r/politics • u/Quirkie The Netherlands • 1d ago

Soft Paywall Obama Breaks Silence on Trump’s ‘Unimaginable’ Presidency - “Imagine if I had done any of this,” the former two-term president said.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/obama-breaks-silence-on-trumps-unimaginable-presidency/
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u/VanceKelley Washington 1d ago

Bush 43 launched an illegal war against Iraq in 2003, joked about how he made up the WMD thing, got thousands of US soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed, and America re-elected him to the White House in 2004.

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u/Orangecuppa Ohio 1d ago

I was too young to vote then but I recall asking my cousin why he voted for Bush and he told me "because John Kerry has a long face and I don't like that, Bush looks like someone I can have a beer with".

That was literally it, Policies be damned.

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u/WIZARDBONER Arizona 1d ago

The craziest part is that this mentality has not changed at all for the GOP. It's literally all about appearance. They look "strong". They are white. They are male. They are a "Christian" (lol).

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u/jslizzle89 1d ago

He knows how to run a “business”

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u/KelsierIV 1d ago

Into the ground.

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u/CY83rdYN35Y573M2 1d ago

If grifting counts as a business, then he's one of the all-time greats, I suppose

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u/DrawThink2526 1d ago

They live together in “dorms”. Now THAT is just plain fucking WEIRD.

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u/Darmok47 1d ago

Ironically, Bush doesn't drink.

Obama is pretty much the only President in the last 25 years who you could actually have a beer with (Biden. Bush, and Trump don't drink)

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u/Serious_Distance_118 1d ago

Too bad he gave up coke, he was probably a riot.

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u/Disgustipated2 1d ago

If I really wanted to get inebriated with orange man I would have to take some amphetamines

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u/cheapdad 21h ago

Obama is pretty much the only President in the last 25 years who you could actually have a beer with

https://i.cbc.ca/1.1888655.1380779414!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_1180/li-obama-beerrtr2zi11.jpg

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u/Horskr Nevada 1d ago

Trump might be the weirdest looking dude we've had as president, but I'd bet your cousin voted for him too unless they've done some growing up since then.

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u/Electrorocket 1d ago

Nixon was a pretty weird looking dude.

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u/Twowie 1d ago

I bet thid boils down to his favorite media outlet once made a disparaging remark about Kerry's face, and this cousin just rolled with it. And I'm sure the remark could have been about his hair or attire or posture instead with the same effect.

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u/CAD_Chaos 1d ago

Brother, I could vote then and I shit you not, that was common sentiment at the time. I remember how completely flabbergasted I was that he won a second term. When the Patriot Act passed and the sentiment of you either for the war or against America was prevalent it seemed like crazy times , but what is happening right now makes that seem like Sesame Street.

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u/buddhafig 1d ago

Mildred sat a moment and then, seeing that Montag was still in the doorway, clapped her hands.

"Let's talk politics, to please Guy!"

"Sounds fine," said Mrs. Bowles. "I voted last election, same as everyone, and I laid it on the line for President Noble. I think he's one of the nicest-looking men who ever became president."

"Oh, but the man they ran against him!"

"He wasn't much, was he? Kind of small and homely and he didn't shave too close or comb his hair very well."

"What possessed the 'Outs' to run him? You just don't go running a little short man like that against a tall man. Besides -he mumbled. Half the time I couldn't hear a word he said. And the words I did hear I didn't understand!"

"Fat, too, and didn't dress to hide it. No wonder the landslide was for Winston Noble. Even their names helped. Compare Winston Noble to Hubert Hoag for ten seconds and you can almost figure the results."

"Damn it!" cried Montag. "What do you know about Hoag and Noble?"

"Why, they were right in that parlour wall, not six months ago. One was always picking his nose; it drove me wild."

"Well, Mr. Montag," said Mrs. Phelps, "do you want us to vote for a man like that?"

Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury. 1953.

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u/sweets4n6 1d ago

I remember a friend, whose husband was retired military and they still lived near a base in NC, telling me that she voted for Bush because "You don't change leaders mid-war." I don't know what she decided to do four years later when the war was still going on and the leader wasn't running again.

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u/snowlock27 Tennessee 22h ago

I knew someone in high school who tried to convince me to vote for someone other than Clinton because "Chelsea is ugly."

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u/Persistant_Compass 1d ago

Difference is he was fucking with poor brown people half a world away.

Now he is fucking with the entire country

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u/j_ryall49 1d ago

Nah, they don't care about fucking with poor brown people at home, either.

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u/VanceKelley Washington 1d ago

Yep. What most Americans care about is their personal finances.

They mostly don't care about democracy, the rule of law, human rights, etc. But if the price of eggs goes up or they get laid off then they will get outraged.

TLDR; Americans are mostly selfish aholes.

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u/CcryMeARiver Australia 22h ago

Comes with being brought up to be independent self-sufficient antisocialists in a nation ironically running the largest planned economy on the planet within their DoD.

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u/DrawThink2526 1d ago

Correction: Now he is fucking the Entire WORLD.

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u/regretscoyote909 1d ago

And then he hilariously published a fucking book with his art of veterans that he sent into those wars.

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u/Perfect_Opinion7909 1d ago

Flooded Europe with refugees and got their ally’s soldiers killed, created a network of torture camps that lasts until now, destabilized the whole region and creating ISIS, flooding Europe with more refugees that cost us billions … the list is a lot longer.

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u/cigarettesandwhiskey 1d ago

He also left office in disgrace and his party was roundly defeated. He won election in 2004 because the long-term consequences of the invasion, which was only about a year old at the time, were not yet apparent. The invasion part had gone incredibly well too, so he was still in the afterglow of the "mission accomplished" phase, which was not yet a joke, and to an extend 9/11, which continued to loom over everything for like the entire decade and was used as a justification for the Iraq war even though Iraq had nothing to do with it.

Tldr I don't think Bush's old-white-manness is why he got reelected in '04, and he did eventually become incredibly unpopular. I'm doubtful he would have gotten away with what Trump is getting away with. That is, unless Trump doesn't get away with it, in the end.

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u/spasmoidic 1d ago

if he had been convicted of a felony right before the election it would have tanked him. it's a cult.

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u/FamousFangs 1d ago

I voted for Kerry!

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u/cugeltheclever2 1d ago

Yeah but Obama wore a tan suit.