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watch them lose their fucking minds (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/politicalmemes@lemmy.world
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[–] 131 points 3 months ago (9 children)

It's funny to think about, but also sobering to realize he's the best president Dems have had recently considering just how much he capitulated to Republicans after he got his signature ACA bill passed. I'll never forgive him for not putting up a fight with McConnell over his Supreme Court nominee.

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  • [–] 71 points 3 months ago* (5 children)

    His signature ACA bill that was so gutted and piecemealed together by the GOP that it was doomed to fail in every way possible.

    We were gonna have universal healthcare and now we have $20k bills to pickup a dead child from your house.

    Like it's so bad in the U.S. people are going to Mexico for medical care. Mexico!

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  • [–] 27 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    I was deep in the weeds of the ACA fight and this is not at all how it went down. Democrats had a filibuster-proof majority for only a few months altogether, and many in the caucus at the time were moderate red-state Democrats that didn't support a universal system. Hell, one of them, Joe Lieberman, had actively campaigned for John McCain and was on the shortlist to be his VP!

    The ACA that passed via reconciliation was the most progressive possible version of it that could have passed; lose one senator or a couple of representatives in the final vote and it would have failed to pass (and arguably destroyed Obama's presidency in the process).

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  • [–] 7 points 3 months ago

    While the ACA could have been much better in many ways that just weren't possible to get through the Senate, if you recall before that, there was pretty much no way at all to obtain any kind of insurance without getting it through an employer, and if you switched employers, your new employer's insurance could just tell you "sorry about that diabetes, we won't cover that since you had it before you started here." We would be in a much, much worse place right now without the ACA

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  • [–] 11 points 3 months ago

    Bill Clinton instituted Don't Ask/Don't Tell in the 90s as a means of protecting homosexuals in the military. DADT basically meant that the military couldn't conduct investigations into a person's sexuality. They were allowed to prohibit homosexuality, but they could only act against a service member who openly indicated their homosexual preference.

    DADT was horseshit from day one. The only redeeming characteristic of the policy was decriminalization of gays in the military. They could still be thrown out, but the policy quickly put an end to court martial and imprisonment of gay soldiers.

    DADT was a compromise, a transitory policy that never should have been needed. It needed to be retired as soon as it was enacted, and it took decades to actually accomplish.

    Obama's ACA is in a very similar position. It was horseshit from day one. It was a program designed and promoted by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, as opposition to various Universal Healthcare plans. It was designed from the outset to prop up the health insurance industry that desperately needed to be gutted.

    It may have been the best that Obama could have achieved at the time, but it was disgustingly terrible, and the whole thing needs to be replaced with something that actually works.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Biden was better. He quietly got more done, and didn't play into their games.

    Biden would have appointed the empty Supreme Court seat.

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  • [–] 13 points 3 months ago

    Obama did appoint the empty Supreme Court seat. McConnell refused to bring it to the senate to affirm. I actually generally agree that Biden was better though, until he decided to run again. If he did what he said he was going to and became the bridge to the next generation he would be fondly remembered. Instead he'll be remembered as the person that enabled Trump's second term.

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