Yup. There are some very good candidates in the race (also, some very, very bad candidates). But Obama's combination of effectiveness and humor--combined with a genuinely liberal and for-this-times set of goals (as opposed to Clinton, whose Boomer priorites and mores were almost entirely out of step with the Gen-X population who helped elect him) will be hard to match, much less beat.
Mostly, though, once Phil said the line (we're going to miss him) and I insta-filked the chorus, I really wanted to finish the song. :)
Even though I despise Obama, things have reached the point where if four more years of him were possible, I'd consider that a better alternative than Clinton or Trump. Clinton is basically a neoconservative of the left, and Trump's one aim is personal power. Obama betrayed America by continuing Bush's foreign policy, but he looks restrained next to those two. With either one we'll have an even more pro-war administration than we do now, and Trump has explictly come out in favor of war crimes.
I don't really agree vis-a-vis foreign policy. Obama's WH has certainly continued more adventurism and domestic surveilance than I'm comfortable, not to mention presiding over the millimeter wave and accompanied enhanced patdowns in airports. But even so, he's had a -much- lighter touch than Bush -- who started wars with countries we weren't actually in conflict with at the time, trumping up evidence for same all the while, started and championed indefinite confinement and torture -- unlike Obama, who ended the torture, tried to close the interment camps only to be blocked by Congress, got us out of Iraq (albeit not without huge mistakes, but it certainly shows a very different set of policy goals and imperatives), etc
( ... )
I'd count the 2011 attack on Libya, which has left the country in total chaos, and the current intervention in Syria, as wars with countries we weren't in conflict with. Obama ended the torture but also protected everyone responsible from prosecution.
Are you familiar with Glenn Greenwald's critiques of Obama? You might find them interesting reading.
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Mostly, though, once Phil said the line (we're going to miss him) and I insta-filked the chorus, I really wanted to finish the song. :)
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Are you familiar with Glenn Greenwald's critiques of Obama? You might find them interesting reading.
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