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The legacy of Barak Obama
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Jan 9, 2017 10:56:39   #
slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas
 
Soapboxie»US Politics

Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States, the first born outside the continental U.S., and the first African-American President in history. He is also the 17th President to win re-election. He also won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, just nine months after his election. As his Presidency draws to a close, it's important to look at his accomplishments.

Like all U.S. Presidents, his two terms have had their ups and downs. There are those who believe he was the worst President ever, and some who believe he's one of the better Presidents. Here is how I see his legacy.

Affordable Care Act...

Also known as Obamacare, this lengthy piece of legislation's standing is where the majority of his legacy will always stand, much like Social Security for FDR and the Civil Rights Act for Lyndon Johnson, just to name a few. This is the signature bill of his time in office, and its successes, and failures, now and forever, will affect how President Obama will always be viewed historically as President.

The bill is not without issues, from the definition of full-time employment to the delays of implementation, first for the employer mandate, then for the delay of the employee mandate, to various court challenges of its many aspects. And that states, and insurance companies, have dropped from the program adds to its issues. Broken promises such as "If you like your health care, you can keep it" (rated by the Washington Post as the lie of the year in 2013) have hurt this legislation.

On the plus side, more Americans are covered than before, costs (for some) are dramatically down, and children can be covered until 25. On the downside, the employer mandate was for full-time employees, defined as over 30 hours a week, meaning more people are working part-time than ever before. And people get fined for not getting insured.

The act was also under fire during the primary by Socialist Bernie Sanders, for not going far enough, and by the entire right for overextending the authority of federal government. Should this law be dismantled, or even further stripped, history will not look as highly on the Obama Presidency.

Arab Spring...

Name a country in Central and South America. You'll find that at some point in our history, since James Monroe, that we have either invaded or meddled in their affairs, even overthrowing governments, such as Panama (twice), and backing rebel factions. Since Truman, whenever communism rears its head, we have a history of trying to change the regime. The Middle East is no different, whether it was backing the Shah in Iran to supporting the group that would become al Qeada in Afghanistan against Russia or Desert Storm, even Iraqi Freedom. Arab Spring was our latest attempt to "fix" other nations' "bad" governments.

Arab Spring funded rebel forces in Libya, the Muslim Brotherhood, and civil war in Yemen and Syria. Some of these forces would join with a rising terror threat called Islamic State, a group that would overrun parts of Syria and Iraq.

While Iraqi Freedom might have helped set the stage for IS, Arab Spring provided this group with military assets and money. On a related note, had we not helped overthrow Libya dictator Gadhafi the Benghazi consulate attack might not have happened as al Qeada might not have risked the ire from him due to someone again drawing the ire of the US on him.

Scandals...

Fast & Furious was a gun-running operation that sold assault weapons to various factions of the Mexican mob and resulted in the deaths of two Border Patrol agents. His IRS targeted conservative groups more than other political fundraising groups. He traded five prisoners for a deserter. Ed Snowden revealed the NSA had expanded the Patriot Act. The VA was found to provide poor care for war veterans. The General Services Administration spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a lavish training conference. His former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did all of government business on an unauthorized, and poorly protected, private server. He also claimed, falsely, that the Benghazi attack was the result of a protest about a video on YouTube as opposed to al Qeada.

In his defense, the volume of scandals pales in comparison to many of his predecessors. And with the exception of Hillary's Email-gate, as far as can be proven, his administration is rather open. The most "transparent ever" claim is dubious, but his is much more open than the Cloak and Dagger operation of his predecessor, and lacks the chicanery that was common in the Clinton administration.

"Shovel-Ready Jobs"...

In 2009, Barack Obama pushed for a stimulus program that would boost the economy and provide alternative energy, thus easing American dependency of foreign oil. These jobs, he declared, were "shovel-ready". After Solyndra, the largest beneficiary of the stimulus, declared bankruptcy, along with four other beneficiaries, he was forced to admit there were no shovel-ready jobs. Somewhat ignored in this was that Solyndra had helped fund his campaign.

With that said, 63 of the 68 companies that received money from the Department of Energy are still in business, so the program hasn't been a complete wash. But it also has failed to improve a sluggish economy, something the stimulus package was purported to do. In fact, it was about as successful as the Bush stimulus.

Divided We Fall...

Often times a President gets blamed for things he had no control over. Think George H.W. Bush getting hit over the economy. He didn't want dozens of dot.com businesses to burst their bubble, causing massive unemployment. But the Dot.com bubble hangs over his administration as much a cloud as the Vietnam War darkens LBJ's Presidency.

In Barack Obama's case, the rise of the Tea Party and its opposition to his policies wasn't something he desired. Nor would I claim that the chaos mongers in Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter are things he desired. And certainly not the rise of mass shootings over the past two years.

But his rhetoric, and unwillingness to condemn the riots and anarchy these two groups caused hasn't helped. And his blaming the weapons for the mass shootings seems to encourage this behavior. At the least, his alienation of whole groups in America with his speeches certainly hasn't aided efforts to curb these groups.

And his inability, and his "take it or leave it" attitude, to work with Congress has continually fueled the Washington gridlock. Every President has had trouble with the opposing party. (Heck, LBJ couldn't get his own party to back the Civil Rights Act....) But neither side was willing to work out the differences.

Common Core...

This doesn't include Common Core, which at least wasn't No Child Left Behind and received input from actual teachers, while the Iran nuclear deal has Rob Deer feel to it. (For those unfamiliar with baseball, Deer was a professional ball player known for either hitting home runs or striking out. There wasn't much middle ground.) The home run would be that Iran becomes civilized and joins the international community. The strikeout is that Iran will develop nukes and use them. (Smart money is on the latter, btw) The normalization of Cuban relations could be an improvement. And then there's the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which doesn't really have a downside.

In truth, this sums up the Obama Presidency. For every accomplishment, there's a "Yeah, but..." And there's many things that don't have an upside.

So where do I rate him? To put him on the bottom is an insult. To say he's worse than the scandal-ridden administrations of Ulysses S. Grant and Warren G. Harding is insulting. He doesn't merit inclusion with other bottom feeders such as Herbert Hoover (Great Depression), Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Millard Filmore, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor (all four had a hand in setting up the Civil War), and James Polk (he invaded Mexico...), or Andrew Johnson (nearly impeached by his own party), or Benjamin Harrison and George W. Bush. (I'd rank him the 10th worst, tied with Jimmy Carter.) And this is the usual suspects regarding worst Presidents ever.

He definitely doesn't belong on Mount Rushmore (Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt), nor does he compare with the others in the top 10 (names such as FDR, Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, and Reagan).

In my opinion, he rates somewhere in the middle. We've had worse Presidents, we've had better.

