What do you think of Barak Obama?

[flobadob]

I saw this image http://www.womansday....a-Embarrassed-Yet.jpg which is deriding Obama. I alway thought he was doing a good job, perhaps that is because I'm not American. What are people's opinions of the man both inside America and from the rest of the world?

[sandyRoe]

His heart's in the right place. But with a majority of Republicans in the congress his hands are tied.

[jno]

there will always be people opposed to whoever's in power (Clanad may well be along to point out that he's never trusted Obama). But he seems to me (not in America) to be keeping the country running okay through testing times, and to be well respected outside America. If anything goes badly wrong in Libya he may take some flak, though.

[rov1100]

He has received a lot of bad press especially the Times for not being fully involved in Libya. But to my mind he is doing the right thing. If lessons learnt from the invasion of Iraq meen nothing then he would have followed Cameron's example and gone into Libya with maximum publicity and self aggrandisment. Although US forces are involved he realises a wipeout of the Libyan regime would once again show that America is just a bully and only willing to take on the minnows in this one sided contest.

[brionon]

Good bloke.

[Red_John]

mostly awful but I do support his efforts to bring US health care into civilisation.

[flobadob]

From what I can make out, he is actually getting blamed for the problems that the Republicans caused when they were in charge. Am I wrong?

[society]

I agree with all the above posts. Yes, he is a good person.

[McMouse]

My brother-in-law detests Barak Obama, while my son thinks he is brilliant. Both brother-in-law and son are US citizens.

[flobadob]

Am I right in thinking that most non-Americans would be pro Obama, whereas Americans themselves have quite a split opinion?

[dr b]

Here's A (not "the") view from inside the US; he's hanging in there despite being one of the least experienced Presidents we've ever elected (based on his pre-election resume). He probably spent too much political capital in his first year "fixing" health care when all the country wanted was for him to tackle jobs and the economy (not that, in my opinion, the US President has the ability to magically create jobs). He paid for that lack of focus in the midterm elections and now has lost control of Congress (not that the US President can control Congress even when his party has a majority!).

Now, the country seems to want the gov't to focus on spending and the deficit (especially getting entitlement spending - pensions, especially) under control, and external events are forcing him to focus on the Middle East, Japan, etc. So I think there is a general sense that things are spinning out of control a bit - this is, I think why the "Tea party" has become something of a force (I suspect your press coverage tends to paint them as far right nut jobs, of which of course there are some (Like Sarah Palin? - sorry, Clanad!), but for the most part these seem to be reasonable people who are genuinely concerned we are the next Greece or Portugal).

So, yes, I think Barack Obama is a good guy, and most here agree, but as so often happens events overtake the President's desired agenda. (George Bush didn't ask for 9/11, Obama did not ask for the financial crisis or the Middle Wast uprisings, etc.). He's getting us out of Iraq (which a Republican probably would be by now as well), but he's doubled down in Afghanistan and getting more involved in Libya. He's figured out that closing Guantanamo is not so easy.

One could argue that he's not qualified to be President but I think that given the current job description no one is qualified to be President!

[McMouse]

My son married an american academic with a very democratic family background who grew up New England. My brother-in-law is a senior vp with a large US corporation and is a gun carrying republican. In my view, both son and b-i-l are extreme examples of bigoted americans.