Debate: Will Obama recover from the absolute mess he has created as president of the US?
Side: Great President

1) Health Care Reformwhy do you think the gov't shutdown?Politics.ObamaCare will decrease the debt by a few billion, ... but it will also increase the debt by over a trillionThe projected NET impact of ObamaCare is a reduction in the deficit. (Here is a CBO projection for how much repealing ObamaCare would cost.)I also don't support forcing people to pay for something, whether they want it or notIf you don't want an iPad, you don't pay for an iPad and you don't get an iPad, however with healthcare, you can obtain it without paying for it (via emergency rooms). We either have to remove the ability for everyone to get emergency care without proof of insurance/ability to pay, or we need to pay for that care - in this case via a requirement of insurance enforced through a tax/fee.2) Stimulusthe national debt increased more under Obama in his first three years than it did Bush's entire eight years in officeJan/2001 Debt = $5,716,071M ref (the month Bush took office)Jan/2009 Debt = $10,632,080M ref (the month Obama took office)Difference = $4,916,009M (an increase of 87.5% under 8 years of Bush)Jan/2012 Debt = $15,356,140M ref (3 years after Obama took office)Difference = $4,724,060M (an increase of 44.9% under 3 years of Obama)So in actual dollars you are incorrect by about $200 billion (and would be more incorrect if adjusted for inflation). And in percentage growth it is not even close.Also, and more importantly, you seem to be ignoring the financial collapse in 2008 which dramatically reduced receipts while simultaneously increasing demand on unemployment and welfare programs. The collapse was not the result of Obama policies.unemployment was at 7.8% when Bush left office, it rose to 10% under Obamaunemployment is a lagging indicator of the economy - it reached 10% in Oct 2009 (ref) and the private sector has had 44 straight months of private sector job growth since then. Additionally, Obama has proposed several measures to increase job growth but has been blocked on political grounds since many of the ideas are things Republicans have agreed with in the past.Note 1: as of January 7, 2009 (2 weeks before Obama took office) the projected 2009 deficit was estimated at $1.2 Trillion refthe deficit for FY2013 (which just ended on Sept 30th) was $680 billion - a reduction of 44% without even accounting for inflationThe deficit to GDP ratio under Obama has fallen from 10.1% to 4% - the fastest reduction since World War II ref (The deficit to GDP ratio at this point in Regan's presidency was over 5% refNote 2: Under Reagan unemployment was over 10% even further into his presidency and for 10 straight months, and the debt went from $934,073M ref to 2,697,957M ref - a growth of 189%3) Passed Wall Street ReformA lot of the regulations haven't even been writtenTherefore it doesn't count at all?? Many of the regulations are written and in place and the taxpayer bailouts that happened in 2008 are currently illegal. There is a ton of lobbying happening by Wall Street which is slowing the process down, but is also having a positive effect on court challenges for the regulations that are in place.4) IraqThe war wasn't even with IraqTell that to President Bush and Saddam Hussein and the more than 4,400 military personnel who were deployed under Operation Iraqi Freedom that didn't come home.5) AfghanistanAccording to their campaigns McCain and Romney would not be leaving Iraq nor Afghanistan anytime soon. ref ref6) Osama bin ladenBush closed the Osama Bin Laden unit in the CIA (Alec Station) in 2005 and said he doesn't know where he is and he just doesn't spend that much time on him ref ref refIf things had gone wrong, you know where the blame would have went. Obama gave credit to military and counterterrorism professionals, allies, etc. and took credit only for working with intelligence officials and giving the order - the credit to which he was entitled. refSome decisions (e.g. whether to use a drone strike or Seal team, etc.) are made at the President's level.See also7) U.S. Auto IndustryI'll give him that, but it did come with a cost. Taxpayers ended up losing over $9 billionWhat would the lost tax revenue be if nearly the whole of the American auto industry would have collapsed? How much would have been spent on unemployment and welfare costs while new auto companies and suppliers tried to start from scratch? All the while bolstering foreign manufacturers.8) Recapitalized BanksIt'll likely lead to problems down the roadProblems down the road which may not even come to fruition are better than immediate bank failures.9) Don’t Ask, Don’t TellBill Clinton, is the one who implemented it in the first placeAt the time it was better than the existing outright ban of gay people in the military.10) Moammar GaddafiObama had little say so in thisAs commander in chief, Obama had the ultimate say so in this - he decided whether and how we would get involved. Republicans and some Democrats were ardently against military intervention in Libya and against him having NATO lead the effort. But he did, and the result was Gaddafi gone with no American lives lost.