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Barack Obama

Wednesday 8th of May 2024

2008 financial crisis Trump's rise, like Warren's and Sander's, wouldn't have happened without the 2008 financial crisis. They were all part of the political backlash that followed the crisis-like aftershocks from an earthquake. One thing Trump's victory made clear was that the Obama's administration's response was more costly than initially assumed. The decision to forgo what Tim Geithner called “Old Testament justice" and concentrate the government's firepower on recapitalizing disgraced banks might have kept the economy afloat, but it also bred a deep resentment. Trump won because he consciously evoked the disgust people had come to feel toward Wall Street and Washington and made himself into an instrument to strike back. Joshua Green, in Rebels © 2024 Kwiple.com
2014 midterm elections It was Red vs. Blue Contemptibles Blame Obama vs. Obama who? Fuckheads playing a fucked up game sponsored by Supreme-Court-approved anonymouse ad-buying coaches, owners, paymasters, referees and rules makers © 2015 Kwiple.com
2014 midterm elections Monger fear. Avoid the issues. Kiss Grover Norquist's ass. Blame Obama for this … Blame Obama for tha … Blame Obama for th … Blame Obama for t … Blame Obama for … Blame Obama fo … Blame Obama f … Blame Obama … Blame Obam … Blame Oba … Blame Ob … Republican Party's winning strategy © 2015 Kwiple.com
2014 midterm elections Obama's the reason common core curriculum is gonna fry your kids' brains and turn them against you Republican campaign theme © 2015 Kwiple.com
2014 midterm elections Obama's the reason Congress can't do shit Republican campaign theme © 2015 Kwiple.com
2014 midterm elections Obama's the reason ebola is in the U.S. Republican campaign theme © 2015 Kwiple.com
2014 midterm elections Obama's the reason government aid just goes to Them Republican campaign theme © 2015 Kwiple.com
2014 midterm elections Obama's the reason Iraq's become a shithole Republican campaign theme © 2015 Kwiple.com
2014 midterm elections Obama's the reason job creators ain't creatin' jobs Republican campaign theme © 2015 Kwiple.com
2014 midterm elections Obama's the reason our borders are insecure Republican campaign theme © 2015 Kwiple.com
2014 midterm elections Obama's the reason people think we're anti-women, anti-black, anti-union, anti-immigrant, anti-poor, anti-gay   Republican campaign theme © 2015 Kwiple.com
2014 midterm elections Obama's the reason Russkies took the Crimea Republican campaign theme © 2015 Kwiple.com
2014 midterm elections Obama's the reason states can't nullify federal laws Republican campaign theme © 2015 Kwiple.com
2014 midterm elections Obama's the reason there's still a Black man in the White House Post-election reminder posted on right-wing blogs © 2015 Kwiple.com
2014 midterm elections Obama's the reason they're out to get your guns Republican campaign theme © 2015 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential primaries Candidates appear on television shows to show off their bad dancing in order to contrast their I'm-a-regular-guy self to Barack Obama © 2015 Kwiple.com
Banana republic This is the United States. We're not some banana republic. Barack Obama, September 20, 2013 © 2015 Kwiple.com
By the numbers In 2012, 66 million voters chose President Obama, 61 million voted for Governor Romney, and 82 million eligible people did not vote at all. Demos, “Automatic Voter Registration” © 2016 Kwiple.com
By the numbers In 2012 presidential election 93% of African Americans voted for Obama — 73% of Asian Americans voted for Obama — 71% of Hispanic Americans voted for Obama — 39% of whites voted for Obama Roper Center for Public Opinion Research © 2016 Kwiple.com
By the numbers Number of species that scientists have named after Barack Obama: 7 After the four previous U.S. presidents combined: 1 Harper's Index, December 2016 © 2016 Kwiple.com
Children To target these young people is wrong – because they have done no wrong. It is self-defeating – because they want to start new businesses, staff or labs, serve in our military, and otherwise contribute to the country we love. And it is cruel. … Kicking them out won't lower the unemployment rate, or lighten anyone's taxes. or raise anyone's wages. Barack Obama, on Trump ending the 'Dreamers' program offering legal protections to uncdoumented immigrants who were illegally brought here by their parents when they were children © 2017 Kwiple.com
Dead-in-the-heads say Our President must have missed growing up because its instances of its lawlessness of he trying to get his way. It tramples our Constitution. So from debt – uh – I won't even get into all the details of everything. Sarah Palin, 2015 Iowa Freedom Summit speech © 2015 Kwiple.com
Dog whistlers say I do not believe, and I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America. He doesn't love you. And he doesn't love me. He wasn't brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up through love of this country. Rudy Giuliani, about Barack Obama © 2016 Kwiple.com
