Have You Given Up On Obama?

Jante' says:

I still believe in President Obama and the work he is doing, however, I do sometimes feel discouraged and unsatisfied by what he has accomplished. I think it’s important for us, as black people who supported him and his presidential campaign, to continue to support him. He’s the President of the United States, not God! There are structures in place that are unfortunately preventing him from achieving all that we and he would like to see.

I would encourage everyone, if feeling unsatisfied, to write your local officials, help President Obama make the change we all so desperately want to see! We want a bill passed, turn to your senators and representatives who also have to approve a bill before any change is made. The leadership is there, but what has happened to the action and the following? Let’s not stop doing work and mobilizing just because our President is Black. “The action is in the reaction” so let your reaction show work and not just complaint.

Lee says:

I have not given up on President Obama because I know he is not a savior he is just a man. He is doing the best possible job that he can. The problem with Americans is they want their lives to mirror “Hollywood”, where everything ends up happily ever after, in less than two hours.

binks says:

I agree with the comments, like what did people expect a quick fix? Change, especially for the better takes time, and most likely we won’t even feel or see the changes President Obama made until later so I think people need to stop, he does not have a fairy wand and can wave it and fix it right away. It is coming but just not as fast as people like, shrugs personally I’ am fairing very well under his presidency so far. Also, people need to keep in mind that the individuals they elect in their communities and area plays a VERY important role as well, whereas a lot of people skip voting for their local elections when they really should be getting out and rocking the vote too!

Marlee says:

I like to approach things at an intellectual stand point but sometimes my emotions get the better of me and sometimes i want to tell people to “Shut up”

As many of you have stated Obama is only one man. It would be so much easier if he could wave a wand and everything be okay, but he cant. I whole heartily believe he wants more and better things for our country but has to deal with so many other factors in the government that he can not do it all.

I think its important to stay active in voting for our presidents, however, i think people fail to realize that voting and staying active in local government is just as important! If Obama tries to pass a bill but it gets denied by both the House of Reps AND House of Senates then its pretty much a done deal.

So vote for your local representatives and senators, and governors who you know will support your ideas and Obamas plan for success. I cant stress that enough!

I am a resident of VA and I def. learned my lesson last year when I did not actively participate in the governor election…. now we have someone in the office that I cant stand

Terri says:

I was reading this and thinking…. a lot. Okay I’m not one for politics but Obama is still good with me. I wasn’t expecting a great turn around but a gradual one so my hopes weren’t up in that department but it was up in the department of eventual change and a brighter American future.

I’m not going to reiterate what some of the previous commentators have said but I do want to make this point. When reading this article I instantly thought of Jim Crow. Some of the predominately white politicians and tv show hosts are daily verbally barraging Obama’s character, criticizing, and insulting everyday, and it’s in the media, one of the most influential tools in our daily lives.

They are sowing seeds of doubt and mistrust to get us to turn on him. Since we are his heavy supporters and election foundation, who better to turn on and try to brainwash than us, so that when re-election rolls around then his chances are slim to none. To them it’s not really about change it’s about getting this “nigga” out of the presidency and in the words of uncle ruckus “his monkey family out of the white house.”

Jim Crow didn’t lie when he said that this would work for possibly thousands of years.

Akai (Akai.Santiago@Yahoo) says:

I don’t even remotely agree with his positions on everything but I’m still a supporter and voted for President Obama even though I’m not a bleeding heart liberal or Democrat (nor am I a Republican). I’m liberal on certain issues, progressive on some things, and conservative on others but anyone that has “given up on Obama” should have never donned any rose-colored glasses and need to wise the heck up.

At the beginning of 2009 Democrats not only controlled the White House, they controlled the House and Senate yet have failed to capitalize on holding all that power. For example, when trying to pass health care reform the POTUS faced opposition from moderate Democrats i.e. Lynch, Teague etc. within his own daggone party and 34 House Democrats ended up voting against the bill!

Of course a president can issue Executive Orders (i.e. as Truman did to integrate the military or Eisenhower to desegregate public schools) and, basically, by-pass Congress but that can be a sticky thing (i.e. when FDR ordered the internment of Japanese Americans). But those who’ve “given up” already are in desperate need of a basic 5th grade social studies lesson on the 3 branches of government (executive, legislative and judicial) and how things work. Generally, the POTUS can’t do sh!t by himself in the way of legislation and they need to stay checkin’ their local reps, congressmen and senators.

Submitting and writing laws into bills is the function of the legislative branch of Congress — which is comprised of 435 members of the House of Representatives and 100 Senators in the Senate. Having the votes of a simple majority in both the House and Senate can send a bill to the desk of the President.

The POTUS can suggest or propose, but he can/does not write bills. At the executive level, the President is responsible for ensuring US laws are obeyed and either passing or vetoing bills sent by the legislative branch. If a bill is vetoed, it can be overridden if 2/3rds of the 535 members of Congress vote in agreement to do so.

The highest level of the judicial branch is the Supreme Court but the courts’ function is to render decisions after determining the meaning of laws, how they are applied and whether they’re in line with the Constitution. In addition to having the power to overturn laws passed by Congress, the Supreme Court can also override and dismantle state laws. For example, when the Supreme Court ruled that a law in Virginia banning interracial marriage was unconstitutional, in one fatal swoop they struck down and dismantled similar laws in every state in the union…or when the Supreme Court ruled a Texas law criminalizing sex between two consenting adults of the same sex was unconstitutional, it killed the sodomy laws that were on the books in other states.