NationStates Jolt Archive

Objectively (regardless of support or detraction) and assuming he does fine to well as President will President Barack Obama be strongly felt history for 100 years, 300 years, 500 years? I believe Martin Luther King is set for many more years, and Gandhi not far behind.

Possibly more real history will indicate President Obama as the first President of the United States of any other color to be elected? Probably a visionary President like JFK? I suppose it depends on how (relatively) soon we elect someone else similar as President?

(Personally I am a strong supporter, volunteered on the campaign)

Uhh... I dunno.

ah don't count your chooks before they cluck, he's got one hell of an uphill battle to sort out the U.S.

ah don't count your chooks before they cluck, he's got one hell of an uphill battle to sort out the U.S.

Well just saying on the sole basis of multi-cultural achievement and almost visionary status. If he does an alright job even. Assuming the entire nation does not slip out of even what he can manage and into some terrible Depression. But that would most likely be seen as thrust on him.

it's not like he's got much competition from the Bush years...all he has to do is say how nice he thinks other countries are and he'll be an angel in comparison...
hmmm Obama as a hells angel? that i have got to see.

right now, before he has been inaugurated, before he has done anything as president, all you can be sure of is one generation. he will be "special" to everyone alive today for their whole lives.

Dunno.

I'd call it a fifty year marker. It's definitely a plus for minorities, but there's a long way to go to reduce racism to acceptable levels.

Oddly enough, I think it may be more important than Gandhi. History isn't treating the Mahatma well - many are now saying he rushed things, and to India's detriment.

Who cares? Let him do his job. We can worry about how history will view him AFTER he's done.

I know someone leaving office who's convinced that history will treat him and his presidency as the Messiah of the beginning of the 21st century... I'm convinced that starting a two-front war will pretty much put the kibosh on that idea.

Purely on the basis of being the first black guy to get the job he's got himself a paragraph or two in plenty of American history books for as long as such things exist. Any more than that? Ask me again in 4 years, and maybe again 4 years after that.

Not a hope. No contemporary democracy, or democratic ruler, will surmount prevailing political inertia and accomplish anything of note. Especially the celebrity come demagogue discussed here.

Not a hope. No contemporary democracy, or democratic ruler, will surmount prevailing political inertia and accomplish anything of note. Especially the celebrity come demagogue discussed here.

Prevailing political inertia? What exactly do you mean by that? :confused:

If he's a good President, somewhere in between 50 to 100 years. Probably closer to 50.

If he is a President that cares for the people of America ahead of his personal desires then I will support him. If he does not then I will not support him, the ball is in his court and I await his actions as President.

Prevailing political inertia? What exactly do you mean by that? :confused:

Contemporary western democracies are, by virtue of the ignorance and myopia of their electorates at large, politically stagnant. I wouldn't anticipate Obama accomplishing anything substantial within 8 years.

Minor footnote

I'd call it a fifty year marker. It's definitely a plus for minorities, but there's a long way to go to reduce racism to acceptable levels.

Oddly enough, I think it may be more important than Gandhi. History isn't treating the Mahatma well - many are now saying he rushed things, and to India's detriment.

Yeah. Most Indians really don't seem to like him as much as Westerners (too much talk, not enough action.)

Im gonna say 50 years, maybe less...Itll definitely be remembered as a Watershed...But, other firsts like the First Female, Hispanic, other minorities, etc....will probably water it down after awhile...

Objectively (regardless of support or detraction) and assuming he does fine to well as President will President Barack Obama be strongly felt history for 100 years, 300 years, 500 years? I believe Martin Luther King is set for many more years, and Gandhi not far behind.
No idea.
Possibly more real history will indicate President Obama as the first President of the United States of any other color to be elected?
Well yes.
Probably a visionary President like JFK? I suppose it depends on how (relatively) soon we elect someone else similar as President?

(Personally I am a strong supporter, volunteered on the campaign)
Really depends how much this bailout cripples the value of the dollar, esp since Pelosi has indicated it probably won't be the last large handout.

