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How Trump’s Election Shook Obama: ‘What if We Were Wrong?’

Meus Renaissance

Meus Renaissance

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,074
WASHINGTON — Riding in a motorcade in Lima, Peru, shortly after the 2016 election, President Barack Obama was struggling to understand Donald J. Trump's victory.

"What if we were wrong?" he asked aides riding with him in the armored presidential limousine.

He had read a column asserting that liberals had forgotten how important identity was to people and had promoted an empty cosmopolitan globalism that made many feel left behind. "Maybe we pushed too far," Mr. Obama said. "Maybe people just want to fall back into their tribe."

His aides reassured him that he still would have won had he been able to run for another term and that the next generation had more in common with him than with Mr. Trump. Mr. Obama, the first black man elected president, did not seem convinced. "Sometimes I wonder whether I was 10 or 20 years too early," he said.​

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/30/us/politics/obama-reaction-trump-election-benjamin-rhodes.html
 
HStallion

HStallion

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
62,262
Obama's belief and trust in the inherent goodness of the people was one of the best parts of him as a man and President. It was also his biggest and most glaring blind spot.
 
Slayven

Slayven

Never read a comic in his life
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
93,143
Obama biggest failing was always believing in the good of the American people
 
LegendofJoe

LegendofJoe

Member
Oct 28, 2017
12,086
Arkansas, USA
Obama is a wise man. He would have been able to accomplish a lot more in a post 2020 presidency. I just hope that there's someone else out there that can accomplish what he wasn't able to as Millennials continue to assert their political power.
 
theaface

theaface

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,149
It's never a question of being too early or too late when it comes to do the right thing.

Like any president or human being, Obama isn't perfect, however Trump's election shows that the people simply didn't deserve Obama, not the other way round.
 
Kurdel

Kurdel

Member
Nov 7, 2017
12,157
Obama thinking conservatives would be ready for more progressive ideas in 10 or 20 years is laughably naive.
 
Kasai

Kasai

Member
Jan 24, 2018
4,286
Well this was a depressing read.

As great as Obama was, especially after Bush, I always felt like he was more devoted to maintaining the status quo. I get that him being the first black president made half the country lose it shit and half of Congress obstruct anything he said, but I do believe he could've fought harder against them.

I'm just now really sure how, and that's the issue
 
lauregami

lauregami

Member
Apr 25, 2018
120
"Maybe people just want to fall back in their tribe." Funny words from a President who deported more immigrants than anyone else before him.

Y'all want to talk about how people are shit or whatever but you remain so starry-eyed for your idols. Anything that justifies your bitterness.
 
SupremeWu

SupremeWu

Banned
Dec 19, 2017
2,856
His aides are right that he would have crushed Trump in a direct contest.

Trump's victory (which was electoral, not popular, mind) was a confluence of circumstance, his cult of personality which appeals to the worst in people, and Hillary being his opponent. Like or not, plenty of people were more amped to vote against her than anything.

None of this excuses that the piss baby won but a stronger Democratic candidate would have gotten the easy victory everyone expected for her.
 
Kirblar

Kirblar

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
30,744
One of the issues with being a hyper-charismatic leader, like Obama, is not being able to understand that most other political actors aren't you and can't replicate your success. It's the star players make bad coaches issue, political edition.
 

Deleted member 15737

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,432
I mean, better to have had a smart, well spoken, throughtful president while we could.

The difference is just astonishing. But hey, racists gonna race.

He wasn't perfect, and I wish he had pushed straight liberalism more, but he was a great man, and a great president overall. Trump is just a crazy old man addicted to fox news, who may or may not have seriously troubling ties to foreign influencers. It's bizarre.
 

VectorPrime

Banned
Apr 4, 2018
11,781
lauregami said:
"Maybe people just want to fall back in their tribe." Funny words from a President who deported more immigrants than anyone else before him.

