What about Obama?

[swake]

So what about Obama now? What about his legacy as President as he nears the end.

He stopped us from sinking into a Great Depression and has pulled us out of the worst recession of the last 80 years. In doing so he has created nearly 12 million jobs to date, which is more than any Republican president in history except Reagan and at the current job growth rate he's going to pass Reagan by the middle of next year. He may even eventually pass Roosevelt in job creation ending up only behind Clinton.

He has  enacted and fought hard for the most important social program since the Great Society 50 years ago. Many presidents of both parties over the last 100 years have tried to end the United States being the only developed nation without National Healthcare, Obama got it done.

Obama got out of two really bad pointless wars. He presided over the finding and killing of Osama Bin Laden and has not allowed any large scale terrorist attacks inside the United States.

He has reopened relations with Cuba and is on the verge of a historic deal to stop Iran's nuclear program and reopen relations with them.

Lastly, while President and with the help of two of his appointees, The Supreme Court has now expanded civil rights to millions of gay Americans. And make no mistake, the order didn't just end bans on gay marriage, it ended all legal discrimination against gays. Being gay is now covered under the 14th Amendment.

No matter if you agree with what he has done or not, it's  going to be a towering legacy, larger than Bill Clinton's and for good or bad depending on your perspective, right there with Reagan, Roosevelt and Johnson.

[Townsend]

Obama supporters are nodding their heads with what you posted.

The folks who do not support Obama are going to deny any of that was due to Obama.

His legacy will depend on who believes what.  Fact or not...we are in the time of clouded knowledge.

[rebound]

Obama supporters are nodding their heads with what you posted.

The folks who do not support Obama are going to deny any of that was due to Obama.

His legacy will depend on who believes what.  Fact or not...we are in the time of clouded knowledge.

Beat me to it.  Sometimes too much information muddies up the thought process.   It will take a decade or so to even begin to have a rational discussion on Obama's legacy. 

[Jammie]

Swake, I SO agree with what you posted except for the fact that we don't have national healthcare. That was what Pres. Obama had ran on, but couldn't quite pull it off because of all of the money pouring into the tea partier's pockets who tried to block every part of that bill, later saying it was all done behind closed doors. Funny that someone like me was able to follow it from start to finish and the highly educated, intelligent, wealthy politicians weren't capable of doing the same.

It doesn't really matter that all of those things are true. There will always be those who see things differently and there will also be those who are haters, racists, etc. I always have to chuckle when I read things blaming Pres. Obama for the high unemployment rate, the housing crisis, the near collapse of the stock market and large companies, and yet don't give him credit now that things have improved. It doesn't really matter what they think because it's obvious they don't remember the timeline of Presidents since Pres. G.W. was in office when the country nearly fell on it's face. I don't disrespect any president, but Pres. Obama has my highest respect for all that he's tolerated and was still able to do so much good for our country!

[davideinstein]

Greatest President in American history in my opinion.

[Breadburner]

Greatest President in American history in my opinion.

How old are you....17....

[Tulsa Zephyr]

Best one since I first voted in 1972...and I didn't vote for Nixon...(and I'm over 17)...

[Red Arrow]

Greatest President in American history in my opinion.

I disagree with your opinion.

He is not at terrible as some would have us believe but greatest, no way.

[swake]

I disagree with your opinion.

He is not at terrible as some would have us believe but greatest, no way.

Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Lincoln, the two Roosevelts.....   

[Breadburner]

Lol....

[cannon_fodder]

He isn't Christ and he isn't Hitler. Though opinions paint him as both.

He didn't take our guns... Even though people still insist he's trying.
He didn't sell us to be he New World Order or put us under UN control.
He didn't take wealth from the rich, in fact - the rich have done way better under Obama than Bush.
He didn't collapse the military.
His pending didn't expand the deficit (legacy spending sure as hell did).

He was in the White House during an economic recovery that still leads the world.l out of recession (debate is roll all you want, but then debate the same for Reagan).
He did end two disastrous wars (countries remain in chaos, but...)
He was the man in the office when the mission to kill Osama was actually accomplished.
Terror attacks in the US remain neutral under his watch.
The rights of Americans have been expanded (not his doing, but it happened)
The health of Americans have been statistically improved.
The world opinion of America has gone from a historic low point back into favorable.
Most American households are better off now, economically, than when he took office.
He has done more for free trade than nearly any other President.


