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Barack Obama failed black people? I think so
digitalspyfan1
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Chicago Police documented 762 shooting deaths last year, making it the highest rate in 20 years. President-elect Trump has urged Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to ask the federal government for help if he cannot get a hold of the problem. But Obama suggested that there are a number of reasons for the uptick in shooting-related incidents that his administration is starting to work on changing.
"I think Barack Obama has ignored the black community for eight years, and now he's coming to take a bow in Chicago while our neighborhoods are suffering from disinvestment and soaring unemployment," said Ja'Mal Green, who rose to Chicago prominence among a group of young activists who decried police misconduct following the release of the Laquan McDonald police shooting video.
"We are seeing young black men getting gunned down at a horrific rate," Green said, "and he has shown no willingness to seriously address these issues."
For his part, Obama has sought to reconnect with Chicago ahead of his farewell speech. On Thursday, he sat for a rare round of short White House interviews with reporters from the city's five major TV stations. The White House declined multiple Chicago Tribune requests for an interview with the president.
"I'm sick of Barack Obama the politician. We need somebody who's actually going to care about the issues," Green said. "Young people and black people are the reason he's in office, and I think he's lost a lot of that support. I hear about people crying in Grant Park when he won in 2008, and now eight years later those same people are saying 'What happened?'"
Green gave Obama credit for efforts to pardon people in prison for drug crimes, but said the president has done too little to respond to the local and national outcry over police shootings. "How can you be a black president coming from Chicago and not speak out at this time?" he asked. "Black Lives Matter started during your administration. Where's your voice on this?"
More deaths, more riots, more cop-on black killing. A cruel irony given Obama was the first black man to become president.
I think there is a strong case to suggest black/ethnic groups are worse after his eight years in power. I doubt anyone would have predicted that back in 2008 .
Love or hate Trump, if he can get the murder rate down in cities like Chicago, stop the race riots and trigger-happy cops, I think that will be a success. All Trump has to do is be marginally more successful than Obama and the history books will recognize that. I don't think the history books will judge Obama in a favourable light.
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Obama was all style and no substance and has not changed a darned thing.
It's sad it really is considering he was thought of as a kind of second coming only about 8 years ago.
Not just in finances either, but into considered thought into what can make for more cohesive neighborhoods. And also in methods and strategies which can help people flourish and be great examples of how people can develop themselves and move forward through life on a personal level.
Not that there hasn't been problems for a long time but whatever has happened to some of these neighbourhoods in the last few years especially is pure toxic and extremely dangerous.
The idea that you're blaming the first black President for not somehow magically making police violence go away is pretty insane. No President has that power, and people aren't just magically going to start acting differently because of who is in the office.
You're setting up some impossible standard, and then claiming that someone fell short. So, I guess if those are your standards then ok.
I think it's a mistake to assume that the problem is police violence and just put it down to that.
People do act differently under well considered and intelligent leadership.
Well, they can act differently under bad leadership too.
Having said that Obama is entirely correct in suggesting that that there are a number of reasons for the uptick in shooting-related incidents. I think that's an informed and well considered comment to make. Sadly it feels like an afterthought at the end of his presidency.
If you just put it down to one thing, namely police violence, which implies something which the police are solely responsible for, then don't be surprised at all if the problem escalates instead of improves.
Literally none of the reasons there are issues with police violence are who is sitting in the Oval Office. There have always been these issues, we're just seeing them more now with social media and people feeling empowered to report. None of this is new stuff for people of color, and having Trump in the White House isn't going to change anything, other than he probably won't give a crap about it and will likely be dismissive or appeal to his white conservative supporters, like every bigoted conservative official would do.
I guess we'll have to wait for his tweets
If you projected that message into these neighbourhoods with the help of social media, do you think that will make the problem better or worse?
Has social media and the reporting of incidents in the way that they have been reported really improved the situation, or made it worse?
You've conflated the issue of police violence with 'people of colour'. But it's also an issue with white people. It's not exclusively a race thing. That's where I take issue with the responsibility of many people reporting on events who frequently blow things up. Not just on social media but on television and print news too.
