this post was submitted on 19 Dec 2025
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I am tired of this world, these people. I am tired of being caught in the tangle of their lives.

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[–] lennybird@lemmy.world 10 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

We aren't both-sidesing this, are we?

Obama was a breath of fresh air on the international stage and widely respected, globally for good reason. It was clear to anyone paying even half attention that he was confronting powerful forces.

Couple points of fact to mention:

  • Obama used drone strikes, yes.
  • These Drone Strikes are orders of magnitude more precise with far less collateral damage than traditional warfare strategies used by his predecessors.
  • Obama passed an executive order making these drone strikes transparent to the public, understanding the danger.
  • Trump came in and reversed that transparency, making them classified.
  • Obama's civilian death toll is significantly less than Trump's first term alone.

By the way:

  • Nearly all dissenting opinions on Iraq and Afghanistan originated from Democrats or Independents who caucused with Democrats for good reason.
  • Nearly all later dissent came from this side as well.
  • A Democrat is the one who actually got us out of Iraq
  • A Democrat is the one who actually got us out of Afghanistan
  • A Democrat is the one who actually stayed on task to eliminate Bin Laden.

Republicans start wars; Democrats usually get them out. Perfect? No. But there is a very, very clear trend.

Getting tired of seeing this false equivalence nonsense.

[–] ATS1312@lemmy.dbzer0.com -3 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, Obama ran cover for his predecessor's war crimes too. Adopted his policies. Made them his own, accelerated them.

Before Biden, Obama had the record of most deportations per term. Biden actually built Trump's border wall, and beat Obama's deportation record.

I'm tired of pretending the centrist, corporate Democrats are "left" of anything but Nazis.

[–] lennybird@lemmy.world 5 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

There is not a single quantifiable mark you can place that Republicans aren't exceedingly worse on, in every respect. The two proverbial poisons are nowhere near equal potency; and it always amuses me that these armchair leaders would've reacted especially nobly if they were in the hot-seat and privy to the intelligence Obama was. I look forward to their run for office.

Deportation number is irrelevant; the methodology is of course what matters. Obama prioritized violent offenders, for example; he also did not separate mothers from children the same way Trump did. Literally no pro-immigrant advocacy group would trade what Biden or Obama did for what Trump is doing right now.

MuH BoTh SiDes false equivalence fallacies are easy for the mind to comprehend, but when you actually examine with any particular depth and nuance, they tend to fall apart.

[–] ATS1312@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

There is not a single quantifiable mark you can place that Republicans aren't exceedingly worse on, in every respect

And Democrats rush to accept their terms without considering the voters, any principles, or even practicality.

They haven't had a real primary for the Presidential candidate since 2008. Here is your one Mark. I'm begrudged to give the Red Team that much, but your Blue Team is what it is.

Its not a false equivalence to say the following: yes, your shit team is better than literal Nazis, but that's still not calling anyone good.

What are your thoughts on Mamdani? Are you a "Blue No Matter Who" voter in this context, or only without him? If Democrats want to win, he's got a model that works. I'm scared that the party insiders demand Ezra Klein's Reaganism repackaged in New Age "law of attraction"-pretending-to-be-Economics.

[–] lennybird@lemmy.world 4 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

What are your thoughts on Mamdani? Are you a “Blue No Matter Who” voter in this context, or only without him? If Democrats want to win, he’s got a model that works. I’m scared that the party insiders demand Ezra Klein’s Reaganism repackaged in New Age “law of attraction”-pretending-to-be-Economics.

Couldn't agree more, honestly. I am pretty progressive-left and have much criticism of Democrats, much like Sanders or AOC do. I embrace the Fight Oligarchy movement; I denounce the Third Way enlightened centrism at every turn. Schumer, Jeffries, Martin need to go. Pelosi's seat needs to be taken by Chakrabarti and not some AIPAC centrist puppet. Major reforms must happen between now and through Primaries season. And yes, I absolutely cheer Mamdani on and hope he suceeds. Agreed, Ezra is basically as useless as Bill Maher.

But years ago I swear to fuck I was one of the first to use the term Pragmatic Progressive" title, in noting that I would vote for Sanders but vote for Hillary and vote for several other candidates ahead of Harris or Biden in 2020, but still vote for Biden; still voted for Harris even though I wished for something different. Why? Because the reality is that in a binary choice election — and my ultimate point in this discussion on Biden and Obama — they were objectively, logically, by every qualitative and quantifiable measure the better choice. I do not subscribe to the deeply selfish ideologies of accelerationism or nihilism that would see others like my children or anyone else's suffer as a sacrifice to meet another's ends, either.

I of course am not alone in that damage-control assessment; after all, the likes of Bernie and AOC adhere to the same principle.

I apologize for coming out strong on this. I've just seen so many people try to act like Obama wasn't a genuinely good person trying to do his best but confronting forces or failing, versus someone is genuinely pathologically evil and psychopathic, like Trump.

[–] ATS1312@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Is Obama better than Trump? Yes.

Do we need to keep claiming he is perfect? No, let's quit deluding ourselves.

https://youtube.com/shorts/4xaT7Qr7hA8 a short video that cites a couple sources.

So much of what Trump can do is built upon what Obama accomplished in the name of "National Security". Even ICE.

He caved. He was an effective, brilliant, and charismatic community organizer. But when he took office in the White House, he balanced all of those things we love about him? With his party's pathological need to please both his opposition and their shared donors.

And he was so much more effective at doing what Republicans wanted, even when he adds some "humane restrictions" to it, these policies and precedents set us on an even more dangerous path. Just like with every previous presidency in my lifetime.

I don't say this to be mean, I wish it wasn't true. But we need to be honest with ourselves. If Democracy is supposed to work, we cannot afford to trust our representatives to be surrounded by lobbyists without our active voices demanding some share of their time.

And yet, we have allowed our politics to be "vote every 2-4 years along party lines, and trust that it will be fine." We're not doing just fine.

[–] Alaknar@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 hour ago

Do we need to keep claiming he is perfect?

Who claimed he's perfect...?