Y'all want to talk about how people are shit or whatever but you remain so starry-eyed for your idols. Anything that justifies your bitterness.
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There are varying degrees of good and bad when referring to the President of the United States. Also conservatives love to tout Obama's deportation stats to justify Trumps policy but under Obama the vast majority of those deportations were people turned away at the border.
 
toadsworth

toadsworth

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,077
I really think he should have stayed in the Senate longer, let Hillary run in 08, and run after her. She probably would have been a one term president, but who knows?
 
manchego obfuscator

manchego obfuscator

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,123
Brooklyn, NY
Trump's victory proved just how decayed and fragile America's norms and institutions are. We can't afford to venerate them or fetishize decorum, compromise, and bipartisanship anymore.

sphagnum said:
The fact that he's willing to question himself is a good thing.
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Judging from what he's done publicly post-election, it doesn't seem he's questioned his pre-election worldview that intensely
 
Goat Mimicry

Goat Mimicry

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,920
He had read a column asserting that liberals had forgotten how important identity was to people and had promoted an empty cosmopolitan globalism that made many feel left behind. "Maybe we pushed too far," Mr. Obama said. "Maybe people just want to fall back into their tribe."
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He was right for the wrong reason. It definitely wasn't globalism that made his approval rating drop when he talked about Trayvon Martin.
 
EdibleKnife

EdibleKnife

Member
Oct 29, 2017
7,723
Ugh. Such a downer quote.
You didn't push too far, Obama. "Too far" for the people who pushed back against you was you becoming president in the first place. Everything after that was just icing. Things wouldn't have been different in 10-20 years without people like you who try to shake up the status quo. Otherwise things remain comfortable.
 
Cuburger

Cuburger

Member
Oct 28, 2017
10,975
Meus Renaissance said:
Sometimes I wonder whether I was 10 or 20 years too early,
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Damn, this quote hurts.

So in an alternate reality where Obama didn't run, does that mean, Hillary wins over McCain, maybe not so much because people like Hillary but because of the damage W did? There would be no emails and no Benghazi, right?

I would have rather have Obama running against Trump than Hillary in 2016, or would we even have Trump if Obama wasn't president first? Would Trump still have stayed a Democrat and remained friends with the Clintons? So many questions.
 
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RellikSK

RellikSK

Member
Nov 1, 2017
2,470
Obama biggest failure had to be negotiating and comprimising with the Republicans. The next democat president needs to be ruthless. When(you can't fuck it up) the democrats get control of the senate, they need to obstruct and obstruct. The republicans need to be forced not negotiated with.
 
Slayven

Slayven

Never read a comic in his life
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
93,143
manchego obfuscator said:
Trump's victory proved just how decayed and fragile America's norms and institutions are. We can't afford to venerate them or fetishize decorum, compromise, and bipartisanship anymore.
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America will always over correct with racism.

Free the slaves, here comes Jim Crow
Civil Rights act, here comes the war on drugs
Obama, here comes Trump
 
Soul Skater

Soul Skater

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,201
Kirblar said:
One of the issues with being a hyper-charismatic leader, like Obama, is not being able to understand that most other political actors aren't you and can't replicate your success. It's the star players make bad coaches issue, political edition.
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Yeah... lining up Hillary to be his successor was what he was wrong about. Not being elected when he was or anything like that.
 
Dr. Dre's Dr.

Dr. Dre's Dr.

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
976
Apple, Facebook and Reddit are responsible for Trump because all of the older generations that were afraid of technology finally had an easy way to see kids calling them names and this was the response.
 
Cipherr

Cipherr

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,438
808s & Villainy said:
I remember people on GAF claiming her having hot sauce in her bag, and her collection in the white house, was a decades long pandering to attract black people. SMH
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Someone has to write books about that someday. It's amazing that conservatives were able to pull that off. She telegraphed her ambition in like the early 90's late 80s and they spend decades burying her until an entire generation of young voters hated her and didn't even know why. Extremely effective.
 
Slayven

Slayven

Never read a comic in his life
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
93,143
One thing I rarely gets pointed out in these articles is Obama at the end of the day is a black man, a black man at work in America.

