US president's tears ... sincere or staged?

[partgypsy]

He's a politician. If I stumbled upon him sobbing in a back room w/no one around, and no one even knew he was there, ok. In front of cameras, when he's pushing something thru by executive order and it just so happens to be a media fest? Not so much.

I don't buy one iota of this. He's the least stereotypical politician I've seen in office. He's also managed to keep his humanity and compassion where others have failed. He has nothing to be gained by crying during a media fest. He knows his tears will not sway the naysayers, conservatives, NRA, haters-of-every-single-thing he's tried to accomplish. He took this executive action knowing full well that hysteria would ensue. The move is genius. It will force a hand that couldn't be dealt in any other way.

Name one thing that he have accomplished for our country in the past 7 yrs?..

There are many young Obama voters with buyer's remorse now. Many are still living at home with parents after graduation with no jobs and owe a lot of $$$ in student loans.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/march_april_2012/features/obamas_top_50_accomplishments035755.php

For me personally his biggest accomplishment, is preventing a possibly complete financial meltdown of the US, which we were on the brink of when he was sworn into office. Funny short people's memories...

Other (to me) positive accomplishments off the top of my head: Reducing waste in the government http://www.businessinsider.com/budget-deficit-lowest-under-obama-2014-10... Deficit as percentage of GDP lowest in 40 years, which is why none of the candidates are talking about the deficit anymore. Passing nationalized healthcare reform (though it doesn't go far enough imho). Legislation to reduce energy use and mitigate climate change. Don't ask, don't tell. Getting Osama. And number one, NOT getting us into another unjustified war!!!

I'm not a fan of everything he did. Healthcare reform did not go far enough. The use of drone warfare raises ethical questions as well as keeping open Gitmo. I am not a fan of the EOG (aka more standardized testing for schoolkids), but am for more resources and access to education.

 

[Dancing Fire]

[quote="Calliecake|


Say what you will Dancing Fire but things have definately changed for the better since Bush left office. I have a young family member who is a member of some young republican group. She has stated that she will vote for Hillary because there is no republican candidate she has any faith in. She is also realizing that the republicans don't do much in the way of helping women's rights

[/quote]
I would have no problem with Hillary as our next Prez. I think she will govern more towards the middle unlike Obama who leans way to the left.

 

[Dancing Fire]

[quote="part gypsy|

I'm not a fan of everything he did. Healthcare reform did not go far enough. The use of drone warfare raises ethical questions as well as keeping open Gitmo. I am not a fan of the EOG (aka more standardized testing for schoolkids), but am for more resources and access to education.[/quote]

Don't worry...he is releasing terrorists as we speak...

 

[Tekate]

I believe he teared up for real and especially hope for the bolded part of your post.

[quote="Matata|[/quote]

First, ARETHA gawdamighty! Watched it twice, cried twice. Second, I believe his tears are real. It takes a brave leader to stand before his nation and cry. I wish Obama would leave the US at the end of this term giving us all a 2-handed middle finger salute and never look back. I cannot believe the hatred and condemnation he has faced during his term of service. It exceeds anything I've seen since I hit voting age.[/quote]

 

[ksinger]

This piece is both amusing and incredibly sad.

Kenny, I'm particularly interested in how you read it, since it has to to with American masculinity as much as Obama himself.

http://www.salon.com/2016/01/06/obamas_tears_americas_tragedy_behind_fox_news_mockery_lies_uncomfortable_truth_about_our_failed_politics/

 

[kenny]

Sorry Ksinger.
I started to read it, but fell asleep.

I am so not a part of, or even give a shit about, America's take on masculinity ... let alone an opinion piece about it, let alone how it affects perception of today's presidential tears.

I'd rather have my skin peeled off than finish reading it.
It's all just shit, and I don't care to walk through it.

Sorry.

 

[packrat]

Ksinger..is the author saying in the end of that one paragraph that he believes Obama to be pussified and effeminate? (I apologize-I have lines all thru my computer screen and it makes things hard to read, so I question if I'm seeing/understanding properly.) Or is he meaning that that's what the masculine culture is like here and that according to that culture, men don't cry, which makes him those things?

 

[ksinger]

Sorry Ksinger.
I started to read it, but fell asleep.