I've seen anger fueling even more anger, and the consequences of this anger has resulted in yet more violence and division. And so far the solution to the problem is to throw even more anger and division into the ring.
I think that to even begin to approach this problem it must be handled with intelligent consideration focused on addressing the problem, not with emotional reaction which is focused on pointing fingers and blaming.
Obviously a degree of compassion is necessary to want to solve the problem, but the solution to the problem can't be arrived at by using pure unadulterated raw emotion. Which I know may be an uncomfortable pill to swallow for some, but that often appears to contribute to the severity of the problem.
Hmm, I'm trying to find a connection here but I can't quite put my finger on it.:p
And again it's just focus on police shootings, nothing else. No question about why there are police shootings in the first place.
Drug crimes, police shootings, drug crimes, police shootings,...no, it's on the tip of my tongue but I'm still not quite there yet.
It's quite incredible that he gives Obama credit for pardoning people in prison for drug crimes but then wonders why there are police shootings in his city.
Where is the intelligence here? Whoever the president is at any given time I don't think it's going to serve them well to have their opinions informed by the likes of activists who say things like this.
If, in years to come we can say the same about Trump, it will have been a triumph.
From ensuing that the Obama Care isn't as good as it could be, to stopping any gun reform dead in its tracks, the Republican Party have been very active in preventing Obama from doing what the public wanted him to do. Those who think that being President means you can enact any law are mistaken, and it will probably come as a shock to Trump, although it may be a blessing to the rest of us. It will be interesting to see if the Republicans let Trump do what he wants, or if they'll block him too.
Apart from rescuing Bush's economy from total collapse, you mean?
That's probably a realistic way of looking at it.
The expectations of one president were set ridiculously high.
The expectations of the next president were set ridiculously low.
So both presidents could achieve exactly the same thing, nothing, but the second president will be seen to have achieved more because the bar was set too low in the first place. All the second president would need to do is exceed the original expectations.
Obama's ideas have been for the most part excellent - I disagree with his military policies but domestically, he had the potential to be one of the best presidents ever, he had the right outlook and temperament and had smart plans. But he's been blocked at every turn and this is largely beyond his control.
The most disappointing thing about the Republicans' victory is that the decay and deprivation voters turned to them because of, is caused by their refusal to allow the government to act for the better part of a decade. Charlatans.
Utter nonsense. Barack Obama is the finest Presidenf the USA has ever had and he will be sorely missed. What he achieved is a miracle despite the merciless resistance of the Republican-led Congress. They bear a heavy weight of responsibility and shame for their non-cooperation.
Long live Obama!
Keep em poor, keep em on welfare, keep them struggling in high crime neighbourhoods, keep em voting Democrat. Rinse and repeat. Worked for Labour here too for a while.
Detroit was the richest city in the US and then in the 1960s it voted out a Republican Mayor and has had a Democrat Mayor ever since. It's now a bankrupt failed city.
Did he live up to there's and everyone else's expectations? - definitely not, everything went downhill from his nobel peace prize.
Better than FDR? Lincoln? Washington?
Yes - a laughable statement as you say from someone who has no apparent depth of knowledge of US history.
As you say FDR, Lincoln, Washington and John Adams, Teddy Roosevelt, JFK, Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Eisenhower and more - all great towering men of their age. There really is no comparison - Obama was just average and his foreign policy legacy is a disaster.
So you aren't allowed to compare 2016 vs 2008 as a basis for judging his record - isn't what this thread is about. Is the Middle East a better and safer place than it was in 2008?
I can admit he made good speeches - so does Boris Johnson. But that isn't the same as delivering.
Do you also think he was the greatest US President ever?
Don't you mean 2003?
That's an oversimplification of the problems of one city. It rather neglects, that like the Welsh valleys, or the Lancashire cotton towns, it was a city that relied exclusively on a single industry. At its zenith, therefore, it's prospects were fantastic. When the world changed, the lack of plan B was a wider failing than the flavour of mayor.
First off, you mean 2003, and second, this thread is about Obama failing black people (see the title) and not about your thoughts on his ME record.