Would a 3rd term of Obama been a better choice for America than Trump?

Your BAD!

I really don’t know , Trump really played up the character assignation against Hilary he definitely would have used the same game plan against Obama would it have worked maybe I would like to think not but maybe.
Obama has a 100 times better diplomatic skills than old orange hair but would that be enough I really don’t know.

@Tropical_Willie In all seriousness…I may be bored more than anything but to read in the headlines that Obama is arrogant enough to think the same voters that voted for Trump would have swapped their votes for him is perplexing to me. These voters shunned his protégé Hillary and how or why does he then think he somehow would have beat Trump? Serious question begging serious answers….

@SQUEEKY2 +5….kind of answer I am looking for! Thanks!

Since all of this is hypothetical anyway, the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution forbidding more than two terms for an elected president, I think we’d have been better off with a third Lincoln term.

Do I think a 3rd term of Obama would be better than Trump? Yes. Trump terrifies me with his lack of knowledge of anything political. He is the most unpresidential speaker I have ever heard. And most importantly to me, his treatment of women is appalling.
That being said, I think Obama is in the wrong to have said anything like that. The election is over, Trump won, and Obama should be standing behind the new president. I did not vote for Trump, but I am going to stand behind him and hope and pray he leads this country in the right direction.
edited to add: I think I’ve told this story before, but my dad was in WWII. At some point in the 70’s I sewed a patch of the American flag on the pocket of my jeans as everyone else was doing at the time. I thought it showed my appreciation of my country. I was walking out the door and my dad saw my patch and ripped it off of my jeans. He was very mad and my dad never got mad. He said he did not fight in the war for his children to wear the American flag on their ass and disrespect his country. I was so ashamed of myself. I think that’s why I respect any person that is voted in as president. It is something my dad would have insisted on.

Your answer depends on whether you wanted a compassionate, high-minded, well educated, articulate, experienced diplomat to lead us in a complicated world or a man who brags about grabbing women by their pu**ies and thinks we should gin up the nuclear arms race.

We’re all going to find out and I fear a lot sooner than later. There are some SERIOUS
switchboard issues in the head of Mr. Trump. The most charitable explanation is simply that there clearly are no filters between his hind brain & his mouth. I have heard the explanation that he spewed outrageous shit in order to be elected, well he made it, and “the hits just keep on comin” Unless the Congress manages to confiscate his phone and shut down twitter in the interests of national security, we will have a man unable to vocally demonstrate a knowledge of the line between fantasy and reality.

It depends on a lot of things.

Would the Repubs have continued their obstruction, or would they have finally gotten serious?

Would the Dems (without Bernie causing a ruckus) been stronger?

This is a rather silly argument, since it’s all hypothetical and depends on all sorts of assumptions. For example, if Obama had run for a 3rd term, would Clinton or Sanders run against him?

I’m so very glad this is not a possible scenario. Thank goodness for the two term limit.

I really don’t think Obama would have won. I guess the black vote would have turned out in bigger numbers, but all those Midwesterners disenchanted with Obama after having voted for him would have still voted for Trump. I think PA would have still gone to Trump. I also think FL probably would have still gone to Trump, although FL was so close just another vote held on a different day could go a different way even with the exact same people running.

I dare say I would have voted for Obama had it been the case, or maybe not at all. But, I already didn’t vote for Trump, so my vote is basically the same. With Hillary I was hopeful some things I want addressed would be, even though I disagree with her on some issues. With Obama I’m disappointed about more than one thing, but honestly I never thought he would address those things, which is why maybe I shouldn’t even use the word disappointed.

@Cruiser Hillary is Obama’s protege?

They’re two completely different candidates. The only thing they really have in common is their ability to energize their parties base.

I personally would love another 4 years of Obama. As I’ve said before Trump’s abilities and competence are what worry me. I’m VERY concerned he will get us involved in armed conflict(s.)

Obama could at least keep us out of trouble.

The question doesn’t specify anything about congress. If we still have the Republicans dragging their feet,Obama still couldn’t get much done.

I honestly can’t think of any negative traits in Obama’s case. I thought he was an excellent choice for president. My only gripe with him was the bailout. I hoped he wouldn’t approve it,but obviously he did.

