Aaron Rupar: If you're roughly my age, it's wild to reflect on the optimism for the future Americans felt when Obama

[highplainsdem]

was elected — young Americans spontaneously took to the streets to celebrate! — and contrast with what we face today. The falloff over the past 18 years is hard to process.

If you’re roughly my age, it’s wild to reflect on the optimism for the future Americans felt when Obama was elected — young Americans spontaneously took to the streets to celebrate! — and contrast with what we face today. The falloff over the past 18 years is hard to process.

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-03-09T15:56:07.313Z

Aaron's in his early 40s. But I don't think it's that particular age that matters. Anyone old enough to remember the optimism we felt when Obama was elected understands what he means.

And those of us who are older remember a lot of progress from earlier decades that we're now seeing reversed.

[perfessor]

1. I remember being elated when Carter was elected.

I thought we’d never have a Republican president again.

Hey, I was young.

[dsc]

9. Carter barely won

He won Ohio and Hawaii by very small margins and the loss of both of those would have given it to Ford. This is despite him having a huge lead in the early fall.

[young_at_heart]

2. I have NEVER felt such excitement!

I'm 86 now, and looking back, I've watched a few of these and Obama's election is at the top of the list! Of course, it has all been erased now.

[lame54]

3. Always a relief...

To de-throne an R prez

[Vinca]

4. I'm so grateful Obama happened during my time on this planet. What great memories.

[newdeal2]

5. I'm still bewildered by 2016

We were respected and making progress on multiple fronts. Somehow Americans decided to gamble all that away for Trump.

I’m definitely depressed thinking about where we would be as a country right now if that orange slob never got elected.

[maxsolomon]

12. It was a triumph of Conservative Media's brainwashing program

MFer came in a hijacked their lies - he conned America because on the average, we're rubes.

[Amaryllis]

13. There was Russian interference. Many of us think that election was tampered with.

[groundloop]

15. I'd say that Russian misinformation all over social media was tampering

Add that to constant GQP lies, right wing media bias, big money, etc. etc. etc. and there you have it.

And yes, I was extremely proud of America when we elected President Obama. I just knew that we were going to become a more just country..... I was gutted when the orange buffoon slithered his way into the White House.

[SergeStorms]

21. James Comey.

End of post.

[MustLoveBeagles]

6. I was happy then

I thought the country had grown up. How wrong I was.

[progressoid]

7. Wild isn't the word I'd use.

Distressing?

Annoying?

Disappointing?

[leftstreet]

11. +1

and certainly perplexing

[Amaryllis]

14. Try tampered with. Russia Russia Russia.

[displacedvermoter]

27. Obama 1/09 on Bush Corruption/War Crimes

Look forward, not backwards.

Set the tone for where we are now, unfortunately.

[BidenRocks]

8. The Age of Aquarius

We had such high hopes.
Now we just get high!

[BaronChocula]

10. If you're roughly my age

It's wild to reflect how Americans swiftly gave republicans control of the HOR after Obama delivered on one of the key issues of his campaign and helped reverse the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

I just don't trust most people.

[nilram]

16. 65 here and it all seems reversed to before I was born.

And with technology far beyond what Orwell envisioned.

[OC375]

17. I was optimistic in the 1970's and early 1980's

We were all going to be pursuing brainy careers in support of whatever bold future Skylab, solar and recycling morphed into, working normal earth jobs... but pushing the world forward as one force, for the good of all.

The pamphlet was misleading, and the generation of "me" prevailed. Needless to say, I'm skeptical of even people I agree with anymore. I'm quite certain that we're only around as a species still, because the rules of very large numbers haven't gotten around to us yet..

Optimism is something to guard carefully, and to be cautious around when others are wielding it, IMHO.

[Martin68]

18. I was just talking to my wife about this. In the late 60s and early 70s we were incredibly optimistic about the future.

I don't mean about jobs, but about making life better for everyone, eliminating disease and reducing poverty.

[JudyM]

24. Yes, we thought most folks had a common understanding of what we all valued. Didn't work out that way, though.

[modrepub]

19. My Reflection

While I share the same recollection even though I was older at the time, I still think the seeds of our current problem go back to the Obama era.

The one major criticism, that has only grown in my mind, was how poorly Obama handled the Great Recession. Not so much him but who he allowed to guide him through the crisis; the Neoliberals. Instead of allowing the financial fallout to run its course we intervened with huge bailouts to basically keep the financial structure the same instead of doing wholesale restructuring; breaking up the large failing financial institutions into much smaller less dangerous ones and putting some of the poor actors in jail.

IMHO, Obama should have taken the opportunity to use taxpayer funds to break up these large financial companies. While most of the crisis occurred before he entered office, in retrospect I wish he had done more while he had a chance for reform.

In stead, unfortunately, the immensely vulnerable rich lived to fight another day and now we have billionaires and megalarge corporations dismantling society.

Sorry for being such a downer.

[BannonsLiver]

30. Blaming Obama for everything is a favorite DU parlor game so you're not out of line at all.

The overall positivity in the OP/thread is the real outlier.

[BootinUp]

20. And the Republican senators refused to

Work with him even before the inauguration (iirc).

[BidenRocks]

23. Mitch again.

We will work to make sure that Obama is one term President.
No, you don't get Supreme Court picks in your final year.

Obama was Sisyphus and did a good job despite overwhelming opposition.

[pattyloutwo]

22. He articulated

What many of us feel… going from great optimism to dystopian level dictator

[DFW]

25. My optimism when Obama was elected was boundless--briefly

Then he selected Rahm Emmanuel, whom I dislike immensely, to be his chief of staff. Acting on a personal grudge stemming from Howard Dean’s highly successful DNC leadership through the 2006 midterms, Rahm froze Howard out the made-for-him position as HHS Secretary.

In fact, Rahm froze Howard out of the Obama administration altogether. I was appalled, and was crushed that Obama didn’t show better (and more independent) judgment. Yes, Rahm was well known for his organizational skills and his connections. He was also known for his for being an egotistical hothead who never forgave Howard for being spot-on correct about his 50 State Strategy. Listening to Rahm and tossing Howard aside was an error that had ripples from which the country still suffers today.

[Beck2]

26. Rush.

Nothing on the radio in the Midwest except Rush Limbaugh. He had converted most of the Midwest before the year 2000. They were formally brainwashed. I lost my Wisconsin family. Every radio station had him on for about 18 years straight. Where my brother worked, a factory they played Rush out loud in the factory so people could listen. Yes we have a lot of brainwashed people.

[ybbor]

28. Obama was elected the year my daughter was born

You don’t understand the feeling I/we had to know our country had finally been able to elect a person of color, and the opportunities that we foresaw for her. While she has grown into an amazing young lady, I now feel that she may have fewer opportunities than my generation had 59 years ago. She will overcome because she is strong willed, but damn! As my wife keeps saying, “Why isn’t anyone stopping him?” We are in such a dire situation, that keeps getting worse.

[BlueTsunami2018]

29. We were hopeful because we thought there would be real, progressive change.

And then there wasn’t. The country voted in the Teabaggers after only two years because everything wasn’t fixed fast enough and the rest is history.

It’s hard to be hopeful when things just keep getting worse.