I am so not a part of, or even give a shit about, America's take on masculinity ... let alone an opinion piece about it, let alone how it affects perception of today's presidential tears.

I'd rather have my skin peeled off than finish reading it.
It's all just shit, and I don't care to walk through it.

Sorry.

Alrighty then.

 

[lulu]

It was amazingly contrived. The changes he effected would not have stopped Sandy Hook so why bring it up except to manipulate emotions?

 

[Gypsy]

I thought it was sincere. And am appalled at the backlash about it.

Seriously some people are haters. And haters gonna hate.

And yes, I think there are a lot of people on the right, and on this board who, if they were honest with themselves, would admit that if he were white they wouldn't be "in the middle" of the road and they wouldn't have doubted his tears.

 

[Dancing Fire]

[quote="part gypsy|

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/march_april_2012/features/obamas_top_50_accomplishments035755.php

For me personally his biggest accomplishment, is preventing a possibly complete financial meltdown of the US, which we were on the brink of when he was sworn into office. Funny short people's memories...

[/quote]
Like J. Carter said ...Thank God for Prez Obama, b/c without Prez Obama I would still be ranked as "the worst post WWII Prez"

 

[Gypsy]

Like J. Carter said ...Thank God for Prez Obama, b/c without Prez Obama I would still be ranked as "the worst post WWII Prez"

He never said that. You watch too much Fox BS.

 

[Gypsy]

This is my response to this whole thread:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/01/06/trevor-noah-hits-fox-news-for-mocking-obama-s-tears-are-you-f-cking-kidding-me.html

 

[Dancing Fire]

[quote="part gypsy|

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/march_april_2012/features/obamas_top_50_accomplishments035755.php

For me personally his biggest accomplishment, is preventing a possibly complete financial meltdown of the US, which we were on the brink of when he was sworn into office. Funny short people's memories...

Like J. Carter said ...Thank God for Prez Obama, b/c without Prez Obama I would still be ranked as "the worst post WWII Prez"

He never said that. You watch too much Fox BS.[/quote]


I heard it on MSNBC...

 

[Gypsy]

I heard it on MSNBC...

You lie. As usual.

 

[maccers]

Obama is playing the long game and trying to create generational change. This isn't something that can be achieved in two terms in office but he's a hero for trying it. I only hope that the next President picks up where he left off. Obama has had the crappy job of trying to shift an entire nation's way of thinking about human rights for healthcare and education. Same thing about gun control - he can change the laws around it but it's going to take a decade or longer until people are used to the new normal. He truly wants to help his nation to seek a new path. If future presidents continue with this path, Obama will eventually go down In history as a president who had the foresight and bravery to improve the lives of everyone in his country.

But let's not talk about that. Let's deflect the real issues with topics like the sincerity of the president's tears. (Aside: I can't believe the amount of airtime Trump is getting talking about Cruz's birth place. Again, deflection of the real issues at hand).

These are my observations as a Canadian.

 

[momhappy]

^questioning the sincerity of the president's tears is not deflecting the issue. It's just a discussion like any of the others here (or elsewhere).

 

[kenny]

Maccers, good point that big change in a culture takes time, generations even.

Look at equal rights for women, racism, gay equality.

Even though laws are passed many still resist the spirit behind laws.
The Emancipation Proclamation was 153 years ago, yet some Americans still do not embrace equality and equal rights.

 

[maccers]

^questioning the sincerity of the president's tears is not deflecting the issue. It's just a discussion like any of the others here (or elsewhere).

I should have been more clear: I'm not criticizing the discussion of it in public forums such as here. I'm criticizing the media (fox, cnn etc) which fixate on it.

 

[AGBF]

^questioning the sincerity of the president's tears is not deflecting the issue. It's just a discussion like any of the others here (or elsewhere).

I should have been more clear: I'm not criticizing the discussion of it in public forums such as here. I'm criticizing the media (fox, cnn etc) which fixate on it.

I didn't see at first that you are Canadian. In my opinion, your postings were brilliant. The first one (in my opinion) really hit important issues that had not, previously, been addressed. This one was tactful, thoughtful, and responsive to what had been posted. You are an amazing woman (in my opinion).