Reply
Jan 9, 2017 11:14:20   #
no propaganda please Loc: moon orbiting the third rock from the sun
 
slatten49 wrote:
Soapboxie»US Politics

Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States, the first born outside the continental U.S., and the first African-American President in history. He is also the 17th President to win re-election. He also won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, just nine months after his election. As his Presidency draws to a close, it's important to look at his accomplishments.

Like all U.S. Presidents, his two terms have had their ups and downs. There are those who believe he was the worst President ever, and some who believe he's one of the better Presidents. Here is how I see his legacy.

Affordable Care Act...

Also known as Obamacare, this lengthy piece of legislation's standing is where the majority of his legacy will always stand, much like Social Security for FDR and the Civil Rights Act for Lyndon Johnson, just to name a few. This is the signature bill of his time in office, and its successes, and failures, now and forever, will affect how President Obama will always be viewed historically as President.

The bill is not without issues, from the definition of full-time employment to the delays of implementation, first for the employer mandate, then for the delay of the employee mandate, to various court challenges of its many aspects. And that states, and insurance companies, have dropped from the program adds to its issues. Broken promises such as "If you like your health care, you can keep it" (rated by the Washington Post as the lie of the year in 2013) have hurt this legislation.

On the plus side, more Americans are covered than before, costs (for some) are dramatically down, and children can be covered until 25. On the downside, the employer mandate was for full-time employees, defined as over 30 hours a week, meaning more people are working part-time than ever before. And people get fined for not getting insured.

The act was also under fire during the primary by Socialist Bernie Sanders, for not going far enough, and by the entire right for overextending the authority of federal government. Should this law be dismantled, or even further stripped, history will not look as highly on the Obama Presidency.

Arab Spring...

Name a country in Central and South America. You'll find that at some point in our history, since James Monroe, that we have either invaded or meddled in their affairs, even overthrowing governments, such as Panama (twice), and backing rebel factions. Since Truman, whenever communism rears its head, we have a history of trying to change the regime. The Middle East is no different, whether it was backing the Shah in Iran to supporting the group that would become al Qeada in Afghanistan against Russia or Desert Storm, even Iraqi Freedom. Arab Spring was our latest attempt to "fix" other nations' "bad" governments.

Arab Spring funded rebel forces in Libya, the Muslim Brotherhood, and civil war in Yemen and Syria. Some of these forces would join with a rising terror threat called Islamic State, a group that would overrun parts of Syria and Iraq.

While Iraqi Freedom might have helped set the stage for IS, Arab Spring provided this group with military assets and money. On a related note, had we not helped overthrow Libya dictator Gadhafi the Benghazi consulate attack might not have happened as al Qeada might not have risked the ire from him due to someone again drawing the ire of the US on him.

Scandals...

Fast & Furious was a gun-running operation that sold assault weapons to various factions of the Mexican mob and resulted in the deaths of two Border Patrol agents. His IRS targeted conservative groups more than other political fundraising groups. He traded five prisoners for a deserter. Ed Snowden revealed the NSA had expanded the Patriot Act. The VA was found to provide poor care for war veterans. The General Services Administration spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a lavish training conference. His former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did all of government business on an unauthorized, and poorly protected, private server. He also claimed, falsely, that the Benghazi attack was the result of a protest about a video on YouTube as opposed to al Qeada.

In his defense, the volume of scandals pales in comparison to many of his predecessors. And with the exception of Hillary's Email-gate, as far as can be proven, his administration is rather open. The most "transparent ever" claim is dubious, but his is much more open than the Cloak and Dagger operation of his predecessor, and lacks the chicanery that was common in the Clinton administration.

"Shovel-Ready Jobs"...

In 2009, Barack Obama pushed for a stimulus program that would boost the economy and provide alternative energy, thus easing American dependency of foreign oil. These jobs, he declared, were "shovel-ready". After Solyndra, the largest beneficiary of the stimulus, declared bankruptcy, along with four other beneficiaries, he was forced to admit there were no shovel-ready jobs. Somewhat ignored in this was that Solyndra had helped fund his campaign.

With that said, 63 of the 68 companies that received money from the Department of Energy are still in business, so the program hasn't been a complete wash. But it also has failed to improve a sluggish economy, something the stimulus package was purported to do. In fact, it was about as successful as the Bush stimulus.

Divided We Fall...

Often times a President gets blamed for things he had no control over. Think George H.W. Bush getting hit over the economy. He didn't want dozens of dot.com businesses to burst their bubble, causing massive unemployment. But the Dot.com bubble hangs over his administration as much a cloud as the Vietnam War darkens LBJ's Presidency.

In Barack Obama's case, the rise of the Tea Party and its opposition to his policies wasn't something he desired. Nor would I claim that the chaos mongers in Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter are things he desired. And certainly not the rise of mass shootings over the past two years.

But his rhetoric, and unwillingness to condemn the riots and anarchy these two groups caused hasn't helped. And his blaming the weapons for the mass shootings seems to encourage this behavior. At the least, his alienation of whole groups in America with his speeches certainly hasn't aided efforts to curb these groups.

And his inability, and his "take it or leave it" attitude, to work with Congress has continually fueled the Washington gridlock. Every President has had trouble with the opposing party. (Heck, LBJ couldn't get his own party to back the Civil Rights Act....) But neither side was willing to work out the differences.

Common Core...

This doesn't include Common Core, which at least wasn't No Child Left Behind and received input from actual teachers, while the Iran nuclear deal has Rob Deer feel to it. (For those unfamiliar with baseball, Deer was a professional ball player known for either hitting home runs or striking out. There wasn't much middle ground.) The home run would be that Iran becomes civilized and joins the international community. The strikeout is that Iran will develop nukes and use them. (Smart money is on the latter, btw) The normalization of Cuban relations could be an improvement. And then there's the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which doesn't really have a downside.

In truth, this sums up the Obama Presidency. For every accomplishment, there's a "Yeah, but..." And there's many things that don't have an upside.

So where do I rate him? To put him on the bottom is an insult. To say he's worse than the scandal-ridden administrations of Ulysses S. Grant and Warren G. Harding is insulting. He doesn't merit inclusion with other bottom feeders such as Herbert Hoover (Great Depression), Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Millard Filmore, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor (all four had a hand in setting up the Civil War), and James Polk (he invaded Mexico...), or Andrew Johnson (nearly impeached by his own party), or Benjamin Harrison and George W. Bush. (I'd rank him the 10th worst, tied with Jimmy Carter.) And this is the usual suspects regarding worst Presidents ever.

He definitely doesn't belong on Mount Rushmore (Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt), nor does he compare with the others in the top 10 (names such as FDR, Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, and Reagan).

