Are Any Mylotters Warming to Obama?
By irisheyes
@irisheyes (4370)
United States
December 14, 2008 12:27pm CST
It's not a secret that I voted for Barack Obama but I was recently surprised to have a friend tell me that he was starting to win her over. She was fiercely anti Obama during the campaign and thought his election would be doomsday for the USA.
Maybe I'm imagining things but I thought I noticed a little thawing in some of my Mylot friends also. How about it, are any Mylotters feeling a little warmer these days toward our President Elect?
1 person likes this
7 responses
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
15 Dec 08
Well he isn't even in office yet so what could he have done to win people who did not vote for him over?
He has not done anything but appoint his cabinet. I will reserve judgement til he is actually in the job and I see how he does.
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@irisheyes (4370)
• United States
15 Dec 08
I'll admit it might be a bit premature but there was a lot of jitteriness and quite a few irrational fears out there. I think the fact that he has chosen some very smart people for his cabinet and has communicated his plans to the American people has definitely had some effect. Some of the most seriously anti Obama people seem at least willing to give him a chance.
@irisheyes (4370)
• United States
17 Dec 08
I couldn't disagree more. When I first heard that remark about no lobbyist, I thought it was the dumbest statement I'd heard him make. It would be virtually impossible to fill a cabinet and staff an administration with smart, capable Washington insiders without including people who had connections to lobbies. Washington is an insider's town and dewy eyed idealists from outside are not going to cut it. You wind up with something like the Carter administration. Jimmy Carter was probably one of the most decent, well meaning men to ever assume the presidency but he was an outsider and he did not align himself with the inside and wound up with a totally ineffective presidency.
I'm glad Obama has reversed himself on this one. Just because a cabinet or staff member has had connections to a lobby in the past does not mean that they still have allegiance to that lobby but it does mean they know how things work and can get things done.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
16 Dec 08
His cabinet picks have not made me feel any better. One thing he said on the campaign trail that I actually really liked was his whole "no room for lobbyist in my white house" thing. Well he broke already with his appointments. I am disappointed in that. I was looking forward to a white house in which lobbyist and special interest groups did not have a lot of influence.

@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
14 Dec 08
It's no secret, 'smiling' IrishEyes, that I did NOT vote for Obama. Nor, if it comes to it, did I vote for McCain ... were there any other alternatives, by the way?
No, I am sequestered in my sceptered isle and unable to make my 'yea' or 'nay' have any value because I am not American.
I am not surprised, frankly, that Obama has made converts since his election. This presidency is not about being 'Democrat' or 'Republican', it's about being common sense and world-wise rather than holding one's head in the sand and pretending that America is a 'world leader' and the only nation in the world (sometimes to the complete exclusion of others).
Who was it who made a trip to meet European leaders and try to understand their viewpoint while his election was very much on the line? McCain didn't.
An American President is a World Leader (and only one among many). Americans elect him but you elect him primarily to represent the American nation to the world, and really only secondarily to govern your country (the Senate and Congress do that).
It is quite apparent that Obama understands his role and that McCain did not. I am glad that the majority of Americans elected someone who, at least, understands what Presidency is about! I am also glad that you elected someone with fairly liberal views but, more importantly, I am overjoyed that some 'Republicans', at least, can come to understand that it is not politics that divide us but fear.
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@irisheyes (4370)
• United States
19 Dec 08
What a great answer! You have a much better grasp on the role of the US presidency than most of our candidates. I do agree that Obama seems to understand the power of the symbolism of the presidency more than most.
@Latrivia (2878)
• United States
14 Dec 08
I was not, and still am not an Obama supporter. I have always felt that both candidates were wrong for our country, and my feeling still exists now that Obama is the President Elect. I'm waiting for Obama to actually get in the white house and do something before I judge him completely. He could be a good president, but it's something we'll have to wait to see.
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@xfahctor (14113)
• Lancaster, New Hampshire
15 Dec 08
no thawing on my end yet. In fact the more I research and listen, the less I like. I still find his views on the constitution and propper roll of the federal government to be not only fundamentaly flawed, but out right lunacy in some cases. Despite apointing an obviously intelligent cabinate, intelligent cabinate does not equate to constitutionaly acurate views. So far, I'm still not impressed, but he hasn't taken office yet so We'll see. I am going to be expecting him to repeal a number of presidental directives Bush instated, he promised to do this imediatly upon entering officem it takes no more than a stroke of the pen, so I expect him to keep his word. We'll see.
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@irishidid (8687)
• United States
14 Dec 08
Still as cold and cynical as always. I'm waiting to see if my opinion changes.
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@relundad (2310)
• United States
14 Dec 08
For most that had differing opinions I think that will not change. What may happen is that after the election of any kind, you have no choice but to accept the outcome. But you will still have the people that will not concede and are sore losers.
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@michaeldadona (5684)
• Malaysia
14 Dec 08
It is a common phenomenon during pre-election and post-election time for voters where switching support from one to another. In fact it is what democracy meant for. Where everybody is free; either to shout out loud or play silent support to one candidate. In political arena, we must read the movement in political way and not in the historical way. Where changes can happen in split second, as interest towards one's(Mr President) achievement is the agenda in politic world. The imperative part is, we as voter, must look for the beneficence sometimes from a part to whole and also from whole to a part. Finally, what can benefit us from that scenario, I mean the opportunity?.
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