Or is Barack the biggest bully?

[MeandMyKid]

I was all for Barack being president but over the last couple of years he seems to think he can summon everyone to the White House and tell them what to do/sack them etc. Recently it's been BP, the Army General and now Israel. Now I'm not saying that these individuals are wrong but Barack seems to think he can control the world and tell everyone what to do. Without saying the obvious,"Who the hell is he?" or "Who do America think they are?"

Could "The Dream" actually turn out to be the biggest control freak and bully of any president? His "qualities" are bordering on dictatorship.

YABVU [shoc]

IMVHO, he is neither a bully nor a dictator. BP neede to be taken to task and if someone who works for you bad mouths you and your administration, well I think it's pretty reasonable to decide that you can no longer have a working relationship with that person built on trust.

yabu. I think he was in the right in all 3 cases.

I find him inexperienced and badly advised. He'll be a one term wonder then the real statesmen will be back.

He is conveniently forgetting Halliburtons part in this disaster.

He is quite right. Best President they've had in years.

I am American, and I find Obama nearly as embarrassing as Bush ever was. For different reasons, obviously. But embarrassing all the same. The US seems to be increasing in bully tactics, which many many Americans did not expect under his leadership.

What do you expect? when he arrived in the oval office the seat was warm from George Bush.Everything left in complete disarray, of course it's going to be a big job working back from that and will involve huge changes.

what a ridiculous post!

BP has caused catastrophic pollution and economic disaster in the US - as well as the small matter of 11 men being blown up.

Israel continues building illegal settlements in contravention of international law

Mc Crystal was his military leader in Afghanistan and said twattish things about him in a Rolling Stone interview.

What the fuck would you have done? asked them nicely to say sorry and sit on the naughty step?

dictatorship my arse. Have you heard of North Korea? Iran ? THAT is a dictatorship. Don't be so melodramatic.

LOL Alouiseeg, a real statesman like GWB?

Er...wouldn't call him a dictator though. Far from it.

Dear, dear Donnie,

Methinks you are the one getting worked up, not me!

Ok so I used bad examples and I did say that I thought these things were wrong but America is increasingly using bully tactics but in this country we see few of them. I'm glad an American came on and agreed because our experience with friends in America is exactly the same.

But meandmykid,, the US has been telling people and the countries what to do for years. That part isn't new, really.

well - you agree that your examples were poor. Give some good ones then to illustrate your comment that he is an almost dictator.

other, not the.

I personally think he was right to do what he did.

Also, I think it's interesting when people talk about him being "arrogant". (Not that the OP did, it's just interesting.) Yes, he is, and I'm okay with that. An arrogant man is not going to want to go down as a horrible president.

But I am tired of the bully tactics. FFS sake we've got enough to fix here in our own country with healthcare, education going down the tubes every year, and a ridiculous number of children who live in "food deserts" and don't have sccess to fresh food. I support fixing those things before I support us going around telling other countries what to do. If they want our aid, fine, but otherwise we need to stay out of things. IM-oh-so-humble-O, of couse.

CheerfulYank I'm totally with you on needing to work on our own problems. We have a lot of them!

I must admit to losing a little respect for him over the BP saga, not for the 'bullying', but for, imo, showing weakness. Up to then my impression of him was that he was making up his own mind and acting accordingly.

But then some senator shouts for BP's dividends not to be paid and lo, he seemed to fall into line. I just got the impression he was playing to his domestic audience for fear of appearing soft on a non-US company. It just didn't gel with how I thought he was acting up to then.

And while I fully agree with 'polluter pays' - well, Union Carbide, anyone?

I don't think it is very 'presidential' to threaten to put his foot on the neck of whomever is in charge of BP. Dreadful language. I don't know any American who voted for him who actually thinks he is doing a good job. He won't get re-elected and frankly anyone who chose Joe Biden as his VP gets all he deserves.

he's the president of the united states - i thought that's what they did.

they are 'the most powerful nation on earth' and i guess they aim to use that power for good....

i can't imagine any president of the USA not trying to rule the world. it's what they do.

I think he;s dreadful

Yes the BP disaster was terrible, but doesn't anyone remember the Piper Alpha disaster? Oil rig going up (owned by the US) in the North Sea, killing 167 people. The UK didn't indulge in the mud slinging that the US are doing to the UK ....

I want to think Obama is good, I wanted him in (as much as I can be interested in another country's president) but I am disappointed that the US doesn't seem to have changed much with regards to telling other countries what to do etc. As well as in his seeming dislike of the UK. He doesn't have to like the British, but if he were a professional he wouldn't make it so obvious.

To follow up post, link about Piper Alpha:
www.marketwatch.com/story/uk-press-iea-dredge-up-memory-of-piper-alpha-2010-06-10

The reason why such a pollution event would not occur in UK waters is solely down to Piper Alpha and the lessons learnt from that horrific event.

He seems pretty flaky on this issue along with others. He placed a moratorium on drilling but had to lift that when it was pointed out to him how many US jobs would be lost as a result. Seems to shoot first and ask questions later. For that he reminds me of Reagan and not in a good way.

I think he was elected for the wrong reasons by a lot of people