In my opinion, he rates somewhere in the middle. We've had worse Presidents, we've had better.
Soapboxie»US Politics br br Barack Obama is the 4... (show quote)


Haven't seen you posting much lately hope you are doing all right, was beginning to wonder.
As far as "Arab Spring" the full explanation in in the last third of the video by Federer that I posted yesterday. Since you are open minded I think you will find it informative.

Reply
Jan 9, 2017 11:15:55   #
sandy628
 
he is the worsts president in history, that's his legacy, he wasn't born in America ,s o he has been an illegal president for 8 long miserable years, his birth certificate is a f a k e.

Reply
 
 
Jan 9, 2017 11:22:45   #
Wolf counselor Loc: Heart of Texas
 
slatten49 wrote:
Soapboxie»US Politics

Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States, the first born outside the continental U.S., and the first African-American President in history. He is also the 17th President to win re-election. He also won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, just nine months after his election. As his Presidency draws to a close, it's important to look at his accomplishments.

Like all U.S. Presidents, his two terms have had their ups and downs. There are those who believe he was the worst President ever, and some who believe he's one of the better Presidents. Here is how I see his legacy.

Affordable Care Act...

Also known as Obamacare, this lengthy piece of legislation's standing is where the majority of his legacy will always stand, much like Social Security for FDR and the Civil Rights Act for Lyndon Johnson, just to name a few. This is the signature bill of his time in office, and its successes, and failures, now and forever, will affect how President Obama will always be viewed historically as President.

The bill is not without issues, from the definition of full-time employment to the delays of implementation, first for the employer mandate, then for the delay of the employee mandate, to various court challenges of its many aspects. And that states, and insurance companies, have dropped from the program adds to its issues. Broken promises such as "If you like your health care, you can keep it" (rated by the Washington Post as the lie of the year in 2013) have hurt this legislation.

On the plus side, more Americans are covered than before, costs (for some) are dramatically down, and children can be covered until 25. On the downside, the employer mandate was for full-time employees, defined as over 30 hours a week, meaning more people are working part-time than ever before. And people get fined for not getting insured.

The act was also under fire during the primary by Socialist Bernie Sanders, for not going far enough, and by the entire right for overextending the authority of federal government. Should this law be dismantled, or even further stripped, history will not look as highly on the Obama Presidency.

Arab Spring...

Name a country in Central and South America. You'll find that at some point in our history, since James Monroe, that we have either invaded or meddled in their affairs, even overthrowing governments, such as Panama (twice), and backing rebel factions. Since Truman, whenever communism rears its head, we have a history of trying to change the regime. The Middle East is no different, whether it was backing the Shah in Iran to supporting the group that would become al Qeada in Afghanistan against Russia or Desert Storm, even Iraqi Freedom. Arab Spring was our latest attempt to "fix" other nations' "bad" governments.

Arab Spring funded rebel forces in Libya, the Muslim Brotherhood, and civil war in Yemen and Syria. Some of these forces would join with a rising terror threat called Islamic State, a group that would overrun parts of Syria and Iraq.

While Iraqi Freedom might have helped set the stage for IS, Arab Spring provided this group with military assets and money. On a related note, had we not helped overthrow Libya dictator Gadhafi the Benghazi consulate attack might not have happened as al Qeada might not have risked the ire from him due to someone again drawing the ire of the US on him.

Scandals...

Fast & Furious was a gun-running operation that sold assault weapons to various factions of the Mexican mob and resulted in the deaths of two Border Patrol agents. His IRS targeted conservative groups more than other political fundraising groups. He traded five prisoners for a deserter. Ed Snowden revealed the NSA had expanded the Patriot Act. The VA was found to provide poor care for war veterans. The General Services Administration spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a lavish training conference. His former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did all of government business on an unauthorized, and poorly protected, private server. He also claimed, falsely, that the Benghazi attack was the result of a protest about a video on YouTube as opposed to al Qeada.

In his defense, the volume of scandals pales in comparison to many of his predecessors. And with the exception of Hillary's Email-gate, as far as can be proven, his administration is rather open. The most "transparent ever" claim is dubious, but his is much more open than the Cloak and Dagger operation of his predecessor, and lacks the chicanery that was common in the Clinton administration.

"Shovel-Ready Jobs"...

In 2009, Barack Obama pushed for a stimulus program that would boost the economy and provide alternative energy, thus easing American dependency of foreign oil. These jobs, he declared, were "shovel-ready". After Solyndra, the largest beneficiary of the stimulus, declared bankruptcy, along with four other beneficiaries, he was forced to admit there were no shovel-ready jobs. Somewhat ignored in this was that Solyndra had helped fund his campaign.

With that said, 63 of the 68 companies that received money from the Department of Energy are still in business, so the program hasn't been a complete wash. But it also has failed to improve a sluggish economy, something the stimulus package was purported to do. In fact, it was about as successful as the Bush stimulus.

Divided We Fall...

Often times a President gets blamed for things he had no control over. Think George H.W. Bush getting hit over the economy. He didn't want dozens of dot.com businesses to burst their bubble, causing massive unemployment. But the Dot.com bubble hangs over his administration as much a cloud as the Vietnam War darkens LBJ's Presidency.

In Barack Obama's case, the rise of the Tea Party and its opposition to his policies wasn't something he desired. Nor would I claim that the chaos mongers in Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter are things he desired. And certainly not the rise of mass shootings over the past two years.

But his rhetoric, and unwillingness to condemn the riots and anarchy these two groups caused hasn't helped. And his blaming the weapons for the mass shootings seems to encourage this behavior. At the least, his alienation of whole groups in America with his speeches certainly hasn't aided efforts to curb these groups.

And his inability, and his "take it or leave it" attitude, to work with Congress has continually fueled the Washington gridlock. Every President has had trouble with the opposing party. (Heck, LBJ couldn't get his own party to back the Civil Rights Act....) But neither side was willing to work out the differences.

Common Core...

This doesn't include Common Core, which at least wasn't No Child Left Behind and received input from actual teachers, while the Iran nuclear deal has Rob Deer feel to it. (For those unfamiliar with baseball, Deer was a professional ball player known for either hitting home runs or striking out. There wasn't much middle ground.) The home run would be that Iran becomes civilized and joins the international community. The strikeout is that Iran will develop nukes and use them. (Smart money is on the latter, btw) The normalization of Cuban relations could be an improvement. And then there's the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which doesn't really have a downside.

In truth, this sums up the Obama Presidency. For every accomplishment, there's a "Yeah, but..." And there's many things that don't have an upside.