In Trump’s case,there isn’t really anything to judge him by,other than his social retardation, and unethical business dealings.

I like Trump’s recent rhetoric claiming he will curb military spending.(I bet Putin likes it too.) But he has hold true to his word, something he hasn’t done yet.

Obama’s level head , and carefully thought out words are strong points in these mercurial times. I have little faith Trump’s ego,and childish temper will serve our country’s diplomatic needs in a positive way.

@Cruiser . I hope that wasn’t too much Trump bashing. I really sat here for awhile thinking about it, and I couldn’t come up with many positives for Trump,or negatives for Obama. I tried to be unbiased….

“Your bad” because the world may not come to an end BUT Trump will push us as all closer to the end. HE is as serious as a heart a attack and will push all the wrong buttons (including Atomic missiles).

“Your bad” because he doesn’t care about anyone but himself an his family.

“Your bad” because he thinks he is above the law. And will profit by his not turning his business interests over to a neutral third party.

If he has interest (stocks in your company) the value will go up but he will own your company in the end.

I think I saw two of his cars going down I-95 in North Carolina on Christmas Eve morning, A pair of gold and black Bentleys a Coupe and a matching Bentley convertible with New York plates. They were doing about 15 to 20 MPH above the limit and about 50 yards between them. A half a BILLION dollars of “I don’t care about anyone but ME”.

^FYI . When transporting protected people, the group will usually travel very fast. That way, if a potential threat us pursuing them,the vehicle will stick out,as it is also speeding. It’s actually a pretty good strategy,not necessarily a bunch of assholes. It was most likely a security personnel’s decision to speed,and a good one when aloted by law.

Just throwing that out there…

To paraphrase what someone said above, there are way too many “what-if’s” inherent in this question. But my feeling is that if congressional make-up had swung to Dems we might have seen some exciting breakthroughs in a third Obama term. More likely, Republicans would have held their power and the obstructionism would have raged another four years.

Here’s my two penneth, seems to me you americanos whine whoever your resident president (giggles) is, plenty hated Obama, most despise Trump & a fair amount loathe Hillary.
I’ll say again, anyone comparing the don to Hitler, even in jest, need their delusional heads tested.

Obama has fairly high approval ratings, so he probably could have made good on his boast. As for being a better president, that is a pretty low bar to jump over. Mickey Mouse would be a better president than Trump.

This election was about change, to boast you’d beat a candidate that you couldn’t run against is hubris. Trump knew how to reach the underbelly of America, those people who gave up on a government who forgot them. I’m not a huge Trump fan either, but let’s see what he can do.

It could have been a close race but Trump beat all the odds and may have done so again if it came down to him and Obama. That said an Obama third term would have changed my vote but not my state. I still would have viewed that election as dumb and dumber.
All of this whining about Trump though is really getting annoying. He is not even in office yet.

Personally, I can envisage no circumstances when I would ‘roll the dice and light the fuze on Cheetos man’ as you put it. The man is wilfully ignorant and downright dangerous in my opinion and is unfit to lead any country least of all one with the proud history of the United States.

@ARE_you_kidding_me , He may not be in office yet, but he has done many things that are unprecedented and disturbing:

He lost the popular vote by an historic margin for an incoming president and assumed office with a record low approval rating.

He refuses to release his tax returns.

He denies climate change.

He is the oldest incoming president.

He is the only president to take office without any prior government experience.

He did a most annoying victory lap after the election, visiting only the states where he won.

He thinks it is okay to skip intelligence briefings.

Against his promise to oppose Wall Street, he has populated the cabinet with people from Wall Street who, along with himself and several billionaire CEO cabinet appointees, create a disturbing possibility for conflict of interest.

He displays his ignorance with Twitter rants, talking about things like removing citizenship from flag burners, a right upheld by the Supreme Court with a majority opinion provided by Scalia.

He and his Secretary of State have close ties to Putin, and Trump has expressed his admiration for him.

And this is just scratching the surface.

Agreed, @LostInParadise! We are now LostinHell.

Oh boo hoo, woe is me. Once he does something with real consequences then by all means speak your mind but right now you are just whining pathetically.