Dysfunction in government The self-styled “Young Guns” [Eric Cantor, Kevin McCarthy, Paul Ryan] decided to make the GOP the “Party of No.” The United States was mired in the deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression, yet Republican legislators planned to not  cooperate with the new [Obama] administration. Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, How Democracies Die  © 2018 Kwiple.com
Elections Here's one thing I know: if you have to win a campaign by dividing people, you're not going to be able to govern them. You won't be able to unite them later if that's how you start. Barack Obama © 2017 Kwiple.com
Filibusters The ease of use is what made it such a powerful tool for McConnell. Even Richard Russell could not have organized 137 filibusters in two years, which is the number McConnell deployed against Obama from 2009 through 2010. But under the rules of the modern Senate, doing so was as easy as making a sign-up sheet. All it took was a phone call or an email from a single Republican senator and the threshold on any bill or nomination would shoot up from a majority to a supermajority, effectively granting the minority veto power. And there is nothing the majority can do about it. Adam Jentleson, Kill Switch © 2021 Kwiple.com
Global warming We are the first generation to feel climate change and the last that can do something about it. Barack Obama © 2015 Kwiple.com
Good news I think nothing is the end of the world until it is the end of the world. Barack Obama © 2016 Kwiple.com
Gun violence Somehow this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine. Barack Obama, after a gunman killed nine people at an Oregon college in October, 2015 © 2015 Kwiple.com
Guns If a child can't open a bottle of aspirin, we should also make sure she can't pull the trigger of a gun. Barack Obama © 2016 Kwiple.com
Judges All other presidents combined had endured a total of eighty-two filibusters against their [judicial] nominees. But from 2009 to 2013, President Obama alone faced eighty-six. Adam Jentleson, Kill Switch © 2021 Kwiple.com
Kwiplers say Imagine what Trump would be like if Obama were only white  © 2018 Kwiple.com
Kwiplers say Obama's the Republicans' white whale © 2015 Kwiple.com
Liars say Obama had a separation policy, but people don't like to talk about that. Donald Trump © 2018 Kwiple.com
Money in politics In some ways Obama is to election finance what  George [W] Bush had been to tax cuts — a bonanza.  Edward Luce, Time to Start Thinking  © 2017 Kwiple.com
Mudslingers say I must confess, when I see anyone with an Obama 2012 bumper sticker, I recognize them as a threat to the gene pool. Allen West, Tea Party Republican © 2015 Kwiple.com
Mudslingers say Is it time we asked the question – I'm dead serious about this – Is this White House anti-Semitic? Nobody has been able to come back and say they're not. Obama ripped Netanyahu to Nicolas Sarkozy … He's friends with people I think could be considered anti-Semitic … Said and Khalid Rashidi [sic]. Andrea Tantaros, Fox News “Outnumbered” co-host, equating dislike of Benjamin Netanyahoo and friendship with Palestinian professors Edward Said and Rashid Khalidi with being anti-Semitic © 2015 Kwiple.com
Poor Whites They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them. Barack Obama © 2015 Kwiple.com
Psychopaths say Check the podium for for, like, a raw onion.  Andrea Tantaros, Fox News “Outnumbered” co-host, whose heartlessness, contrary to good sense, hasn't yet disqualified her from breeding, accusing Obama of shedding fake tears when recalling children killed as a result of gun violence © 2015 Kwiple.com
Psychopaths say That was a retweet. That was an opinion of somebody. And that was a retweet. I put it out there. People can decide for themselves. I don't take a position. Donald Trump, justifying retweeting a QAnon conspiracy theory to his 87 million followers that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had members of Navy SEAL Team 6 killed to cover up the fake death of Osama bin Laden © 2021 Kwiple.com
Punt returners say I know … because I won both of them. Barack Obama responding to Republicans who applauded when he said he had no more elections to run © 2015 Kwiple.com
Race After my election there was talk of a post-racial America. Such a vision, however well intended, was never realistic. Race remains a potent and often divisive force in our society. Barack Obama © 2017 Kwiple.com
Racial inequality Malcolm X's vision of black politics, centered on putting community issues first, has collapsed under the weight of the Democratic Party's general uneasiness about tackling racial inequality and under the guidance of a race-neutral black president who distances himself from issues and policies targeted at eradicating racial inequality. Fredrick C. Harris, The Price of the Ticket   © 2016 Kwiple.com
Racism This president [Obama] is the most racist president there has ever been in America. Ben Stein, ex-Nixon speechwriter, current Reich winger who compares Obama to Hitler and ignores 12 slave-owning presidents © 2015 Kwiple.com
Racism What I said wasn't racism. It couldn't be because Obama had a white mother, a white grandfather, he went to white schools, and most of what he learned was from whites. Rudy Giuliani, who said to an audience of whites, “I know this is a horriblle thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America. He doesn't love you. And he doesn't love me. He wasn't brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up through love of this country.” © 2015 Kwiple.com