So where do I rate him? To put him on the bottom is an insult. To say he's worse than the scandal-ridden administrations of Ulysses S. Grant and Warren G. Harding is insulting. He doesn't merit inclusion with other bottom feeders such as Herbert Hoover (Great Depression), Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Millard Filmore, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor (all four had a hand in setting up the Civil War), and James Polk (he invaded Mexico...), or Andrew Johnson (nearly impeached by his own party), or Benjamin Harrison and George W. Bush. (I'd rank him the 10th worst, tied with Jimmy Carter.) And this is the usual suspects regarding worst Presidents ever.

He definitely doesn't belong on Mount Rushmore (Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt), nor does he compare with the others in the top 10 (names such as FDR, Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, and Reagan).

In my opinion, he rates somewhere in the middle. We've had worse Presidents, we've had better.
Soapboxie»US Politics br br Barack Obama is the 4... (show quote)


Obama = Mistake..................Period !!

Reply
Jan 9, 2017 11:39:17   #
missinglink Loc: Tralfamadore
 
The level of lying he and his operatives infused across government for his entire term is totally
unacceptable. To me that ranks him at the bottom . He is not alone there but that has no bearing
on my total disdain for the man.

You gave an abbreviated list of failures and flattered the him where no flattery could possibly be warranted.

Other than that Slatten , how's your new year going so far ?
Hope you and yours had a great Christmas and New Years !



slatten49 wrote:
Soapboxie»US Politics

Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States, the first born outside the continental U.S., and the first African-American President in history. He is also the 17th President to win re-election. He also won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, just nine months after his election. As his Presidency draws to a close, it's important to look at his accomplishments.

Like all U.S. Presidents, his two terms have had their ups and downs. There are those who believe he was the worst President ever, and some who believe he's one of the better Presidents. Here is how I see his legacy.

Affordable Care Act...

Also known as Obamacare, this lengthy piece of legislation's standing is where the majority of his legacy will always stand, much like Social Security for FDR and the Civil Rights Act for Lyndon Johnson, just to name a few. This is the signature bill of his time in office, and its successes, and failures, now and forever, will affect how President Obama will always be viewed historically as President.

The bill is not without issues, from the definition of full-time employment to the delays of implementation, first for the employer mandate, then for the delay of the employee mandate, to various court challenges of its many aspects. And that states, and insurance companies, have dropped from the program adds to its issues. Broken promises such as "If you like your health care, you can keep it" (rated by the Washington Post as the lie of the year in 2013) have hurt this legislation.

On the plus side, more Americans are covered than before, costs (for some) are dramatically down, and children can be covered until 25. On the downside, the employer mandate was for full-time employees, defined as over 30 hours a week, meaning more people are working part-time than ever before. And people get fined for not getting insured.

The act was also under fire during the primary by Socialist Bernie Sanders, for not going far enough, and by the entire right for overextending the authority of federal government. Should this law be dismantled, or even further stripped, history will not look as highly on the Obama Presidency.

Arab Spring...

Name a country in Central and South America. You'll find that at some point in our history, since James Monroe, that we have either invaded or meddled in their affairs, even overthrowing governments, such as Panama (twice), and backing rebel factions. Since Truman, whenever communism rears its head, we have a history of trying to change the regime. The Middle East is no different, whether it was backing the Shah in Iran to supporting the group that would become al Qeada in Afghanistan against Russia or Desert Storm, even Iraqi Freedom. Arab Spring was our latest attempt to "fix" other nations' "bad" governments.

Arab Spring funded rebel forces in Libya, the Muslim Brotherhood, and civil war in Yemen and Syria. Some of these forces would join with a rising terror threat called Islamic State, a group that would overrun parts of Syria and Iraq.

While Iraqi Freedom might have helped set the stage for IS, Arab Spring provided this group with military assets and money. On a related note, had we not helped overthrow Libya dictator Gadhafi the Benghazi consulate attack might not have happened as al Qeada might not have risked the ire from him due to someone again drawing the ire of the US on him.

Scandals...

Fast & Furious was a gun-running operation that sold assault weapons to various factions of the Mexican mob and resulted in the deaths of two Border Patrol agents. His IRS targeted conservative groups more than other political fundraising groups. He traded five prisoners for a deserter. Ed Snowden revealed the NSA had expanded the Patriot Act. The VA was found to provide poor care for war veterans. The General Services Administration spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a lavish training conference. His former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did all of government business on an unauthorized, and poorly protected, private server. He also claimed, falsely, that the Benghazi attack was the result of a protest about a video on YouTube as opposed to al Qeada.

In his defense, the volume of scandals pales in comparison to many of his predecessors. And with the exception of Hillary's Email-gate, as far as can be proven, his administration is rather open. The most "transparent ever" claim is dubious, but his is much more open than the Cloak and Dagger operation of his predecessor, and lacks the chicanery that was common in the Clinton administration.

"Shovel-Ready Jobs"...

In 2009, Barack Obama pushed for a stimulus program that would boost the economy and provide alternative energy, thus easing American dependency of foreign oil. These jobs, he declared, were "shovel-ready". After Solyndra, the largest beneficiary of the stimulus, declared bankruptcy, along with four other beneficiaries, he was forced to admit there were no shovel-ready jobs. Somewhat ignored in this was that Solyndra had helped fund his campaign.

With that said, 63 of the 68 companies that received money from the Department of Energy are still in business, so the program hasn't been a complete wash. But it also has failed to improve a sluggish economy, something the stimulus package was purported to do. In fact, it was about as successful as the Bush stimulus.

Divided We Fall...

Often times a President gets blamed for things he had no control over. Think George H.W. Bush getting hit over the economy. He didn't want dozens of dot.com businesses to burst their bubble, causing massive unemployment. But the Dot.com bubble hangs over his administration as much a cloud as the Vietnam War darkens LBJ's Presidency.

In Barack Obama's case, the rise of the Tea Party and its opposition to his policies wasn't something he desired. Nor would I claim that the chaos mongers in Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter are things he desired. And certainly not the rise of mass shootings over the past two years.

But his rhetoric, and unwillingness to condemn the riots and anarchy these two groups caused hasn't helped. And his blaming the weapons for the mass shootings seems to encourage this behavior. At the least, his alienation of whole groups in America with his speeches certainly hasn't aided efforts to curb these groups.

And his inability, and his "take it or leave it" attitude, to work with Congress has continually fueled the Washington gridlock. Every President has had trouble with the opposing party. (Heck, LBJ couldn't get his own party to back the Civil Rights Act....) But neither side was willing to work out the differences.

Common Core...

This doesn't include Common Core, which at least wasn't No Child Left Behind and received input from actual teachers, while the Iran nuclear deal has Rob Deer feel to it. (For those unfamiliar with baseball, Deer was a professional ball player known for either hitting home runs or striking out. There wasn't much middle ground.) The home run would be that Iran becomes civilized and joins the international community. The strikeout is that Iran will develop nukes and use them. (Smart money is on the latter, btw) The normalization of Cuban relations could be an improvement. And then there's the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which doesn't really have a downside.

