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Home Front: Politix
Obama: "I'd Rather Be a Really Good One-Term President"
2010-01-26
Ever since Scott Brown won Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat in Massachusetts, destroying the filibuster-proof 60-seat majority held by Democrats, pundits have been arguing about the fate of the health care reform bill. In a recent interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer, President Obama acknowledged that his push to get the bill through Congress has cost him political capital. But he is still determined to tackle health care reform and other "big problems," even if it costs him another four years in the White House: "I'd rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president," Obama told Sawyer. "You know, there is a tendency in Washington to believe our job description, of elected officials, is to get reelected," he said. "That's not our job description. Our job description is to solve problems and to help people." Ever cynical, New York magazine's Daily Intel blog, noted that Obama "seems to have forgotten the third option ... being a mediocre one-term president." The interview was to air this morning on Good Morning America. The full transcript is available on the ABC News Web site.
Posted by:tipper

#17  I'd rather you were a really good President, too, Bambi.

But I guess we'll just have to settle for one term....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2010-01-26 20:36  

#16  Picture is spot on. This is the second term of the Carter presidency.
Posted by: DMFD   2010-01-26 18:30  

#15  Unfortunately, iff one believes as many Netters do that POTUS Bammer is a covert or closet PRO-ISLAMIST/MUSLIM ANTI-AMERICAN set up to weaken iff not destroy America, then by extension IMO one should believe that for Radical Islam to defeat America in the GWOT, POTUS BAMMER [etal.]. MUST AT MINIMA = IDEALLY BE A TWO-TERM POTUS FOR THE MILTERRS TO ASYMMET PREVAIL "GOING NUKULAAR" + GEOPOL DEFEATING OR DESTROYING AMERICA OUTSIDE OF NORMAL OR CONVENTIONAL BATTLE.

IOW, PRIORITY TO POLITICAL + ECONOMIC + DIPLOMATIC, ETC. NON-MILITARY WARFARE AS FOUGHT AND WON IN THE HALLS OF WH-CONGRESS + WASHINGTON D.C.

* 1990's NET - PRESENT > NETTERS = Once mighty Super/Hyper-Power America goes down for the count, NATO + Western World + Western Dem,ocracy, etc. -ISMS will follow, VOLUNTARILY ANDOR FORCIBLY.

Lest we fergit, "VICHY" EURO-ISLAM = EURABIA.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2010-01-26 17:48  

#14  Amen, Mike.
Posted by: whitecollar redneck   2010-01-26 16:34  

#13  Has there ever been a "really good one-term president"?

There was one really good one-term-plus-a-fragment president, but he was arguably the best ever.
Posted by: Mike   2010-01-26 14:49  

#12  Senate just said NO to that Federal Debt Commission thingy.........endorsed by Obama.

Does anyone like him?
Posted by: Gomez Threter7450   2010-01-26 13:17  

#11  Has there ever been a "really good one-term president"? The closest I can think of are Coolidge, Teddy Roosevelt, or Truman; and all of them were a-term-plus-some-fragment-of-a-deceased-predecessor's-term presidents.

Maybe Chester Arthur, but he was just a pleasant surprise, as everyone was expecting him to be another Fillmore, Tyler, or Johnson, and turned out to be more of an Adams.

There's the two Adams, but both of them were kind of failures on their own terms. John was chased out of town by a figurative mob, and John Quincy was a lame duck on the afternoon of his own inauguration. Same thing with Hayes.
Posted by: Mitch H.   2010-01-26 12:28  

#10  Countdown
Posted by: Tom--Pa   2010-01-26 12:16  

#9  Well he might want to get his ass in gear because he's pissed away 25% of it.
Posted by: tu3031   2010-01-26 12:09  

#8  Jan 20, 2009 was the highlight of Bama's presidency. It's all downhill from there.
Posted by: ed   2010-01-26 11:54  

#7  I can help him with the one-term part.
Posted by: KBK   2010-01-26 11:42  

#6  Spot, there is a category worse-than-carter.

Anyway. Obeyme is a gonnabe. I think he won't last a full term.
Posted by: twobyfour   2010-01-26 10:51  

#5  There is the fifth option: make his single term being for life.
Posted by: JFM   2010-01-26 10:27  

#4  And finally there's the bottom category: Jimmy Carter (aka History's Greatest Monster).
Posted by: Spot   2010-01-26 10:18  

#3  and the fourth option.....a really, really horrible one-term president. That seems more the one to bet on at present.
Posted by: AlanC   2010-01-26 10:00  

#2  Ever cynical, New York magazine's Daily Intel blog, noted that Obama "seems to have forgotten the third option ... being a mediocre one-term president

He appears to be achieving exuberant mediocrity just past the quarter term. I doubt the home stretch will sea much improvement.
Posted by: Besoeker   2010-01-26 09:48  

#1  I'd prefer him to be 'really good', also. But that's a long way to go from my current rating of 'piss poor'.
Posted by: Tom--Pa   2010-01-26 09:44  

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