Chris K

Chris K
Location
Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires (DF), Argentina
Birthday
January 11
Bio
I'm a starving artist and ramblin' man. Currently in Buenos Aires for art-related purposes.

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Salon.com
MAY 23, 2009 4:40PM

I wish Obama were unpopular...edited

Rate: 4 Flag

I don't want Obama to have a 33% approval rating, but 66% (or whatever stupidly high number it is) makes me more than a bit uncomfortable. There are at least two problems with being this popular.

1) He wants to stay this popular. In order to do that, he will do what he thinks is the most popular thing. Regardless of whether it is right or wrong. Obama likes being liked. Everyone does. But I think Obama likes it more than most of us. I think he could use just a little dash of the disregard for public opinion that Bush/Cheney showed. Not a ton, but some.

2) (This may seem to contradict #1, but bear with me.) Obama can do whatever he wants to do, regardless of whether it's right or wrong.  People are far more likely to agree with someone they like, rather than someone like, let's see...Cheney. Even though he's taking some of his positions straight from the Bush/Cheney playbook, Obama is immensely popular.

Rather than using this popularity/political capital to make tough decisions that might be ethical (or, oh, constitutional) at the risk of being unpopular, he's using it to put a happy face on ugly policies. He's not releasing the torture photos (wait--wasn't that a decision for the judicial branch). He's going to hold detainees indefinitely with no charges a la Bush. He wants to preserve many of the, um, privileges of the "unitary" executive theory.

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thought crimes, minority report, constitution, torture, military, insecurity, ego, popularity

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Bush did what he wanted right up to the end, when his popularity was only a dim memory.

I think having power is usually an adequate substitute for popularity, to people who have power.
vonnia
May 23, 2009 05:31 PM
True, to an extent, with Bush. And the total lack of popularity allowed him to do what he wanted--plus, in his second term he didn't have to worry about he or Cheney getting elected. I'd be cool with Obama being fairly popular. I feel sort of like he's already campaigning for 2012. The whole Gitmo thing of him disagreeing with Dems and Republicans is just a charade. "How can I keep my campaign promise without keeping it?" That last paragraph doesn't make much sense, I think I'll cut it.

I see what you're saying about power though.
Chris K
May 23, 2009 06:39 PM
Btw, sorry this isn't as fun as tales of Buenos Aires. I see crap going on back in the States and it really pisses me off. People here love Obama. But they don't see the bad things he does, they only hear his words.
Chris K
May 23, 2009 06:44 PM
I have been dismayed by a number of Obama's recent decisions, also. However, I interpret his motivations a little differently. Despite the statement he makes about enjoying the response he got from the audience to his first public speech, I don't think he's driven by a need to be liked - that was Clinton's greatest weakness. If anything, I believe that the same thing that makes him so steady - his absolute confidence in the rightness of his decisions - is his Achilles Heel.
Shivaun Nestor
May 23, 2009 07:45 PM
Oh, rated for making us think!
Shivaun Nestor
May 23, 2009 07:45 PM
Shivaun, I think there are a number of decisions Obama has made that probably don't square with his understanding of the Constitution...at least as he understood it as a professor. So he probably doesn't think he's "right." You make an interesting point though. Perhaps Obama thinks he's "right" in some pragmatic sense. There's still something about his popularity that troubles me.
Chris K
May 23, 2009 08:13 PM
I think of Obama and the presidency in the way that one breaks in a pair of custom boots. You may be perfect for the job, as the boots were made perfectly to your measurements, but they need to be worn and used to truly fit and conform, just as I see Obama stretching the presidency, flexing it, making it his own.

I'm getting more than a little pissed off by the expectations that no mortal could ever fulfill, that are being pressed upon him.

Lets just see.

And while we do that, I can sleep a bit more soundly, and feel a lot better about the country whose seal I bear upon one of my passports.
Ablonde
May 24, 2009 01:19 AM
@Kris - I think that was what I was speaking to, his sense of pragmatism. When you say that you are worried about his popularity, is that concern more aimed at him or at those who "worship" him. I think it's a mistake to worship any politician.

@Ablonde, I am completely with you when you talk about the expectations people have about Obama. He has so much on his plate, the damage done by the Bush administration was so great. Gore Vidal (one of my heroes) stated that it would take at least a generation, if not more, to undo what they did in only 8 years.

I am amazed at how much work the Obama administration has done in so short a time. I have been concerned by some decisions, but was willing to wait, to take the long view, to contribute to the debate as I could.

However, the decisions that he seems to have made over the past week - to not repeal certain provisions of the patriot act, to establish a policy of indefinite detention, disturb me to the core.

When it comes to the question of popularity, though, I do not think that he was concerned with this question when he made these decisions.
Shivaun Nestor
May 24, 2009 04:34 PM