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this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2026
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I'd say it's because he didn't have a spine with his own party. He signed an executive order to close it within a year. Which was blocked by his own party members. The Democratic party is a failure for sure. But if the leader of the party can't get a fundamental thing he ran on passed that's still something you can blame a politician for. He failed to pass it. Why it didn't pass is not an excuse for a politician failing. Especially when they hold the highest office in the land.
Obama's entire presidency is him not acting on popular legislation, attempting to work with Republicans to prevent them from calling him a dictator or terrorist lover, and the Republicans STILL calling him a dictator and terrorist lover anyway.
Edit: downvotes. But everything I said was true. His literally party voted against him closing it. A fundamental part of his campaign. That's a weak president that can't even whip his own party. Or he never cared to close it in the first place.
I mean I think he did the best he could with what was in his power to do.
Him getting his hands tied by Congress and the Judiciary is part of living in a functioning democracy. Even if I did want Obama as a dictator that doesn't really matter nor would it be cool.
I do wish we could have had more impactful legislation passed while he was president but that's not really part of his job duties.
I'm not trying to whitewash Obama here, plenty of bad shit happened while he was president and some because of him. Nonetheless, I don't think it's fair to paint him as a totally useless and bad president that "(didn't) act on popular legislation" given the action a president has in regards to that are a signature or veto.
A lot of people seem to forget, but prior to Trump, the president wasn't a dictator
Super majority in the house and Senate. His party voted to block a fundamental promise of his campaign. Presidents aren't dictators. But they are absolutely dictators of their parties in situations like this.
Ironically, the downvotes I'm getting are a testament to how incredibly liked and popular Obama is with the population.
Obama could have literally built the momentum of the left by pointing to the failures of his own party. Threats to primary Democrats that did not enact the will of the people.
Trump is a dictator because he controlled his party with the popularity he had in elections. Look at Thomas Massey recently. Even with his unpopular national approval he still has so much power in his party.
Obama was significantly stronger than Trump; he could have influenced the primary of any Democrat that betrayed the popular mandate of the people. It's why even now his party begs him to not endorse candidates unless he needs to come in and save an establishment candidate from a DSA candidate. And even then it is rare because of the influence he has that would just improve turnout and interest (bad for establishment candidates).
He is not powerless. He is/was the most liked and popular president in you and I's lifetime. And that was only STRONGER when he was first elected. Maybe I'm old. But I think people forget how much people thought Obama was FDR 2.0. He ended up being Clinton 2.0 with some Bush 3.0 on the side.