political science, Obama worked as a financial consultant in New York City. But he was bored—and drawn to public service. In 1985, he moved to Chicago to work with local churches organizing job training and other programs for poor and working-class residents of Altgeld Gardens, a public housing project where 5,300 African-Americans tried to survive amid shuttered steel mills, a nearby landfill, a putrid sewage treatment plant, and a pervasive feeling that the white establishment of Chicago would never give them a fair shake.

Jerry Kellman, a social activist who recruited Obama, recalls, "He was very bright, very articulate, very personable, and very idealistic," inspired by civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s philosophy of nonviolence. Kellman offered Obama a job at the annual salary of $10,000, and he threw in $2,000 so Obama could buy a ramshackle car to get around.

Clearly Obama's morals had helped him in his work in the poorer areas of Chicago. I find most interesting the fact that his salary from Kellman was so small. I also find it interesting that even though he had been doing well in New York, he was motivated to work in public service. In many ways, he is working in public service even today.


[edit on 1/30/2009 by ravenshadow13]

In your Barack Obama's Formative Years in Chicago, where is the paperwork that he signed that shows what he did in Chicago?

The article you post is dated 2007. Do you have any articles published about him during his years as a community organizer?


Bipartisan support- too early to claim that. Furthermore he has little control of this. Bipartisan support rests in Congresses hands on a give and take situation.

Gitmo- It is all his. Interesting to see what he does with the prisoners there. That decision will ultimately decide how successful the decision of closing Guantanamo is/was?

In reality it is too early to say what he has accomplished in 10 days. Will take time for anything he signs to go into effect in order to measure the success or failure.

It is also to early to criticize him for not doing anything for our nation up to this point.

reply to post by jam321


Exactly. I don't have that paperwork, you know that. But, if I find multiple sources saying the same thing, that's what I'm going to support until I see paperwork that says he -didn't- do any of the things that he said he did.

He's certainly doing a lot in a very short period of time in the White House. I wonder if it's going to decrease over time, or stay the same, or increase.

It frustrates when people make it sound like, oh, he hasn't been president for that long, he's just sitting around on his butt and biding his time. It is clear that he is attempting to make a number of changes. Personally, I don't see any of these changes as being horrible, and I tend to think that they are an improvement and maybe things we should try, even if it doesn't work out in the long run.

reply to post by ravenshadow13


I have a feeling he is going to find out real soon what happened to Bush.

Foreign policy will trump his domestic policy and Congress will be the main one running the Domestic policy.

All it takes is a few incidents to happen overseas and Obama will basically be tied up 24/7 concentrating on what is happening overseas.

About changes- The only thing I can tell you is to be careful about the changes you see. They may look like a good thing at first. However, you really want know till you feel and see the effect of those changes.

What IF he releases Gitmo prisoners to a third country and later some of them come back to attack the US? Would people still see the closing of Gitmo as a good thing or will they be angry with Obama for closing it and allowing the incident to happen?

Remember, the President gets all the blame no matter what.

10 reasons why the republicans didn't vote for this bill.

SCHIP Bill: Top 10 Changes for Congress to Consider

The new SCHIP bill would not only make comprehensive health care reform more difficult; it would also directly undercut President Obama's promise to end special interest earmarks. Once Congress creates a new government benefit, it would be very difficult to reverse course. In this case, Congress would be taking more healthy lives out of the private health insurance pool, thus reducing private coverage, increasing taxpayer burdens, and undercutting the ability of the private sector to maintain or expand coverage later.

Change #8: Root Out Special Interest Earmarks. The legislation flatly contradicts presidential and congressional pledges to eliminate earmarks. Individual states and providers will receive special treatment through a variety of provisions. If the new Congress and Administration are serious about change and delivering on promises to end earmarks for special interests, such provisions should not be included.

Full detail:

www.heritage.org...

reply to post by jibeho


Right, but he still went to talk to them, and they all expressed their ideas and concerns and he listened. In the future, he may use their ideas to create a better plan.
The big deal is that he did not need to talk to the republicans at all, and most politicians would not have bothered.

How about his first broken promise as President?

news.yahoo.com...

www.whitehouse.gov...

The Obama-Biden Administration is committed to bringing new levels of openness, transparency, and participation to our government. That’s why the President has pledged to post all nonemergency bills that come before his desk on WhiteHouse.gov for five days, where members of the public will be able to read, review, and comment before he takes any action on them.

www.politifact.com...

We recognize that Obama has been in office just a week, but he was very clear about his plan for a five-day comment period, and we can't see why this one needed to be rushed. It is somewhat ironic that with the same action, Obama both keeps and breaks a campaign promise. But there it is -- his first one. Promise Broken.

