Obamaphobia, a retrospective

[Econoline]

Now that President Obama's final term in office is ending, I'd like to compile a list of the right-wing predictions about what would happen to the U.S. if Obama became POTUS...and wonder if ANY of the purveyors of these theories have EVER said, "Oops, I was wrong."

• 1. Obama will confiscate your guns and/or prevent you from buying guns.
  2. Obamacare will include Death Panels.
  3. Obama will bring roughly 100 million Muslims into the US, converting the country into an Islamic nation.
  4. Obama is planning FEMA concentration camps.
  5. Obama will suspend the Constitution so that he can serve more than 2 terms.
  6. Obama will use Jade Helm 15 to enable the federal government to take over Texas.
  7. Electing Obama will all but guarantee another major 9-11 scale attack on America by Al Qaeda.
  8. Obama's economic stimulus package will make the recession worse and cause more unemployment.
  9. Obamacare will hurt the economy and kill jobs.
  10. If Obama is re-elected, gasoline will go up to more than $5 (or $6 or $10 or $12) per gallon.
  11. Obama’s tax increase on the top 1% in 2013 will kill jobs, increase the deficit and cause a recession.
  12. Obama's policies will leave the US more dependent on foreign oil.
  13. If Obama is re-elected there will be another big stock market crash.
  14. If Obama gets the govt. to bail out auto companies , it will mean the end of the US auto industry.

You can probably think of more...and remember, these predictions were all made by people who are now making optimistic predictions about the coming Trump presidency.

[Joe Guy]

It shows that Obama is forgetful. He wanted to do all of those things but forgot to do them. Being president is stressful and stress affects your memory...

[Big RR]

[kristina]

It shows that Obama is forgetful. He wanted to do all of those things but forgot to do them. Being president is stressful and stress affects your memory...

[rubato]

You know, you laugh, but the Republican party who invented, promoted, and in the end believe all of those lies voted overwhelmingly for Trump.

They are not governed by any connection to facts or reality. And they never 'got' the fact that the GOP led by Bush II created the worst financial disaster in 80 years.

yrs,
rubato

[Lord Jim]

Yep, there's no doubt about it; stupidity and ignorance are a real problem...

Would you believe there are some folk so ungoverned by any connection to facts or reality, that they believe that the Poles weren't victims of the Nazis, racism is inherent to the Jewish religion, the Japanese wanted to declare war before attacking Pearl Harbor, Carter inherited high inflation from Nixon and Ford, there was no genocide before Christianity, the British have had a 4th rate navy since the American Revolution, the defining characteristic of affluence is free time, the Buddhists have no history of violence, it's unusual for seals to bark, and that castration refers to removing the penis...

Hard to believe I know, but not only are there people who believe these ignorant things (well, at least one person that I can verify who does) but they are so fact averse and resistant, that they will frequently go on believing and repeating these ignorant things, no matter how many times the proof of the falsity is presented to them.

[Bicycle Bill]

... the Japanese wanted to declare war before attacking Pearl Harbor ...

Japanese ambassador Kichisaburō Nomura and Japan's special envoy Saburō Kurusu had a meeting scheduled with then-Secretary of State Cordell Hull on the afternoon of 12/7/1941 (Washington DC time) to deliver a fourteen-part message from the Japanese government officially notifying the US of a breakdown in negotiations.  To consider this to be a declaration of war or whether it might have been taken as a statement of hostile intent is a matter of conjecture, but the undeniable fact is that they were there to deliver the message but there was a delay in their meeting with Hull until after the attack had begun.

-"BB"-

[Big RR]

but there was a delay in their meeting with Hull until after the attack had begun.

Just a conjecture, but do you think it may have had something to do with the attack, which occurred in the early afternoon DC time? I'd bet the embassy staff may not even have known of the attack (since any decoding of a message would obviate the surprise), but they may have been told to await further instructions. My understanding was the Japanese diplomatic staff delayed the meeting until around 2:30 because they were not "ready".

And a breakdown in negotiations is not, in and of itself, a declaration of war or even necessarily a prelude to it; even a formal severance of diplomatic relations (and I don't think this would have amounted to such) is not necessarily a declaration of war or a statement of hostility, although it does a serious breakdown of relations between the countries.