The Myth of Obama's scandal free presidency

[Washington Resistance Army]

Fast & Furious never forget.

That was a legitimate scandal. Although it should be noted that investigations concluded that not even Eric Holder knew about it before 2011.

Further proof we should just so away with the ATF.

[Liriena]

He began his presidency by breaching his DC hotel's lease and potentially violating the emoluments clause, then proclaimed the day of his own inauguration a national holiday dedicated to "patriotic devotion", then lied about crowd sizes and voter fraud (again)...

The emoluments clause applies to gifts and bribes, not legitimate business dealings, the lies about the crowds was wholly CNNs.

Wrong and wrong. Sad!

The only real scandal associated with Trump is just how desperately his detractors will cling to the flimsiest of straws. Makes the anti-obama peoples doing the same pale in comparison.

Yeah, no. Sure, there is some desperation, since Trump seems intent on being your country's first Latin American populist president, which seldom ends well for anyone (see: Chavez and Maduro). And some people have focused on the wrong controversies (I for one agree with those who say we really shouldn't become obsessed with his stupid rhetoric while he's doing legitimately scandalous things behind the curtains). But to pretend that there's no legitimate cause for controversy is to be delusional and fanatical.

[Liriena]

That was a legitimate scandal. Although it should be noted that investigations concluded that not even Eric Holder knew about it before 2011.

Further proof we should just so away with the ATF.

Maybe not do away with it, but certainly keep a closer and more critical eye on it. The idea of regulating firearms, tobacco, alcohol and explosives isn't a bad one, but shenanigans need to be avoided.

[Gauthier]

Sooo... "BUT BUT OBAMA"?

[Washington Resistance Army]

Further proof we should just so away with the ATF.

Maybe not do away with it, but certainly keep a closer and more critical eye to it. The idea of regulating firearms, tobacco, alcohol and explosives isn't a bad one, but shenanigans need to be avoided.

Na, it needs done away with. There's way too much corruption in that particular group. The F and E can go to the FBI and the T and A can go to the DEA.

Maybe Trump will do something good and get rid of them

Wait, saying the Muslim call to prayer sounds beautiful is a Scandal? Meh the only one I hold against him is almost invading Syria.
Edit:Really you listed him being part of a socialist party in the 90's as a Scandal?

Being a commie is pretty scandalous tbh

[Ifreann]

My thoughts are "Who the fuck thinks Obama's presidency was scandal free?"

Presumably people who only just started paying attention to politics this week and missed the last 8 years.

---

Looking through that list there seem to be a lot of instances where "scandal" is being used as a synonym for "something I personally don't agree with".

I hereby declare this thread a scandal.

Scandalous scandal thread in scandal scandal!

---

What is the betting the OP's list is just copied and pasted from some other site without crediting the source?

100%.

---

Well, it may not be scandal-free, but compared to Trump in particular, Obama's presidency did not have much scandalous behavior.

That said, what do you think about that?

Trump's first week has been scandal free.

Sean Spicer, what are you doing with Jim's account?

[Liriena]

Wait, saying the Muslim call to prayer sounds beautiful is a Scandal? Meh the only one I hold against him is almost invading Syria.
Edit:Really you listed him being part of a socialist party in the 90's as a Scandal?

Being a commie is pretty scandalous tbh

Not in a post-Bern world.

[Crockerland]

I don't understand why anyone liked him at all or how anyone could think his presidency was scandal-free, he was closely associated with quite a few racists and terrorist groups.

[Socialist Nordia]

That's mainly just a list of your policy disagreements with Obama, not scandals.

[Liriena]

I don't understand why anyone liked him at all or how anyone could think his presidency was scandal-free, he was closely associated with quite a few racists and terrorist groups.

He was charismatic and thoughtful, had some good ideas and policies, and wasn't George W. Bush.

Also... what racists and terrorist groups?

[Ifreann]

I don't understand why anyone liked him at all or how anyone could think his presidency was scandal-free, he was closely associated with quite a few racists and terrorist groups.

He was charismatic and thoughtful, had some good ideas and policies, and wasn't George W. Bush.

Also... what racists and terrorist groups?

Didn't you hear? He founded ISIS.

[Raoganya]

Looking through that list there seem to be a lot of instances where "scandal" is being used as a synonym for "something I personally don't agree with".

I hereby declare this thread a scandal.

Yeaaaaah. No offense, OP, but your standard for what constitutes a "scandal" is weird, specially to an Argie. For us, a scandal generally involves the person in question committing or conspiring to commit a crime. Like participating in a massive and intricate money laundering scheme, or probably being involved in the death of a prosecutor, or stealing their former spouse's car...

