If we can not even discuss what makes a democrat like the president better or worse without lobbing vicious personal attacks in all directions, we have no hope of ever electing better democrats. And simply electing more democrats who try to cut social security and medicare is not a winning strategy for advancing progressive causes.
I understand that many people here admire President Obama. He has done some good things. But I fear that folks who admire Obama care more about the man, and less about actual policies. If we are to be true to our goal of electing better democrats, we must be able to talk about what actions brand a democrat as better or worse than another. We must be able to criticize the president. He has asked us to hold his feet to the fire, why are some of us afraid to do that?
I do not admire Obama. Plain and simple, I feel cheated and lied to. Attacking me will not make me admire Obama. Listing things you think of as massive accomplishments will not make me admire Obama. You assume, wrongly, that I do not know of these things you list. I do. I just tend to look at the whole picture, and these cherry picked examples do not sway me. I have already included them in my analysis of the situation.
Saying that republicans are worse does not make me admire Obama. It makes me admire him less, actually. Because that sounds like a damn threat to me, and I do not respond well to threats.
So what would make me admire the president? One thing, off the top of my head: prosecuting torturers and at least one bankster would make me admire Obama. Stopping drone attacks that kill innocents and getting the hell out of the middle east entirely would make me admire him. Cutting defense spending by three quarters (which would still mean we spent more on war than any two other nations combined) would make me admire him. A real single payer health care plan would have done the trick. Nationalizing the banks with our money instead of bailing them out would definitely have made me admire him.
So, unless you can come up with examples of Obama's actions that match those I give above, don't bother to list his accomplishments. I already know them. I just don't care. Now, I fully expect to be called non-serious, a dreamer, or possibly "fucking retarded" for wanting what I want. But guess what? That won't change what I want, so don't bother.