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Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan
Isn't it possible to just think that Obama is much better than his predecessor (or than his alternate choice, for that matter) without that meaning that we have to anoint him the messiah of American political culture?
I feel like there's a utopia fallacy at work here--like because Obama hasn't instantly fixed every problem, therefore he's garbage.
Personally, I never expected him to fix every problem--nor did I expect to agree with everything he does. I never saw him as anything other than a politician.
This health care thing is turning into a fiasco, much as it did for Clinton, but I think only the stodgiest people can hold an executive officer solely responsible for something that was crafted by a legislative body. Anyone who really knows how American politics works also knows that Obama can't control the details of the health care plan--and unfortunately, the rule that "the devil is in the details" counts double for anything involving health policy.
My expectations for Obama were, frankly, pretty modest. He walked into a difficult job, and was instantly faced with a huge array of Hobson's choices left for him by Bush, who pretty much kicked the can down the road on any number of issues. I did expect that he would be a much, much better president than Bush was or than McCain would have been. So far, I'm not disappointed.
Think of it this way: someone has to have the political courage to take on the third rail that is health care. Obama has tried; that took a lot of guts. It doesn't look like the solution will truly solve America's problems, but it's likely to help, even if only a little bit. I think it's pretty stubborn to keep complaining about it--since he's the only one who wasn't too much of a coward to at least try. Bush would have done nothing. McCain would have done nothing. I fail to see how that would have been better.
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You pretty much have read my mind on everything here. I don't think anyone has suggested that Obama is infallible. No one is suggesting he will even make it to a second term.
The fact of the matter is that when Obama stepped into office, there were very, very few things going
right in this country--and to expect immediate progress from him, and then complaining when he isn't able to enact the "change" promises of his campaign within less than 8 months is just as bad a blindly following everything he says.
He's a politician, the same way Bush is a politician, both Clintons are politicians, the way Sarah Palin is a politician, etc. You can't expect the world from any of them--but I still am glad to see someone in office who is at least attempting to fix some of the many issues this country faces. And I really can't imagine that there are people who honestly believe the health care system, as it stands today,
isn't a problem.