There is no doubt in my mind that a third term of Obama would be better than Trump – no doubt at all, although there are things that I strongly wish Obama had done differently. However, it ain’t gonna happen and it shouldn’t happen according to our laws so we have to move on and resist what we are facing.

@ARE_you_kidding_me Anyone who has watched this manboy during the campaign and seen the oligarchs he is proposing for the Cabinet and the lies he tells and thinks we are whining has his head in the sand or agrees with him. I don’t think we’re gonna be surprised and have a kinder, gentler America suddenly appear on January 21. And that’s all I’m gonna say about it on this thread.

@MrGrimm888 The two vehicles were traveling together and no other vehicle like Secret Service. I just like seeing $500,000 worth of vehicle rolling

I guess people are only allowed to complain until after the extermination camps have been liberated

Edit: This post turned out a lot longer than I intended!

I’ve expressed my feelings about Donald Trump many times on this site, and the fact that my dislike for him extends back a couple decades, long before he ever publicly expression any political aspirations. That being said, I will make an attempt at objectivity, difficult as that may be.

Donald Trump is a master of marketing and media manipulation management, with no experience in government or politics. His marketing savvy turned the election into a contest based on public appearance rather than public performance or experience. When he accused the news media of bias, for example most took it to be a complaint; few realized how skillfully he and his organization were manipulating that bias to his advantage.

And when he publicly alleged that the voting system was rigged, few realized that he was bragging rather than complaining. He used weaknesses in the system to his advantage.

He is shrewd enough to know that anything repeated loudly enough and often enough into the public ear will take on the appearance of truth, whether supported by facts or not. He used this to his advantage when attacking his opponents’ character. This was especially effective against Hillary Clinton. Here public persona had been attacked since the days when she was First Lady, and it seems the accusations never stopped. So his use of the pejorative “Evil Hillary” was more than mere name-calling; it was a calculated insertion of the term into the “echo chamber” known as the news media.

So now to answer the OP…

Any speculation on the point will be biased by the speculator’s view of history. But I will still try to be objective.

Although Barack Obama does not have the years of accusations, investigations, and castigations that Hillary brought with her, there are several other things in his resume that could be used; for example, there have been innuendos about his birth, his “Muslim” connections, his “Chicago mob” associations”, and probably several others areas that could be exploited to Trump’s benefit.

It would be difficult, but if Obama could somehow keep the conversation on qualifications, I think he could do it .

Hell, yes! But we were due for change, just not Trump change.

The Daily Mail? Might as well link to the National Enquirer, they’re pretty much on the same level (except more bare-faced in its support of totalitarian regimes).

As to the question – yes. Even a third term of Bush would have been a better choice for America than Trump.

@ARE_you_kidding_me

You think the shit he’s doing and saying now doesn’t have real consequences? Think again.

Oh yes. Hell, a 3rd term of Bush Jr. would have been a better choice than Trump.

It is so weird that he is so blatantly filling his cabinet with people who will be of the most benefit to him monetarily, but who are completely wrong for the job. He was as shocked as anyone else when he won, and I think he’s just going to see how far he can push the line out of curiosity and greed. He isn’t even trying to hide it.

…Why do I keep echoing @Darth_Algar ?! I don’t mean to.

It just bothers me that people can actually watch and listen to the man and not visualize the potential for damage to the country. Putin sees it!

^^^Right?

@Darth_Algar Same story on the NYT’s site. No Trump bias there.

Now I’m hearing that he wants to dissolve some business holding, ostensibly to avoid the “appearance of a conflict of interest,” but actually so that he can torch his records to hide decades of fraud. Rumor has it that NYC is blocking that.

Sorry @JLeslie Did not mean to ignore your question. Here are some quotes that should help clarify my protégé comment…

“Protecting his vulnerable accomplishments from the GOP wrecking ball and safeguarding his legacy have always been top priorities for Obama, and he had told friends as early as late 2014 that Clinton, for all her flaws, was “the only one” fit to succeed him.”