In truth, this sums up the Obama Presidency. For every accomplishment, there's a "Yeah, but..." And there's many things that don't have an upside.

So where do I rate him? To put him on the bottom is an insult. To say he's worse than the scandal-ridden administrations of Ulysses S. Grant and Warren G. Harding is insulting. He doesn't merit inclusion with other bottom feeders such as Herbert Hoover (Great Depression), Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Millard Filmore, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor (all four had a hand in setting up the Civil War), and James Polk (he invaded Mexico...), or Andrew Johnson (nearly impeached by his own party), or Benjamin Harrison and George W. Bush. (I'd rank him the 10th worst, tied with Jimmy Carter.) And this is the usual suspects regarding worst Presidents ever.

He definitely doesn't belong on Mount Rushmore (Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt), nor does he compare with the others in the top 10 (names such as FDR, Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, and Reagan).

In my opinion, he rates somewhere in the middle. We've had worse Presidents, we've had better.
Soapboxie»US Politics br br Barack Obama is the 4... (show quote)

Reply
Jan 9, 2017 12:07:04   #
JFlorio Loc: Seminole Florida
 
Well thought out post. From my perspective he is the worst president by far in my life time. There can be no doubt that at the very least he is a Muslim Country sympathizer. His disrespect of Israel and friendship with Iran prove this. The ACA is the biggest loss of freedom Americans have had legislated against them forever. I mean forced to buy something, without much choice or pay a tax. Hell our forefathers fought England over less. I disagree about Obama not wanting groups like BLM and Occupy Wall Street. At heart all Obama is, is a community organizer. A polite word for agitator. Obama despises the way America was founded. He practically spells this out in his books. Having poorer race relations and labeling groups of people that disagree with his policies is typical leftist tactics of divide and conquer. The world is much more dangerous than before he took office. He has spread discord and chaos with his policies throughout the Middle East. At the very same time he weakened our military. At least in the old days when we were meddling we could back it up. Add the additional thousands of regulations his administration has passed further restricting individual and capitalistic freedoms and the damage this man has done to our way of life will be felt for years.
slatten49 wrote:
Soapboxie»US Politics

Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States, the first born outside the continental U.S., and the first African-American President in history. He is also the 17th President to win re-election. He also won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, just nine months after his election. As his Presidency draws to a close, it's important to look at his accomplishments.

Like all U.S. Presidents, his two terms have had their ups and downs. There are those who believe he was the worst President ever, and some who believe he's one of the better Presidents. Here is how I see his legacy.

Affordable Care Act...

Also known as Obamacare, this lengthy piece of legislation's standing is where the majority of his legacy will always stand, much like Social Security for FDR and the Civil Rights Act for Lyndon Johnson, just to name a few. This is the signature bill of his time in office, and its successes, and failures, now and forever, will affect how President Obama will always be viewed historically as President.

The bill is not without issues, from the definition of full-time employment to the delays of implementation, first for the employer mandate, then for the delay of the employee mandate, to various court challenges of its many aspects. And that states, and insurance companies, have dropped from the program adds to its issues. Broken promises such as "If you like your health care, you can keep it" (rated by the Washington Post as the lie of the year in 2013) have hurt this legislation.

On the plus side, more Americans are covered than before, costs (for some) are dramatically down, and children can be covered until 25. On the downside, the employer mandate was for full-time employees, defined as over 30 hours a week, meaning more people are working part-time than ever before. And people get fined for not getting insured.

The act was also under fire during the primary by Socialist Bernie Sanders, for not going far enough, and by the entire right for overextending the authority of federal government. Should this law be dismantled, or even further stripped, history will not look as highly on the Obama Presidency.

Arab Spring...

Name a country in Central and South America. You'll find that at some point in our history, since James Monroe, that we have either invaded or meddled in their affairs, even overthrowing governments, such as Panama (twice), and backing rebel factions. Since Truman, whenever communism rears its head, we have a history of trying to change the regime. The Middle East is no different, whether it was backing the Shah in Iran to supporting the group that would become al Qeada in Afghanistan against Russia or Desert Storm, even Iraqi Freedom. Arab Spring was our latest attempt to "fix" other nations' "bad" governments.

Arab Spring funded rebel forces in Libya, the Muslim Brotherhood, and civil war in Yemen and Syria. Some of these forces would join with a rising terror threat called Islamic State, a group that would overrun parts of Syria and Iraq.

While Iraqi Freedom might have helped set the stage for IS, Arab Spring provided this group with military assets and money. On a related note, had we not helped overthrow Libya dictator Gadhafi the Benghazi consulate attack might not have happened as al Qeada might not have risked the ire from him due to someone again drawing the ire of the US on him.

Scandals...

Fast & Furious was a gun-running operation that sold assault weapons to various factions of the Mexican mob and resulted in the deaths of two Border Patrol agents. His IRS targeted conservative groups more than other political fundraising groups. He traded five prisoners for a deserter. Ed Snowden revealed the NSA had expanded the Patriot Act. The VA was found to provide poor care for war veterans. The General Services Administration spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a lavish training conference. His former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did all of government business on an unauthorized, and poorly protected, private server. He also claimed, falsely, that the Benghazi attack was the result of a protest about a video on YouTube as opposed to al Qeada.

In his defense, the volume of scandals pales in comparison to many of his predecessors. And with the exception of Hillary's Email-gate, as far as can be proven, his administration is rather open. The most "transparent ever" claim is dubious, but his is much more open than the Cloak and Dagger operation of his predecessor, and lacks the chicanery that was common in the Clinton administration.

"Shovel-Ready Jobs"...

In 2009, Barack Obama pushed for a stimulus program that would boost the economy and provide alternative energy, thus easing American dependency of foreign oil. These jobs, he declared, were "shovel-ready". After Solyndra, the largest beneficiary of the stimulus, declared bankruptcy, along with four other beneficiaries, he was forced to admit there were no shovel-ready jobs. Somewhat ignored in this was that Solyndra had helped fund his campaign.

With that said, 63 of the 68 companies that received money from the Department of Energy are still in business, so the program hasn't been a complete wash. But it also has failed to improve a sluggish economy, something the stimulus package was purported to do. In fact, it was about as successful as the Bush stimulus.

Divided We Fall...

Often times a President gets blamed for things he had no control over. Think George H.W. Bush getting hit over the economy. He didn't want dozens of dot.com businesses to burst their bubble, causing massive unemployment. But the Dot.com bubble hangs over his administration as much a cloud as the Vietnam War darkens LBJ's Presidency.