Based on the standards set forth by the American media during the election of 2016, every one of these could be considered a scandal to them if done by someone they don't like, and that's the point. We've set these ridiculous pretenses for what is controversial in the last year or so. It's part of the reason Trump was elected. Whenever he actually did do something of note, everyone was so numbed by all of the people complaining that Trump ate chicken with a fork that they didn't care. It's crying wolf on a national scale. If we looked at the Obama presidency the same way, with the same microscopic view, Obama is no better than Trump, perhaps even worse.And yet republicans don't care what trump does and democrats don't care what Obama does, because politics.

[The Portland Territory]

While Obama did have many scandals, most notably the IRS targeting Conservatives and covering up the War on ISIS, a few of those things on that list aren't scandals, rather results of his policies.

[Seraven]

My thoughts are "Who the fuck thinks Obama's presidency was scandal free?"

His supporters, of course.

Then again, Obamacare wasn't a scandal.

[Alvecia]

My thoughts are "Who the fuck thinks Obama's presidency was scandal free?"

His supporters, of course.

Then again, Obamacare wasn't a scandal.

I'm a supporter and I don't think it was scandal free, so....

[Seraven]

His supporters, of course.

Then again, Obamacare wasn't a scandal.

I'm a supporter and I don't think it was scandal free, so....

Perhaps the overzealous ones?

Scandal implies whatever happened was/is a bad thing, and if OP though Obamacare was bad, then it means either he's not living in USA or rich enough to be able to afford private healthcare.

[Raoganya]

My thoughts are "Who the fuck thinks Obama's presidency was scandal free?"

His supporters, of course.

Then again, Obamacare wasn't a scandal.

The scandal I was pointing out was that the law was convoluted and ill explained to both the public and other senators/representatives, and yet not a single democrat actually read it before it was passed. Not a single person in the U.S., save a handful of government officials, even knew what the law really said when it was passed, so they lied about what was in it, repeatedly, for the entirety of its existence, all while it did things it was specifically supposed to not do.

[Seraven]

His supporters, of course.

Then again, Obamacare wasn't a scandal.

The scandal I was pointing out was that the law was convoluted and ill explained to both the public and other senators/representatives, and yet not a single democrat actually read it before it was passed. Not a single person in the U.S., save a handful of government officials, even knew what the law really said when it was passed, so they lied about what was in it, repeatedly, for the entirety of its existence, all while it did things it was specifically supposed to not do.

Hmm, okay, I can see why and the point.

[Gauthier]

While Obama did have many scandals, most notably the IRS targeting Conservatives

Which was not even a partisan witch hunt but right-wingers obcessing on the attempt of understaffed and overworked IRS employees to efficiently process tax exemption applications as fast as possible.

As a side note, none of the conservative groups had their applications turned down, in fact the only groups rejected for tax exemption were liberal or progressive.

[Ifreann]

His supporters, of course.

Then again, Obamacare wasn't a scandal.

The scandal I was pointing out...

Now don't go telling lies. We know you just copied that list from your favourite right wing website.

[Crockerland]

I don't understand why anyone liked him at all or how anyone could think his presidency was scandal-free, he was closely associated with quite a few racists and terrorist groups.

He was charismatic and thoughtful, had some good ideas and policies, and wasn't George W. Bush.

Also... what racists and terrorist groups?

Oh, you didn't read the OP?

You should go back and do that then.

[Gauthier]

He was charismatic and thoughtful, had some good ideas and policies, and wasn't George W. Bush.

Also... what racists and terrorist groups?

Oh, you didn't read the OP?

You should go back and do that then.

"Black Lives Matter is a terrorist group." Because demanding police treat blacks like human beings instead of zombies that need to be put down is the same as bombing and shooting up civilians in public places.

[Liriena]

He was charismatic and thoughtful, had some good ideas and policies, and wasn't George W. Bush.

Also... what racists and terrorist groups?

Oh, you didn't read the OP?

You should go back and do that then.

If you won't explain yourself, that's fine. I have no trouble disregarding what you say, if that's the case.

[Socialist Nordia]

And by the way, you think that's a long list? Ha.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_ ... s_why.html

Most of that is just policy disagreements anyway, not true "scandals".

[Olivaero]

I don't understand why anyone liked him at all or how anyone could think his presidency was scandal-free, he was closely associated with quite a few racists and terrorist groups.

I't should be blatantly obvious why people liked him. He was a moderate if not at the start of his presidency certainly by his second term, he had a respect for facts and openness in government that Trump doesn't seem to have. Oh and of course climate change, one of the biggest existential threats to our species long term survival, he believed it existed and worked towards decreasing emissions of CO2