Racism If you accept the support of a Klan sympathizer, the Klan, and hesitate when asked about that support [as Donald Trump did], then you'll tolerate that support once in office. Barack Obama © 2016 Kwiple.com
Reich wingers Google “Obama + Nazis” and you get almost 7 million hits. Nor is the phenomenon new. Substitute President Bush's name and you get nearly 2.8 million. Seattle Times, August 19, 2009 © 2015 Kwiple.com
Reich wingers say I have obviously failed to galvanize and prod, if not shame, enough Americans to be ever vigilant not to let a Chicago Communist-raised, Communist-educated, Communist- nurtured subhuman mongrel like the ACORN community organizer gangster Barack Hussein Obama to weasel his way into the top office of authority in the United States of America. Ted Nugent, who later said “subhuman mongrel” was “probably much too delicate” © 2015 Kwiple.com
Reich wingers say Every day brings this nation closer to a Nazi-style totalitarian abyss. Hilmar von Campe, ex-Hitler Youth member, comparing Obama's rise to Hitler's © 2015 Kwiple.com
Reich wingers say Read Mein Kampf. Ben Carson, on how to understand Barack Obama © 2015 Kwiple.com
Resisters say Obama, Are you coming  home soon? The babysitter's weird  Placard, Chicago Women's March, January 20, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Robots say Let's dispel, once and for all, with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he is doing. He knows exactly what he is doing. … Let's dispel, once and for all, with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he is doing. He knows exactly what he is doing. … Let's dispel, once and for all, with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he is doing. He knows exactly what he is doing. … Let's dispel, once and for all, with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he is doing. He knows exactly what he is doing. … Marco Rubio © 2015 Kwiple.com
Rovearian cancer If their [black voters'] share of the turnout drops just one point in North Carolina, Mr. Obama's 2008 winning margin there is wiped out two and a half times over. Karl Rove, Wall Street Journal, June 22, 2011, Republican Party fundraiser and strategist, on benefits to Republicans of suppressing votes by voters likely to vote Democratic, later resulting in Republican-led laws aimed at solving the presupposed problem of “widespread” voter fraud in state after state © 2015 Kwiple.com
Selfie I go to the office in the morning.  I sue Barack Obama, and then I go home. Greg Abbott, when he was Texas's Attorney General © 2021 Kwiple.com
Selfie I know that as a consequence of my fund-raising I became more like the wealthy donors I met. Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope © 2019 Kwiple.com
Selfie Look, 20 years from now, I'm still going to be around, God willing. If Iran has a nuclear weapon, it's my name on this. Barack Obama, July 14, 2015 © 2015 Kwiple.com
Selfie Spoiler alert: I actually am a Kenyan-born Muslim and Obama was never at the meetings at the Kenyan mosque. Ali Velshi, guest host for Last Word with Lawrene O'Donnell August 12, 2021 © 2021 Kwiple.com
Sleepers at the wheel say The gun lobby may hold Congress hostage, but they cannot hold America hostage. Barack Obama © 2015 Kwiple.com
Sleepers at the wheel say I do think that there is a norm that when there are investigations, we don't operate on innuendo and we don't operate on incomplete information and we don't operate on leaks. Barack Obama © 2016 Kwiple.com
Sleepers at the wheel say The rugged individualism that defines America has always been bound by a shared set of values, an enduring sense that we're in this together, that America is not a place where we simply turn away from the sick or turn our backs on the tired, the poor, the huddled masses. It is a place sustained by the idea “I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper.” Barack Obama © 2015 Kwiple.com
State of the union So let me repeat: The combined trends of increased inequality and decreasing mobility pose a fundamental threat to the American dream, our way of life, and what we stand for around the globe. And it is not simply a moral claim I'm making here. There are practical consequences to rising inequality and reduced mobility. Barack Obama, 2013 © 2019 Kwiple.com
State of the union c We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. Barack Obama, inaugural speech, January 20, 2008 © 2017 Kwiple.com
Snapshot He's a mainstream Democrat. We got the change that he wanted, which was minimal. But he campaigned on a promise of change with a capital C, with the backing of large numbers of people — whom he then demobilized. Barack Obama portrayed by Eric Foner © 2017 Kwiple.com