In Barack Obama's case, the rise of the Tea Party and its opposition to his policies wasn't something he desired. Nor would I claim that the chaos mongers in Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter are things he desired. And certainly not the rise of mass shootings over the past two years.

But his rhetoric, and unwillingness to condemn the riots and anarchy these two groups caused hasn't helped. And his blaming the weapons for the mass shootings seems to encourage this behavior. At the least, his alienation of whole groups in America with his speeches certainly hasn't aided efforts to curb these groups.

And his inability, and his "take it or leave it" attitude, to work with Congress has continually fueled the Washington gridlock. Every President has had trouble with the opposing party. (Heck, LBJ couldn't get his own party to back the Civil Rights Act....) But neither side was willing to work out the differences.

Common Core...

This doesn't include Common Core, which at least wasn't No Child Left Behind and received input from actual teachers, while the Iran nuclear deal has Rob Deer feel to it. (For those unfamiliar with baseball, Deer was a professional ball player known for either hitting home runs or striking out. There wasn't much middle ground.) The home run would be that Iran becomes civilized and joins the international community. The strikeout is that Iran will develop nukes and use them. (Smart money is on the latter, btw) The normalization of Cuban relations could be an improvement. And then there's the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which doesn't really have a downside.

In truth, this sums up the Obama Presidency. For every accomplishment, there's a "Yeah, but..." And there's many things that don't have an upside.

So where do I rate him? To put him on the bottom is an insult. To say he's worse than the scandal-ridden administrations of Ulysses S. Grant and Warren G. Harding is insulting. He doesn't merit inclusion with other bottom feeders such as Herbert Hoover (Great Depression), Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Millard Filmore, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor (all four had a hand in setting up the Civil War), and James Polk (he invaded Mexico...), or Andrew Johnson (nearly impeached by his own party), or Benjamin Harrison and George W. Bush. (I'd rank him the 10th worst, tied with Jimmy Carter.) And this is the usual suspects regarding worst Presidents ever.

He definitely doesn't belong on Mount Rushmore (Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt), nor does he compare with the others in the top 10 (names such as FDR, Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, and Reagan).

In my opinion, he rates somewhere in the middle. We've had worse Presidents, we've had better.
Soapboxie»US Politics br br Barack Obama is the 4... (show quote)

Reply
Jan 9, 2017 12:09:13   #
slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas
 
missinglink wrote:
The level of lying he and his operatives infused across government for his entire term is totally
unacceptable. To me that ranks him at the bottom . He is not alone there but that has no bearing
on my total disdain for the man.

You gave an abbreviated list of failures and flattered the him where no flattery could possibly be warranted.

Other than that Slatten , how's your new year going so far ?
Hope you and yours had a great Christmas and New Years !

Unfortunately, our Christmas holidays were full of melancholy but we got through them, M-L. Thanks for asking, my friend.

As far as the above reprinted article goes, I somewhat expected responses reminding me of something I printed before on OPP: That, if it was proven and reported that President (take your pick) had walked across the Atlantic from Europe to our shores, his critics would likely declare that it was because he didn't know how to swim. The office is generally accompanied by such criticisms of unacceptability, warranted or otherwise. One can be most assured that Mr. Trump will hear from his fair share of such critics.

I do pretty much agree with the unknown author's summations, however incomplete.

Reply
 
 
Jan 9, 2017 12:11:00   #
slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas
 
no propaganda please wrote:
Haven't seen you posting much lately hope you are doing all right, was beginning to wonder.
As far as "Arab Spring" the full explanation in in the last third of the video by Federer that I posted yesterday. Since you are open minded I think you will find it informative.

I, as always, appreciate your thoughts and input, NPP. I will take the time to seek out said video.

Reply
Jan 9, 2017 12:12:31   #
slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas
 
Wolf counselor wrote:
Obama = Mistake..................Period !!


Morning, Wolf. Have a great day, my fellow Texan.

Reply
Jan 9, 2017 12:17:31   #
slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas
 
sandy628 wrote:
he is the worsts president in history, that's his legacy, he wasn't born in America ,s o he has been an illegal president for 8 long miserable years, his birth certificate is a f a k e.

There is no denying many feel as you do, Sandy628. But, as the saying goes, opinions are just like belly-buttons...everyone has one, and all are entitled to them.

Reply
Jan 9, 2017 12:23:59   #
missinglink Loc: Tralfamadore
 
Sorry to hear about the melancholy part Slatten . That is known to many.

Whats that ole saying , " The higher up the ladder you go the more your ass is exposed ".
Certainly a saying that can be applied here.
Some people don't make it very far up the ladder before they readily expose it all.
We will see.




slatten49 wrote:
Unfortunately, our Christmas holidays were full of melancholy but we got through them, M-L. Thanks for asking, my friend.

As far as the above reprinted article goes, I somewhat expected responses reminding me of something I printed before on OPP: That, if it was proven and reported that President (take your pick) had walked across the Atlantic from Europe to our shores, his critics would likely declare that it was because he didn't know how to swim. The office is generally accompanied by such criticisms of unacceptability, warranted or otherwise. One can be most assured that Mr. Trump will hear from his fair share of such critics.

I do pretty much agree with the unknown author's summations, however incomplete.
Unfortunately, our Christmas holidays were full of... (show quote)

Reply
 
 
Jan 9, 2017 12:48:38   #
Coos Bay Tom Loc: coos bay oregon
 
President Obama led us out of the recession--It is up to President Trump to keep us out of a recession

Reply
Jan 9, 2017 12:58:05   #
Radiance3
 
sandy628 wrote:
he is the worsts president in history, that's his legacy, he wasn't born in America ,s o he has been an illegal president for 8 long miserable years, his birth certificate is a f a k e.

=======================
He is not only the worst president. I think his purpose is to destroy the US, or to convert it to ISLAMIC STATE. He defends enemies, and all illegal traitors to our country. He released all thousands of convicts, terrorists, rapists, drug dealers, drug addicts, those who killed Americans to run freely and cause harm against the American people to destroy President Trump administration.

While he refused to release US army officer Lt. Flint Lorance who killed jihadist in Afghanistan to save his men.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiz8OyS0bXRAhUIqFQKHdbzCpoQFggdMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fconservativedailypost.com%2Fobama-now-refusing-pardon-army-officer-killed-jihadists-save-men%2F&usg=AFQjCNGK1614I8OPiy_ZHrjGV0xoH-Ga9g&bvm=bv.142059868,d.cGw

How do you Americans feel about that?

Reply
Jan 9, 2017 13:47:18   #
vernon
 
slatten49 wrote:
Soapboxie»US Politics

Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States, the first born outside the continental U.S., and the first African-American President in history. He is also the 17th President to win re-election. He also won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, just nine months after his election. As his Presidency draws to a close, it's important to look at his accomplishments.

