Candidate Obama rather deviously enlisted the support of millions of marijuana legalization advocates by clearly and deceptively conveying the impression that he was friendly to their cause. When interviewed on the subject of marijuana use he readily admitted that he ". . . inhaled -- frequently!" But shortly after being elected, when he was asked about his position on marijuana legalization he responded contemptuously, refusing to even discuss the issue, which 'til now he hasn't done.
He also did a good job of convincing the voting public that he intended to "seek justice" in matters regarding the Iraq invasion and related apparent criminal actions. But as President he appointed a wooden Indian as Attorney General whose primary focus is on civil rights issues. Not only has Obama retained a number of the conspirators in the Bush crime family he has gone well out of his way to deflect any attempt to investigate the activities of what appears to be the worst criminal regime in the history of the U.S. Presidency. For this reason I personally consider Obama to be culpable in all of the Bush Administration's crimes.
In spite of the fact that Obama has repeatedly promised to defend Social Security against any benefit reductions as an alternative to raising taxes on upper income levels, he not only has canceled two Social Security Cost-Of-Living-Adjustments (COLAs), he recently proposed permanantly eliminating them.
I will maintain that Obama is better than Bush, which is like saying gonorrhea is better than syphilis, but at the bottom line Obama is just one more lying, self-serving politician who happens to be as slick as the average Broadway pimp. And as far as any hope for the future where our terminally corrupted political system is concerned, in my opinion nothing short of revolutionary political action is capable of effecting meaningful and positive change. I'm talking about sweeping no less than 80% of the existing Congress out of office, but considering the divisive nature of the American electorate there is little to no chance of that ever happening.
"We have met the enemy -- and it is us." (Pogo)
I am no fan of either of the Bush Presidents, but this constant Big Lie repetition about being "the worst criminal regime in the history of the U.S. Presidency" is both tiresome and worrisome in that it has been swallowed by so many gullible people. Isn't it enough to say that they both won wars but lost the peace afterwards?
If anything, Bush 43 was guilty of having too moral of an attitude in world affairs. The crap about his "Texas oil buddies" and "lying" about WMDs has no more validity than the proposition that he was part of an "Inside job" to blow up the TT Towers on 9/11.
My biggest criticism of him is failing to call attention to the crazy subprime lending which led to the mortgage meltdown (he hoped it wouldn't happen on his watch) and his willingness to let GM be given to the UAW instead of proceeding through a normal bankruptcy. However, his successor has compounded our financial problems to the point of making him look fiscally responsible by comparison.