Snapshot The man is not an asshole, and indeed something of an antiasshole. For many progressives, this is a problem, as we  can see from their objections: he pulls back from using the powers he clearly has; he fails to respond to the opposition, allowing it to define the debate; he is too eager to listen, to understand, so as not to offend, to the point of being dragged away from his convictions by people stubborn in theirs; he makes premptive concessions in approaching the bargaining table and then further concessions down the line; he favors compromised policies that absorb everyone's concerns and that do much less good than they could. In short, progressives wish Obama could behave a lot more like an asshole. Barack Obama portrayed by Aaron James © 2022 Kwiple.com
Snapshot I am not saying that President Obama is the Antichrist. I am not saying that at all. One reason I know he's not the Antichrist is the Antichrist is going to have much higher poll numbers when he comes. Barack Obama portrayed by Robert Jeffress © 2018 Kwiple.com
Snapshot Looks and sounds so ridiculous. Barack Obama portrayed by Donald Trump © 2016 Kwiple.com
Snapshot There is a very large segment of our society who believe that Barack Obama, indeed, was not born in the United States. Barack Obama portrayed by Donald Trump © 2015 Kwiple.com
Supreme Court Barack Obama, who won the popular vote by 9.5 million votes in 2008 and five million in 2012 and served eight years in office, was able to appoint only two Supreme Court justices. Donald, who lost  the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by almost three million votes and was in office only four years (and impeached twice), was able to appoint three. Mary Trump, The Reckoning  © 2021 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say Death to ALL traitors! Michele Morrow, 5:28 AM – 17 May 2020, responding to a fake Time magazine cover showing Barack Obama in an electric chair [She's the 2024 Republican candidate for superintendent of schools in North Caroilina] © 2024 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say People are looking at Putin as onev who wrestles bears and drills for oil. They look at our president as one who equivocates and bloviates. Sarah Palin, 2014 [In 2014, Obama wss "our president"] © 2024 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say Putin: big, strong, muscular on a horse. There’s Obama riding a little bicycle with a helmet on. Sean Hannity, 2014 © 2024 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say You know, Barack Obama doesn't get to be the President of the United States without being ordained by God. Neither did Donald Trump. Rick Perry © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say Find another scapegoat. You might want to look at the last president. Jeanine Pirro, defending the Trump administration by denying White house staffers leaked information about their fellow staffer Rob Porter's history of spousal abuse and suggesting instead that Barack Obama is the real culprit © 2018 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say I had a picture one time of Obama sittin' on a stump as a witch doctor and I posted that on Facebook. I was making fun of the white half of Obama, not the black half. Roy Yelton, Buncombe County Republican captain and member of North Carolina's Republican Party Executive Committee © 2021 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say I prefer a Pay Per View of him in front of the firing squad. I do not want to waste another dime on supporting his life. We could make some money back from televising his death. Michele Morrow, 7:01 PM – 13 May 2020, responding to a conspiracy theory about shipping Barack Obama to Guantanamo Bay detention camp [She's the 2024 Republican candidate for superintendent of schools in North Caroilina] © 2024 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say One of my proudest moments was when I looked Barack Obama in the eye and I said, “Mr. President, you will not fill the Supreme Court vacancy.” Mitch McConnell, bragging about preventing the Senate from considering Merrick Garland for appointment to the Supreme Court – perhaps the greatest Capitol offense in the nation's history for which the known perpetrator avoided appropriate punishment  © 2018 Kwiple.com
Ukraine Obama looked at Ukraine [after Russia seized Crimea in 2014] and asked, “What’s in it for us?” Trump looked at Ukraine and asked [in trying to shake down Zelensky], “What’s in it for me?” For neither president was the question of staving off another Russian invasion, much less of encouraging Ukraine's democratic development, a particular priority. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin looked at Ukraine and concluded: “It's all for me.” Bret Stephens, New York Times, March 8, 2022 © 2022 Kwiple.com
Warmongers say Sometimes I think the President [Obama] cares more about making the Iranians happy than he does about making the people who want to bomb the Iranians happy. John McCain © 2015 Kwiple.com
 
Whites With Obama, there was this narrative: “Woo, we have crossed the racial Rubicon! We have overcome! We put a Black man in the White House!” Without looking at the data that shows that a majority of white people did not vote for Barack Obama and that they have not voted for a Democratic candidate for president since 1964, the year Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. Carol Anderson, New York Times Magazine, March 20, 2022 © 2022 Kwiple.com