But...
He has not dramatically increased government transparency.
Has not labeled the Armenian killings a genocide (I understand why, politically Turkey > Armenia, but he said he would).
He has not cleared out Gitmo (like Bush towards the end, I'm sure he tried... But didn't do it).
He has continued executing American citizens abroad deemed a threat, without trial (which he knows is unconstitutional).
He has not altered the dynamic of a shrinking middle class and growing lower class.
He has not increased education in the US.
But he also doesn't have many serious gaffs (caught sleeping with the help, starting unwinnable wars on dubious pretenses, etc.)

Overall, he gets a B+ from me. Maybe because my expectations of a politician are low?

He still has time to shine, or to really mess it up...

[Conan71]

He isn't Christ and he isn't Hitler. Though opinions paint him as both.

He didn't take our guns... Even though people still insist he's trying.
He didn't sell us to be he New World Order or put us under UN control.
He didn't take wealth from the rich, in fact - the rich have done way better under Obama than Bush.
He didn't collapse the military.
His pending didn't expand the deficit (legacy spending sure as hell did).

He was in the White House during an economic recovery that still leads the world.l out of recession (debate is roll all you want, but then debate the same for Reagan).
He did end two disastrous wars (countries remain in chaos, but...)
He was the man in the office when the mission to kill Osama was actually accomplished.
Terror attacks in the US remain neutral under his watch.
The rights of Americans have been expanded (not his doing, but it happened)
The health of Americans have been statistically improved.
The world opinion of America has gone from a historic low point back into favorable.
Most American households are better off now, economically, than when he took office.
He has done more for free trade than nearly any other President.


But...
He has not dramatically increased government transparency.
Has not labeled the Armenian killings a genocide (I understand why, politically Turkey > Armenia, but he said he would).
He has not cleared out Gitmo (like Bush towards the end, I'm sure he tried... But didn't do it).
He has continued executing American citizens abroad deemed a threat, without trial (which he knows is unconstitutional).
He has not altered the dynamic of a shrinking middle class and growing lower class.
He has not increased education in the US.
But he also doesn't have many serious gaffs (caught sleeping with the help, starting unwinnable wars on dubious pretenses, etc.)

Overall, he gets a B+ from me. Maybe because my expectations of a politician are low?

He still has time to shine, or to really mess it up...

What do you view as key points or initiatives the executive or legislative branches could address to expand the middle class and shrink the lower class?  Is it really an actionable item or just a campaign slogan?  My opinion is, you can take away incentives to non-productive lifestyle: shorten UE benefit periods, tighten up what qualifies for "disability", tighter restrictions on welfare, etc.  and plough those into more and better advanced educational benefits (i.e. cheap or free college/tech tuition or grants).

Has free trade done much to benefit the American middle class?  It doesn't seem to have helped any from what I can see.

I honestly see no way in which government can improve educational outcome as with every costly initiative, it does not appear we've managed to improve the outcome over the last half century.  Maybe the initiatives tried already are too closely tied to special interests.

I am a firm believer that successful education starts in the home with some exceptions where the homogeneous educational process employed by most public schools simply does not reach some students who need to find other stimuli to allow them to thrive. (I think you and I know a young man like this).

Some presidents have the luck to be at the helm near the end of a recession (Reagan, Obama, Bush II first term) or with an explosion in new technology (Clinton) to preside over an upswing and natural new job creation- regardless of their policies.  We are still 20-30 years from being able to fully digest how good or how poor this president has performed.

I give this admin mostly failing marks in terms of racial relations/tensions.  I believe we are worse off than we were a decade ago along those terms.  I realize much of that has been ginned up by the media, but I've not seen much from the president to help diffuse situations when they have come up.  If anything, the DOJ, under Eric Holder made matters worse.

[Breadburner]

Carter was a better Prez and that ain't sayin much.....

[Ed W]

I'm mostly in agreement with Cannon Fodder regarding the Obama administration, but I'd add "he didn't prosecute Cheney, Wolfowitz, Pearle, and Rumsfeld for getting us into a war on false pretenses" but I'm not sure if it should go on the plus or the minus side.

[heironymouspasparagus]

I'm mostly in agreement with Cannon Fodder regarding the Obama administration, but I'd add "he didn't prosecute Cheney, Wolfowitz, Pearle, and Rumsfeld for getting us into a war on false pretenses" but I'm not sure if it should go on the plus or the minus side.

Don't forget torture for that group.  Not only did they start an immoral war, they condoned, authorized, and continue to justify war crimes.  By definition.

We spent years, much money, and maintained a dogged determination to capture Japanese after WWII who did waterboarding.  Tried them for war crimes and proceeded to hang them.