Deb (Insert hat tip icon here)

 

[AGBF]

This piece is both amusing and incredibly sad.

...​

http://www.salon.com/2016/01/06/obamas_tears_americas_tragedy_behind_fox_news_mockery_lies_uncomfortable_truth_about_our_failed_politics/

I read this, Karen. It seemed quite short to me, actually. I looked around the website when I finished reading to see if I was missing some of it, because some of the respondents here made it seem like a a long article. In summary the thesis seemed to be that it is all-American to cry for war dead and sacrifices, but not for the death of innocents. That it is common to see large men and soldiers tear up over the American flag but not over the death of little black girls killed on Birmingham Sunday in a church bombing.

However, it went on to say that although Fox news might have an agenda in being suspicious of President Obama, that the writers of the article were also suspicious of his tears, suspicious that he was crying not just for gun victims but for his failed presidency.

I won't sign on to support that thesis. My take on crying (as a Freudian) is that people always cry for reasons that are highly personal. At every funeral, where every person cries for the deceased, he is actually crying for far more complicated reasons. If you were to ask him (after the service) and he was open to discussing his feelings, he might tell you what buried feeling had welled up in him during the service and about whom he had thought (besides the deceased). Chances are that he would have relived some of his own, earlier, losses.

It is far more complex than that, but I think I have made my point. No one cries for one reason alone.

Deb/AGBF

 

[momhappy]

^questioning the sincerity of the president's tears is not deflecting the issue. It's just a discussion like any of the others here (or elsewhere).

I should have been more clear: I'm not criticizing the discussion of it in public forums such as here. I'm criticizing the media (fox, cnn etc) which fixate on it.

Ok.
Has the media fixated on a similar discussion about Obama's tears? If so, I've not seen any of it. The only media coverage I've seen is a recap of parts of his speech. I've not seen or read a single thing (except here) on whether or not his tears were genuine. Maybe I've missed it? Or maybe the media coverage in Canada is different?

 

[Matata]

Has the media fixated on a similar discussion about Obama's tears? If so, I've not seen any of it. The only media coverage I've seen is a recap of parts of his speech. I've not seen or read a single thing (except here) on whether or not his tears were genuine. Maybe I've missed it? Or maybe the media coverage in Canada is different?

It's primarily on FOX news and Republican sites as well as other conservative blogs.

 

[momhappy]

^Thanks, matata.
Guess I'll dig around and see what the media has to say.

 

[Matata]

^Thanks, matata.
Guess I'll dig around and see what the media has to say.

Here's something to get you started. http://gawker.com/the-right-wing-obama-crying-conspiracy-theories-are-rol-1751269724

 

[Gypsy]

^Thanks, matata.
Guess I'll dig around and see what the media has to say.

Here's something to get you started. http://gawker.com/the-right-wing-obama-crying-conspiracy-theories-are-rol-1751269724

This will show you clips too:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/01/06/trevor-noah-hits-fox-news-for-mocking-obama-s-tears-are-you-f-cking-kidding-me.html

 

[momhappy]

Thanks for sharing.
My point, however, was that I don't think that the media is fixated on the president's tears to the extent that it takes away from other issues (like the gun control debate). Is it news-worthy? Sure, but just about anything is fair game for the news these days.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Has the media fixated on a similar discussion about Obama's tears? If so, I've not seen any of it. The only media coverage I've seen is a recap of parts of his speech. I've not seen or read a single thing (except here) on whether or not his tears were genuine. Maybe I've missed it? Or maybe the media coverage in Canada is different?

It's primarily on FOX news and Republican sites as well as other conservative blogs.

I only watch MSNBC because they are unbiased...

 

[lulu]

I thought it was sincere. And am appalled at the backlash about it.

Seriously some people are haters. And haters gonna hate.

And yes, I think there are a lot of people on the right, and on this board who, if they were honest with themselves, would admit that if he were white they wouldn't be "in the middle" of the road and they wouldn't have doubted his tears.

Because I thought his tears were phony I'm a racist??? What a load of liberal codswallop. I voted for him and am quite disillusioned.

 

[the_mother_thing]

Step aside Barbie & Ken ... there's a new sheriff on the shelves. LOL