The man tried to give people access to health care and they sued him. Imagine if he stopped code switching. They would have lynched him on the front lawn
 
Auros01

Auros01

Avenger
Nov 17, 2017
5,509
It's really sad that he feels that way.

I don't think the current opinions and actions of the American people really affect his previous efforts and whether they were right or wrong (in retrospect). Sure, Obama wasn't perfect, by any stretch (and no one is) but I had confidence in his leadership and what he was trying to do for this country.
 
Kirblar

Kirblar

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
30,744
Soul Skater said:
Yeah... lining up Hillary to be his successor was what he was wrong about. Not being elected when he was or anything like that.
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The Dems likely would have lost the presidency in 2020 anyway because of the cyclical nature of national US politics. There's a strong argument to be made that a weak Trump is relatively less bad than a competent GOP in 2020 (largely because of likely electoral losses in 2018/20 and a more competent executive). But neither will be a fun experience in timeline A or B.
 
NealMcCauley

NealMcCauley

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,502
Personally I've always thought Obama won in 2012 only because he was running against a Mormon. Evangelicals, especially in the South, won't fuck with that.
 
.Detective.

.Detective.

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,679
Obama's line about being "10 or 20 years too early" just reaffirms my belief that he would have felt more at home in a progressive country like Canada, rather than a backwards one like the US.
 
Ushojax

Ushojax

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,931
Slayven said:
Obama biggest failing was always believing in the good of the American people
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Obama's biggest failing is that he was too much of a coward to actually deliver change. He likes to think of himself as noble for trying to reach across the aisle, when all he did was waste 4 years before being trapped in a neutered second term.

Bipartisan politics is no longer possible in America and he should have known that the second he took office. Once you get in the chair, you start getting shit done. You don't wait for the other side to agree with you. Republicans know this but Democrats still don't.
 
bionic77

bionic77

Member
Oct 25, 2017
30,894
The failure is with the American people Obama.

You were too good for us.

I think sadly this is a very backwards and conservative country. And I don't see that changing anytime soon.
 
BossAttack

BossAttack

Member
Oct 27, 2017
43,004
Slayven said:
almost 30 years of propaganda will do that to you. All because she refused to bake cookies
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That and she's just completely uncharismatic. I've said it a thousand times, but all the good taglines of her campaign came from the Obamas: "Don't Boo, Vote.", "When they go Low, we go High." What the hell did Hillary have? Stronger Together? I say this as someone that will stan for Hillary til the Sun explodes. She would've likely been an amazing progressive President that wouldn't gotten a lot done, she's an experienced policy wonk. She wouldn't have made the same "bi-partisan, let's look for the best in people" mistakes Obama did early on. But, she lacks any actual charisma when in front of cameras, she's was always too concerned with her image to just let loose. She took to heart all the ire she invoked all those years and chose to be as conservative as possible in her speaking when she needed to just go full out and fuck the consequences.

NY Times said:
The day Mr. Obama hosted Mr. Trump at the White House after the election seemed surreal. Mr. Trump kept steering the conversation back to the size of his rallies, noting that he and Mr. Obama could draw big crowds, but Mrs. Clinton could not, Mr. Rhodes writes.

Afterward, Mr. Obama called a few aides to the Oval Office to ruminate on the encounter. "I'm trying to place him in American history," he said.

"He peddles" bull, Mr. Rhodes answered. "That character has always been part of the American story. You can see it right back to some of the characters in Huckleberry Finn."

"Maybe," Mr. Obama answered, "that's the best we can hope for."
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Just LOL.
 
Kirblar

Kirblar

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
30,744
Luchashaq said:
The gutting of almost every fed agency and the tax bill will take decades to fix at best.

No no no no.
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Republicans picking up massive amounts of Senate seats this November would have given them far larger majorities and the ability to double down on the 2010 gerrymandering. As bad as this is, it could be far, far worse.
 
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