“The choice was long understood by the president’s confidants. “My supposition always was that when the smoke cleared, he would be for Hillary,” David Axelrod, Obama’s campaign message guru and former White House adviser, told me. “It was just in the air, assumed.” Another former top Obama aide added, “After the 2014 midterms, when he could sense the end … it was like, ‘Who gives me the best chance to win?’”

@Cruiser I don’t think if her as his protege. I think if her as more senior and more experienced than him. Well, maybe now it’s about equal.

@JLeslie I can’t argue with you on the experience level as he had none coming into office But if you read the quotes he hand picked her to ride his coattails into a Presidency she would prevail over to protect and preserve his legacy….that is a protégé.

@Cruiser

I did not dispute that Obama made such a statement, speaking in a hypothetical sense, I dispute using the Daily Mail as a “news” source. Look at what the Daily Mail ran and what the New York Times ran. The Mail doesn’t even attempt to present it objectively or with journalistic integrity. They instead opt to sensationalize and tabloid-ify the story as much as possible.

@Cruiser I just don’t interpret it the same as you do. Just because Obama feels she is a good choice to come after him to maintain some of what he put in place doesn’t make her a protege, it just makes her like minded.

^They aren’t even really that like minded. But Hillary probably wouldn’t have made many changes to the direction Obama was trying to steer us in.

We would still keep Obama care for one.

It would have been nice to see Obama keep it going. Most of the benefits would have come after a few years. Then the health care system would have settled down, and been fine, to everyone’s advantage…

^^I’m still annoyed Obama won the nomination instead of Hillary 81/2 years ago.

^I’m sorry. But IMO, Obama is a far superior candidate than Hillary ever… He beats her in every aspect I can think of…

That being said. Hillary was a vastly better candidate than Trump,and here we are…..

@MrGrimm888 “Hillary was a vastly better candidate than Trump” that kind of thinkin is exactly why we have Trump as our President….just sayin….

^Wrong. It’s a lack of thinking that has Trump in the Whitehouse…Just sayin….

@MrGrimm888 A lot of people agree with you, that’s why and how he won the nomination. However, a lot of people agree with me too.

^Agreement is not essential to success. Compromise is. Understanding the country is too.

Maybe a Berne as P and Hillary as VP would have gotten more people out to vote.

It’s also funny to me that Trump was the winner in his party. If the RNC, with all their shared agendas , couldn’t control who was their eventual candidate ,they should also be reevaluating their own process.

@MrGrimm888 Honestly, I blame Oprah partly for Obama winning. That whole Oprah Effect is a real thing. The black vote got out in bigger numbers than usual, and the very white western Midwest and West states voted for him in big numbers, which probably people didn’t expect, but it doesn’t surprise me at all.

I don’t know why you say compromise regarding Clinton and Obama. One person has to win. If I were Hillary I wouldn’t have wanted to be VP, plus she won the primary. I didn’t like how far to the left Bernie was. I don’t like that Democrats want the party to get more and more “progressive.” It’s too much in my opinion. I understand why people are attracted to it, I’ve said for 15 years we are going to wind up with a socialist if the rich keep getting richer and the rest of the population feels like it can’t catch a break.

That’s just the point. The oligarchs will force a socialist reality on us all. The one thing that is certain is that capitalism is not about sharing, and that regardless of the degree to which wealth is concentrated, there is no such thing as “enough” to the class which benefits. The rumblings are there. The only question remaining is how things will shake out. Remember, Hitler called himself and his party “national socialists”.

^^I’ve been fairly anti-union my whole life, while completely appreciating why they were necessary when they first rose up in force. I’m seeing a need for them again.

They’re still necessary.

@JLeslie I had no idea that Oprah was involved in Obama’s campaign until just now. I voted for him based on his behavior and comportment.

@Dutchess_III I guess you didn’t watch Oprah regularly, or maybe you just didn’t take what she said as the gospel, but a whole bunch of her fan base did and does. He was on her show before he ran for president. He was a senator and she wasn’t shy about saying how great she thought he was. Then when he decided to run, for the first time she publicly supported a candidate.

Many people supported him like you, you learned about him, his vision, his stance on the issues, and voted for him.

I’m just saying Oprah made him familiar to people who otherwise would have not known him before he even ran for president. Running for president in this day in age is not only about the issues, it’s about the media, and the celebrity.

