What are Barack Obama's greatest weaknesses?

Answer 1

This question calls for opinions, so here are mine (I try to be neutral) and then here are some from a contributor who is anti-Obama. I think the President's greatest weakness is he tries too hard to be collaborative. Sadly, he has a Republican congress with members who do not believe in governing and who do believe in obstructing. While both parties have obstructed over the years, there is an unprecedented level of obstruction in the current congress, and this prevents many of President Obama's plans from being seriously considered. Having developed a reputation for bringing people together in his work as an Illinois state senator, I think he sincerely believed he could do that in the presidency, and he had not been able to do so.

another view:

Barack Obama's greatest weaknesses are not telling the truth and failing to lead. He lies constantly. He lied about his record (or lack thereof), his background, the economy, job creation, the budget, Bush's record, the effects of the sequester, Gov. Romney, Hillary Clinton, shovel ready jobs, Solyndra, the costs and benefits of the so called "Affordable Healthcare Act" that no one read prior to passing, the damage to unions, the IRS going after the opposition, the NSA violating the 4th Amendment, the terrorist attacks on Benghazi, the video he claimed that inspired the Keystone pipeline, ... on and on.

Answer 2

Obama has failed as president because his interests for America are not what America needs. Mainly, he has expanded government through bureaucracy. He has created more government positions overseeing Transportation security, National Protection and Programs Directorate, veteran care, job creation(which has failed miserably) & healthcare, just to name a few. The amount of money he has spent is greater than the last several presidents combined. America is not the global power it has always been. It is sad to see the decline in our economic strength. Too many people are out of work & can't find jobs. It is time to bring in a president that has America's & American's best interests at heart. Barack Obama was elected based on bringing positive change, on making government decisions open for all to witness. His first chance at making that happen was a complete failure. When his Obamacare development became an issue, his talks took place behind closed doors without the out-on-the-open process he promised. He said CSPAN would be allowed to air the proceedings but when it came down to it they were shut out. No Republican was allowed to take part in it. When the massive package was revealed it was clear the reason for swallowing the open door meeting. Several benefits to states who were against the healthcare plan suddenly were for it. When closely examined, the plan promised to give large amounts of money to those states. Obama is not the man Americans voted for. He has only his own interests at heart &, in my opinion, are to destroy America as it has always been about. FOR THE PEOPLE!

Answer 3

President Obama's biggest failure is a hard question because there are so many to choose from. Consider: Doubling the National Debt Setting back race relations as the first post racial president, constantly injecting himself in local issues Destroying U.S. foreign policy His apology tour The failure of leadership during the Arab Spring The failure on fighting and containing terrorism The weakening of NATO The Russian Reset and enabling Putin's adventurism Failure of U.S policy in the South China Sea Leading from Behind Drawing a red Line in Syria and backing down The entire Libyan affair The repeated bowing to foreign leaders

Weakening relations and loss of prestige around the world Obamacare Failures of the website A fundamental failure of the economics involved Prices greatly increasing and those under 45 not participating Not honoring his oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Refusing to work with the Congress Not supporting rule of law Dozens of executive orders to get around the legal Congressional role

==========================

Secretary of State Clinton.

Answer 4

He has said that his biggest regret is that he was unable to bring both sides together and change the tone in Washington. In his years as an Illinois state legislator, he had a reputation for working well with both Republicans and Democrats. He sincerely expected he would be able to bridge the partisan divide once he got to the White House. But it did not happen. Republicans refused to work with him (in some cases because they honestly disagreed with his policies, but in many other cases, because they were determined to obstruct anything he wanted to do and make him seem ineffective). Also, the tone of the discourse in Washington remained very partisan and very uncivil much of the time. While no one person can make changes in how congress acts, President Obama really thought he could be a catalyst for greater cooperation, and he certainly did not succeed in accomplishing that.

Answer 5

This is a subjective question since people value different aspects of a political administration. Since I put a tremendous value on US Foreign Policy, especially in the Middle East, I find Barack Obama's entire foreign policy to be a disaster area.

Some of the numerous grievances that I have with Barack Obama's policies exclusively in the Middle East are (in chronological order):

• Inviting the Muslim Brotherhood and disinviting the sitting Egyptian President Mubarak to his Cairo Declaration in 2008.
• Ignoring the Green Revolution in Iran, which was one of the few truly democratically-aligned revolutions in the Middle East during Obama's tenure.
• Changing US policy in Afghanistan so that cultural backsliding, e.g. reinstatement of the bachi-bazi (pederasty), poppy growing for heroin, and turning women's schools into male Islamic schools, would become the new norm.
• Primarily ignoring the US history of supporting the Israel-Sunni Axis in Middle Eastern politics in order to make a deal with the Iran's Shiite Axis.
• Withdrawing from Iraq without making sure that the Iraqi Armed Forces could adequately defend the country (allowing Islamic State to frighten them easily).
  
• Completely ignoring the Yemeni Civil War.
• Failing to take any appropriate measures to deal with the Arab Spring.
• Supporting the Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood to Power in Egypt.
• Not supporting the military coup d'etat to remove the Muslim Brotherhood and restore a more secular government.
• Drawing a red-line in Syria, but not actually following through when chemical weapons were used. Additionally, not demanding that Russia bomb only Islamic State and avoid bombing FSA controlled areas.
• Failure to provide large scale weaponry to the Kurds and properly vetted members of the FSA.
• Allowed Islamic State to become a powerful terrorist group with territory under its control.
• Signed a nuclear deal with Iran whose terms Iran has already violated and who violations Obama seems fine ignoring.
  
• Ignored the recent (2016) post-coup d'etat crackdown in Turkey and its implications for secular liberalism in Turkey and has refused to sanction Turkey for its violation of NATO by buying petroleum from Islamic State, a group in conflict with NATO countries.
  
• Has tried to prevent US-Israel weapons deals and actively taking steps to weaken Israel's ability to defend itself, like leaking the negotiations between Israel and Saudi Arabia for Israel to use Saudi airspace to attack Iran or between Israel and Azerbaijan concerning the use of Azerbaijani bases.
  

Answer 6

Well, for starters, he ruined America's image and reputation in the eyes of the international community.

Answer 7

So far he has been unable to guide Congress in making the tough choices needed to keep the debt from increasing.

Answer 8

Most important, to date, his failure to erase the Bush tax cuts on those whose taxable income exceeds $250,000/year.