Like all U.S. Presidents, his two terms have had their ups and downs. There are those who believe he was the worst President ever, and some who believe he's one of the better Presidents. Here is how I see his legacy.

Affordable Care Act...

Also known as Obamacare, this lengthy piece of legislation's standing is where the majority of his legacy will always stand, much like Social Security for FDR and the Civil Rights Act for Lyndon Johnson, just to name a few. This is the signature bill of his time in office, and its successes, and failures, now and forever, will affect how President Obama will always be viewed historically as President.

The bill is not without issues, from the definition of full-time employment to the delays of implementation, first for the employer mandate, then for the delay of the employee mandate, to various court challenges of its many aspects. And that states, and insurance companies, have dropped from the program adds to its issues. Broken promises such as "If you like your health care, you can keep it" (rated by the Washington Post as the lie of the year in 2013) have hurt this legislation.

On the plus side, more Americans are covered than before, costs (for some) are dramatically down, and children can be covered until 25. On the downside, the employer mandate was for full-time employees, defined as over 30 hours a week, meaning more people are working part-time than ever before. And people get fined for not getting insured.

The act was also under fire during the primary by Socialist Bernie Sanders, for not going far enough, and by the entire right for overextending the authority of federal government. Should this law be dismantled, or even further stripped, history will not look as highly on the Obama Presidency.

Arab Spring...

Name a country in Central and South America. You'll find that at some point in our history, since James Monroe, that we have either invaded or meddled in their affairs, even overthrowing governments, such as Panama (twice), and backing rebel factions. Since Truman, whenever communism rears its head, we have a history of trying to change the regime. The Middle East is no different, whether it was backing the Shah in Iran to supporting the group that would become al Qeada in Afghanistan against Russia or Desert Storm, even Iraqi Freedom. Arab Spring was our latest attempt to "fix" other nations' "bad" governments.

Arab Spring funded rebel forces in Libya, the Muslim Brotherhood, and civil war in Yemen and Syria. Some of these forces would join with a rising terror threat called Islamic State, a group that would overrun parts of Syria and Iraq.

While Iraqi Freedom might have helped set the stage for IS, Arab Spring provided this group with military assets and money. On a related note, had we not helped overthrow Libya dictator Gadhafi the Benghazi consulate attack might not have happened as al Qeada might not have risked the ire from him due to someone again drawing the ire of the US on him.

Scandals...

Fast & Furious was a gun-running operation that sold assault weapons to various factions of the Mexican mob and resulted in the deaths of two Border Patrol agents. His IRS targeted conservative groups more than other political fundraising groups. He traded five prisoners for a deserter. Ed Snowden revealed the NSA had expanded the Patriot Act. The VA was found to provide poor care for war veterans. The General Services Administration spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a lavish training conference. His former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did all of government business on an unauthorized, and poorly protected, private server. He also claimed, falsely, that the Benghazi attack was the result of a protest about a video on YouTube as opposed to al Qeada.

In his defense, the volume of scandals pales in comparison to many of his predecessors. And with the exception of Hillary's Email-gate, as far as can be proven, his administration is rather open. The most "transparent ever" claim is dubious, but his is much more open than the Cloak and Dagger operation of his predecessor, and lacks the chicanery that was common in the Clinton administration.

"Shovel-Ready Jobs"...

In 2009, Barack Obama pushed for a stimulus program that would boost the economy and provide alternative energy, thus easing American dependency of foreign oil. These jobs, he declared, were "shovel-ready". After Solyndra, the largest beneficiary of the stimulus, declared bankruptcy, along with four other beneficiaries, he was forced to admit there were no shovel-ready jobs. Somewhat ignored in this was that Solyndra had helped fund his campaign.

With that said, 63 of the 68 companies that received money from the Department of Energy are still in business, so the program hasn't been a complete wash. But it also has failed to improve a sluggish economy, something the stimulus package was purported to do. In fact, it was about as successful as the Bush stimulus.

Divided We Fall...

Often times a President gets blamed for things he had no control over. Think George H.W. Bush getting hit over the economy. He didn't want dozens of dot.com businesses to burst their bubble, causing massive unemployment. But the Dot.com bubble hangs over his administration as much a cloud as the Vietnam War darkens LBJ's Presidency.

In Barack Obama's case, the rise of the Tea Party and its opposition to his policies wasn't something he desired. Nor would I claim that the chaos mongers in Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter are things he desired. And certainly not the rise of mass shootings over the past two years.

But his rhetoric, and unwillingness to condemn the riots and anarchy these two groups caused hasn't helped. And his blaming the weapons for the mass shootings seems to encourage this behavior. At the least, his alienation of whole groups in America with his speeches certainly hasn't aided efforts to curb these groups.

And his inability, and his "take it or leave it" attitude, to work with Congress has continually fueled the Washington gridlock. Every President has had trouble with the opposing party. (Heck, LBJ couldn't get his own party to back the Civil Rights Act....) But neither side was willing to work out the differences.

Common Core...

This doesn't include Common Core, which at least wasn't No Child Left Behind and received input from actual teachers, while the Iran nuclear deal has Rob Deer feel to it. (For those unfamiliar with baseball, Deer was a professional ball player known for either hitting home runs or striking out. There wasn't much middle ground.) The home run would be that Iran becomes civilized and joins the international community. The strikeout is that Iran will develop nukes and use them. (Smart money is on the latter, btw) The normalization of Cuban relations could be an improvement. And then there's the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which doesn't really have a downside.

In truth, this sums up the Obama Presidency. For every accomplishment, there's a "Yeah, but..." And there's many things that don't have an upside.

So where do I rate him? To put him on the bottom is an insult. To say he's worse than the scandal-ridden administrations of Ulysses S. Grant and Warren G. Harding is insulting. He doesn't merit inclusion with other bottom feeders such as Herbert Hoover (Great Depression), Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Millard Filmore, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor (all four had a hand in setting up the Civil War), and James Polk (he invaded Mexico...), or Andrew Johnson (nearly impeached by his own party), or Benjamin Harrison and George W. Bush. (I'd rank him the 10th worst, tied with Jimmy Carter.) And this is the usual suspects regarding worst Presidents ever.

He definitely doesn't belong on Mount Rushmore (Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt), nor does he compare with the others in the top 10 (names such as FDR, Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, and Reagan).

In my opinion, he rates somewhere in the middle. We've had worse Presidents, we've had better.
Soapboxie»US Politics br br Barack Obama is the 4... (show quote)


OH i think he belongs with wilson,lbj,i can't think of any other pres except carter who should be rated lower.