I think it'll be a bigger deal when you lot (and us lot too, I suppose) elect your first indigenous leader. THAT will be a bigger watershed.

Doesn't mean Obama won't get his paragraph, at least, for the colour of his skin if nothing else. I for one have a little hope he might not be totally incompetent, thus making him worthy of a whole page. Talk to me in in 8 years though.

i'm glad i'm not indigenous, i'd never stoop that low. Nope you wouldn't catch me hanging about with a group of indigenii.

i'm glad i'm not indigenous, i'd never stoop that low. Nope you wouldn't catch me hanging about with a group of indigenii.

It's the correct word. Get over it.

It's the correct word. Get over it.

I was making a joke relating to some line from a pratchett book, ah diggers i think.
I suppose it could be seen as mocking you but i'm not.

oh he'll be strongly felt for a thousand, but i took the question to be how long before someone else comes along who will be as much, and to that i replied the 50 years.

as their are other major upheavals in bussiness as usual besides the melt down in sacredness of symbolic value.

a lot depends as much on what he does about these other things as well. i think his train ride sends, is sending a VERY positive signal. and his dropping the word forign, from describing the problem with our dependence of the use of combustion entirely, and oil in particular, is, to my mind, another one.

I think it'll be an important milestone for a few decades, but then fade away as more milestones are passed. While an interesting and important historical event, it doesn't quite rank on the same level as, say, the Ming reconstruction of the Great Wall of China or the discovery of the Americas so to suggest it will reverberate for 500 or more years is kind of getting in to that creepy hero-worship some enthusiastic supporters seem to have embraced.

If you mean "how long will people give a damn about him," I'd say at least as long as the United States survives as a country. However long that is.

How fondly he'll be remembered... that's still to be seen.

Obama is an optimist, which you call a "visionary". He is not withdrawing from any war and he is spending elsewhere besides.

On a brighter note, I do think his election will help "close the gap" and present a better African-American role-model.

Obama is an optimist, which you call a "visionary". He is not withdrawing from any war and he is spending elsewhere besides.

He'll have to leave Iraq, like it or not, because the Iraqis have said so. As for Afghanistan, I fully approve of his decision to stay and finish the job that Bush ignored to go screw around in Iraq.

On a brighter note, I do think his election will help "close the gap" and present a better African-American role-model.

I personally hope that he will help keep the hope for a post-racial society alive. By which I mean a society where race is not a factor in how people are judged or the oportunities which they recieve.

He'll have to leave Iraq, like it or not, because the Iraqis have said so.

Even Bush would leave then. Obama is not fulfilling my hopes.


As for Afghanistan, I fully approve of his decision to stay and finish the job that Bush ignored to go screw around in Iraq.

And how long do you suppose that will take?

really depends how much this bailout cripples the value of the dollar, esp since pelosi has indicated it probably won't be the last large handout.
o rly?

After opening the Gates of Heaven and harnessing the True Power of the Dead Gods, Obama shall reign for 1,000 glorious years of splendor and peace, and then 1,000 mediocre years of boredom and small discomforts, and then 1,000 terrible years of warfare and despair, and finally for 1,000 years that, while not particular good in any respect, were at least an improvement above the preceding 1,000.
Immediately after that, the Universe will end.
So, in answer to your question, zero years. Obama will never enter history, as there will be no time after Obama.

Even Bush would leave then. Obama is not fulfilling my hopes.

Give him a chance. You're condeming the Presidency of a man who hasn't been sworn in yet.

And how long do you suppose that will take?

You know, not every war is a "no end in sight" quagmire. Afghanistan always had more international support, and probably more support from the local population as well. If the situation their has been deteriorating, it is probably because the US put a fraction of the effort into the real War on Terror as they did into Iraq, while botching Iraq so badly that it dragged on for years before (apparently) begining to turn around in the last year or so.

Now, if the situation continues to go downhill after America has made Afghanistan a priority, then maybe the time to withdraw will have come.