So like why didn't he pass much of anything? All I recall from his administration was Osama dead and don't ask don't tell being revoked. He might not have wanted to pass much things since he thought Republicans would come back with vengeance? *shrugs*
Obama's presidency was torpedoed before he even got his feet wet. The economic recession of the time was met by two very different stimulus packages: the first was a smaller stimulus by the Bush administration that was purely economic in nature. Tax rebates, tax incentives, and changes in housing market regulations. It was a very on-the-nose response to an economic slowdown cause by a housing bubble popping.
The second stimulus came under the Obama administration, though it's unfair to really assign Obama credit or blame for it. The bill itself was crafted by Democrats in the legislature, largely before Obama was even inaugurated, signed less than a month into his first term. That stimulus was not only dramatically larger than the first, it was also designed in a totally different manner. Rather than a direct effort to give people economic reprieve, this stimulus was designed with the Democratic version of trickle-down economics, based on the idea that if the government just spends a ton of money, it will boost the economy and make it's way down to those who need it. What they spent it on supposedly didn't really matter, so it turned into a shameless omnibus package for the Democrats in the legislature (who controlled both houses) to shove anything their hearts desired into. If 7.2 billion dollars to renovate government buildings seems like an odd response to an economic downturn, that's cause it is. Anyway, Obama isn't responsible for that, but when Republicans asked Obama to step in and stop the nonsense, he basically told them to suck it and signed the bill. I don't know that I blame him for that either, it'd be one hell of a thing to tell the party that elected him not to pass bills they had every right too. But that was the beginning of the no-compromise Democrats.
I'm sure some will read that and think "the Democrats are always compromising to pass centrist things when they say they want really progressive policy". They don't want really progressive policy. It's all lipservice. They pass what they want to whenever they have the power to do so. And they've discovered that if they just constantly refuse to compromise, people will blame Republicans for being the obstructionist party, so it's a win-win situation politically for them. Of course, it's a terrible situation for the country, because now it's either single party rule or nothing gets done.
And all of this is very relevant to this thread, because that's what hinges on these Georgia elections. If Democrats win both, they're going to do whatever the hell they want. It will even be in a stimulus bill just like last time. But it won't be what you want them to want. It will be what they want. Which will conveniently enough look like what you think Republicans want, which they'll blame the Republicans for forcing them to pass, even though they had all the power and did whatever they wanted without needing a Republican to vote for it at all. See Obamacare for more details.