Reply
Jan 9, 2017 13:50:41   #
Quakerwidow Loc: Chestertown, MD
 
slatten49 wrote:
Soapboxie»US Politics

Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States, the first born outside the continental U.S., and the first African-American President in history. He is also the 17th President to win re-election. He also won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, just nine months after his election. As his Presidency draws to a close, it's important to look at his accomplishments.

Like all U.S. Presidents, his two terms have had their ups and downs. There are those who believe he was the worst President ever, and some who believe he's one of the better Presidents. Here is how I see his legacy.

Affordable Care Act...

Also known as Obamacare, this lengthy piece of legislation's standing is where the majority of his legacy will always stand, much like Social Security for FDR and the Civil Rights Act for Lyndon Johnson, just to name a few. This is the signature bill of his time in office, and its successes, and failures, now and forever, will affect how President Obama will always be viewed historically as President.

The bill is not without issues, from the definition of full-time employment to the delays of implementation, first for the employer mandate, then for the delay of the employee mandate, to various court challenges of its many aspects. And that states, and insurance companies, have dropped from the program adds to its issues. Broken promises such as "If you like your health care, you can keep it" (rated by the Washington Post as the lie of the year in 2013) have hurt this legislation.

On the plus side, more Americans are covered than before, costs (for some) are dramatically down, and children can be covered until 25. On the downside, the employer mandate was for full-time employees, defined as over 30 hours a week, meaning more people are working part-time than ever before. And people get fined for not getting insured.

The act was also under fire during the primary by Socialist Bernie Sanders, for not going far enough, and by the entire right for overextending the authority of federal government. Should this law be dismantled, or even further stripped, history will not look as highly on the Obama Presidency.

Arab Spring...

Name a country in Central and South America. You'll find that at some point in our history, since James Monroe, that we have either invaded or meddled in their affairs, even overthrowing governments, such as Panama (twice), and backing rebel factions. Since Truman, whenever communism rears its head, we have a history of trying to change the regime. The Middle East is no different, whether it was backing the Shah in Iran to supporting the group that would become al Qeada in Afghanistan against Russia or Desert Storm, even Iraqi Freedom. Arab Spring was our latest attempt to "fix" other nations' "bad" governments.

Arab Spring funded rebel forces in Libya, the Muslim Brotherhood, and civil war in Yemen and Syria. Some of these forces would join with a rising terror threat called Islamic State, a group that would overrun parts of Syria and Iraq.

While Iraqi Freedom might have helped set the stage for IS, Arab Spring provided this group with military assets and money. On a related note, had we not helped overthrow Libya dictator Gadhafi the Benghazi consulate attack might not have happened as al Qeada might not have risked the ire from him due to someone again drawing the ire of the US on him.

Scandals...

Fast & Furious was a gun-running operation that sold assault weapons to various factions of the Mexican mob and resulted in the deaths of two Border Patrol agents. His IRS targeted conservative groups more than other political fundraising groups. He traded five prisoners for a deserter. Ed Snowden revealed the NSA had expanded the Patriot Act. The VA was found to provide poor care for war veterans. The General Services Administration spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a lavish training conference. His former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did all of government business on an unauthorized, and poorly protected, private server. He also claimed, falsely, that the Benghazi attack was the result of a protest about a video on YouTube as opposed to al Qeada.

In his defense, the volume of scandals pales in comparison to many of his predecessors. And with the exception of Hillary's Email-gate, as far as can be proven, his administration is rather open. The most "transparent ever" claim is dubious, but his is much more open than the Cloak and Dagger operation of his predecessor, and lacks the chicanery that was common in the Clinton administration.

"Shovel-Ready Jobs"...

In 2009, Barack Obama pushed for a stimulus program that would boost the economy and provide alternative energy, thus easing American dependency of foreign oil. These jobs, he declared, were "shovel-ready". After Solyndra, the largest beneficiary of the stimulus, declared bankruptcy, along with four other beneficiaries, he was forced to admit there were no shovel-ready jobs. Somewhat ignored in this was that Solyndra had helped fund his campaign.

With that said, 63 of the 68 companies that received money from the Department of Energy are still in business, so the program hasn't been a complete wash. But it also has failed to improve a sluggish economy, something the stimulus package was purported to do. In fact, it was about as successful as the Bush stimulus.

Divided We Fall...

Often times a President gets blamed for things he had no control over. Think George H.W. Bush getting hit over the economy. He didn't want dozens of dot.com businesses to burst their bubble, causing massive unemployment. But the Dot.com bubble hangs over his administration as much a cloud as the Vietnam War darkens LBJ's Presidency.

In Barack Obama's case, the rise of the Tea Party and its opposition to his policies wasn't something he desired. Nor would I claim that the chaos mongers in Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter are things he desired. And certainly not the rise of mass shootings over the past two years.

But his rhetoric, and unwillingness to condemn the riots and anarchy these two groups caused hasn't helped. And his blaming the weapons for the mass shootings seems to encourage this behavior. At the least, his alienation of whole groups in America with his speeches certainly hasn't aided efforts to curb these groups.

And his inability, and his "take it or leave it" attitude, to work with Congress has continually fueled the Washington gridlock. Every President has had trouble with the opposing party. (Heck, LBJ couldn't get his own party to back the Civil Rights Act....) But neither side was willing to work out the differences.

Common Core...

This doesn't include Common Core, which at least wasn't No Child Left Behind and received input from actual teachers, while the Iran nuclear deal has Rob Deer feel to it. (For those unfamiliar with baseball, Deer was a professional ball player known for either hitting home runs or striking out. There wasn't much middle ground.) The home run would be that Iran becomes civilized and joins the international community. The strikeout is that Iran will develop nukes and use them. (Smart money is on the latter, btw) The normalization of Cuban relations could be an improvement. And then there's the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which doesn't really have a downside.

In truth, this sums up the Obama Presidency. For every accomplishment, there's a "Yeah, but..." And there's many things that don't have an upside.

So where do I rate him? To put him on the bottom is an insult. To say he's worse than the scandal-ridden administrations of Ulysses S. Grant and Warren G. Harding is insulting. He doesn't merit inclusion with other bottom feeders such as Herbert Hoover (Great Depression), Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Millard Filmore, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor (all four had a hand in setting up the Civil War), and James Polk (he invaded Mexico...), or Andrew Johnson (nearly impeached by his own party), or Benjamin Harrison and George W. Bush. (I'd rank him the 10th worst, tied with Jimmy Carter.) And this is the usual suspects regarding worst Presidents ever.

He definitely doesn't belong on Mount Rushmore (Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt), nor does he compare with the others in the top 10 (names such as FDR, Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, and Reagan).

In my opinion, he rates somewhere in the middle. We've had worse Presidents, we've had better.
Soapboxie»US Politics br br Barack Obama is the 4... (show quote)

A well written precis; I would agree.

Reply
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