Well, he was the right choice, regardless of how people came to that conclusion. One of the best presidents ever, if not THE best president ever.

We’ll agree to disagree. Not that I think he was terrible, I just still think it should have been Hillary.

Well, she had her turn this go. I was shocked, utterly shocked, at the result.

^^I think she would have won 8 years ago. Obama was very young, in a way I feel he went out of turn. She was already in her 60’s then. I don’t only think of it as taking turns, but we do get sick or die eventually.

What do you mean she “would” have won? Would have won if….. what?

She ran 8 years ago. She didn’t win.

She ran 8 years before while saddled with 20 years of concerted slander against her suitability. It was a handicap which served Obama considerably to the consternation of Hillary as well as the right winged zealots responsible.

Damn shame the uppity negro didn’t know his place and defer to the old white woman.

^^Shut the fuck up. Don’t even try to paint me as being bothered because Obama was black. His color has nothing to do with it.

@Dutchess_III I think she could have won 8 years ago if she had won the primary. Maybe not, people hate her so much, but I can tell you a whole bunch of Democrats who were in love with Bernie really like Hillary back then, and then they flipped in the last in the last year or two.

But she didn’t win.
(I can’t believe you just told Darth to “Shut the fuck up.”! I’m laughing! So sorry….. :/ :D

Nah, just bothered that black people turned out to vote for him because Oprah told them to.

Obama had a far superior stage presence as well. Which is why he was so popular in TV appearances. Hillary just wasn’t likeable enough. When she tried it seemed forced,or unnatural. IMO….

But your logic is flawed. People clearly don’t just vote for people who share their appearance or gender. Otherwise Hillary would have gotten the majority of women’s votes. She didn’t even get half of the women’s votes…

Oprah was simply a platform for Obama. A platform with many viewers.

Obama’s intelligence, and cadence while speaking is powerful. It was obvious that he was a smart man, with carefully chosen words. (Pretty much the opposite of Trump…)

Hillary never energized her base. And yes, there is /was a lot of bad ,even slanderous information about her.

In some ways Obama’s youth is what helped him. The Republicans had decades to smear Hillary. No doubt they were aware of her political aspirations, so they started throwing stuff early and some stuck.

They didn’t have the luxury of time in Obama’s case. The only thing they really came up with was the birther BS , and other tabloid crap.

@Darth_Algar A whole huge segment of her audience is white. What are you talking about? I voted for Obama in the end, just not in the primary. I’m white and I used to watch Oprah daily. You’re twisting things.

“You can presume upon how you imagine I must feel [or think] but you are, as usual, dead wrong.” Slightly changed, but basically a quote I snagged from someone I think you respect.

@JLeslie

Except I’m not presuming anything about you, I’m making a snarky comment on an asinine statement. There’s a difference.

Whatever.

If you really think Obama won because of Oprah then you weren’t paying attention to the candidate. Or, for that matter, blacks, who, as a demographic tend to vote Democrat regardless what Oprah (who’s main audience is white suburban housewives with disposable income anyway) says. And your comment that he “went out of turn” was just ridiculous. This isn’t a kindergarten we’re talking about here.

^^You are reinforcing what I said. A huge portion of Oprah’s audience is white suburban women. That’s my demographic. She doesn’t only affect black people, you said that.

I also said Obama won in the very white western Midwest and the Pacific Northwest in the primaries.

It’s not that she doesn’t only effect black people. She doesn’t effect black people much at all. That’s not really her audience.

And again, if you think Obama’s popularity and win was because of “the Oprah effect” then you weren’t paying attention the candidate. He won because he was the better candidate, period. And not just in terms of policies or platform, but he had an ability to inspire people in a way that Hillary, honestly, just doesn’t quite have*.

(*She’s gotten somewhat better, in that regard, but she’s still no Barack Obama. She’s no Bill Clinton, for that matter, ether.)

^^I said partially the Oprah effect. I think she had influence. I’m not saying, and never did say, she gets all the credit.

I think you overestimate her impact there.

^^Everything counts. I think the media had huge influence too. I think they did this election also.