The thing is Obama quit being a firebrand the day he took office. Ever since then, it's been pragmatism and more pragmatism- he's been more focused on governing than on politics. There were a number of things Obama could have changed himself using only the power of the presidency: Guantanamo/National Security issues, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He made almost no changes on these things, and ended up just continuing the policies of Bush's 2nd term. Instead he spent his political capital pushing for healthcare, which turned the country against him. This was the wrong time to push healthcare; he was elected to change/cut government, which had failed under Bush, not to expand it. He could push healthcare......after we were out of a recession, after we were out of war, after we were out of a debt crisis.
And of course Obama has not played hardball. What could he have done? Perhaps he could have threatened to immediately withdraw all US troops from overseas unless the Republicans agreed to passing healthcare. It's extreme, but so is voting no on absolutely everything unless we continue tax cuts for the top 1%.
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90s games > 00s games