So... it's been less than a month since the inauguration. When I heard that Obama said he would give 5 days of public comment before signing a law I remember turning to my husband and actually being surprised - and pleased. At least he was going to appear to care about what the American citizens had to say about laws before signing or vetoing....

Now we have the very FIRST law he signed and NO public comment was sought after.

What happened here? How can we trust him?

Originally posted by ravenshadow13
reply to post by jibeho

 

Right, but he still went to talk to them, and they all expressed their ideas and concerns and he listened. In the future, he may use their ideas to create a better plan.
The big deal is that he did not need to talk to the republicans at all, and most politicians would not have bothered.

Isn't talking to them and not really listening or applying really the same as actually considering ideas? It's like a parent humoring a child. When nothing changes as a result then I don't exactly consider "listening" as anything constructive.

This is just another spending bill.

reply to post by protected


I hadn't actually heard about that one. Well, it's good that he proposed it in the first place. There's a lot going on, and rewording the procedures for passing bills is important, but I'm sure right now the economy is more important. Obama probably has thought about it.

It's not like it won't happen, it's just not happening as fast as we would have liked.

reply to post by protected


It may be another spending bill, but he still didn't need to go talk to them. And he did retain information on what they said and vice versa, if you watch the press statements that he had made right after he had spoken to the Senate. I think he wants to start putting more money into the economy soon, because that's what he thinks will work. If it doesn't work, I guarantee that he will go back and ask for more ideas. That's just how it happens. He was letting them know what he was doing, and took ideas for the future if his plan doesn't work (which it probably won't.)

kudos to Obama proposing assistance for mainstreet although I agree with fellow conservatives members here that there is pork that needs to be cut out... i.e sex education, animal research.

reply to post by jam321


Probably.
Your comments about Gitmo are something to be worried about, but something that the administration is considering. Plus, I feel like the countries that we send the prisoners to would want to be very careful for two reasons. If they aren't watched and come attack the US, then a) we would be very angry at those countries, and no one wants that and b) it would increase conflict and invasion across the ocean, and nobody seems to want more of that, either. Basically, they watch the prisoners that we give them, and we leave them alone. It's not fair or right, but that's how it works.

Jam, in all honesty, I thought Obama would have been "tested" by an attack on our soil or more attacks on our embassies overseas, way before now. I expected one the first day that he was in office.

I feel like, from rumors of bioweapons and Obama's multiple references to, what is it, nukes in a suitcase? That they're really freaking scared. I guess he's trying to do as much as he can before he NEEDS to focus on overseas conflicts/national emergencies.

He did talk about upping troops and efforts in Afghanistan, recently.
I really don't know.

reply to post by southern_Guardian


Sex education = less STIs and teen pregnancies. Like that contraception bill? That would save us a lot of money overall, because pills and condoms cost less than pregnancies and more mouths to feed, kids to educate, houses to build, etc.

I also kind of feel like the economy should be fixed, we should balance inflation, before he goes and puts forth new programs (since he had originally said that is what he would do.)

My feeling is that he's taking care of the big issues now (funding abortion, etc) so that lobbyists will get off his back, so he can focus on the real problems. I imagine that scientists are complaining about a lack of funding, when irresponsible companies are getting bailouts. It's a little fair, I guess.

I'm personally concerned about education, because it's costing me $42k a year to attend uni that I don't have. I mean, talk about unnecessary spending?

[edit on 1/30/2009 by ravenshadow13]

I have to agree with jam321 and others on this thread, that have stated that it is too early to make any substantial claims against President Barack Obama.

Let's not forget that the new president must take on and sort out the previous foreign and domestic policies of the last presidential office before he can implement his own.

reply to post by Freelancer


That's a very important thing to remember. He doesn't get the privilege of being able to start with a blank slate.

You know, it occurred to me, didn't Clinton leave the government with a huge surplus?

reply to post by ravenshadow13

didn't Clinton leave the government with a huge surplus?

It was proclaimed as a surplus, but really wasn't.

First, government has a bad problem accounting for what it spends. Everything is based on an estimation.

Second, the numbers are easy to manipulate. Clinton never included social security figures.


But I'll be dang if slick Willie didn't make people believe he did. I give him credit for that part.

Originally posted by ravenshadow13
reply to post by protected

 

I hadn't actually heard about that one. Well, it's good that he proposed it in the first place. There's a lot going on, and rewording the procedures for passing bills is important, but I'm sure right now the economy is more important. Obama probably has thought about it.

It's not like it won't happen, it's just not happening as fast as we would have liked.

So... it's good that he proposed it. And you're not going to say anything about the fact that the very first chance he had to uphold his promise he BROKE IT? He's got it up on the WH website and everything!

Doesn't this just show he is a lot of TALK and not so willing to follow through?