President Obama: From Hope to Nope

Official photographic portrait of US President Barack Obama (born 4 August 1961; assumed office 20 January 2009) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In a few days, President Barack Obama and his family will turn the White House keys over to the billionaire real estate mogul from New York City, who promises a fresh start and a different attitude.  Strangely enough, that's what Obama thought he was doing when he took office eight years ago.

Obama had inherited an economic meltdown that became known as the Great Recession.  American soldiers were still fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  And Osama bin Laden was the world's number one fugitive.

Today, with economic policies that were put in place by the President, the Great Recession is but a bad memory to all except for those who still feel its affects.  There are no more troops in either Iraq or Afghanistan, just "advisers" to help their armies fight their own battles.  And bin Laden was killed in a U.S.-led raid, but the Islamic State has supplanted al-Qaeda as the source of worldwide terrorism.

In between, Obama tried to put his stamp on legislation that would transform the country.  But this  was (and still is) the era of hyper-partisanship in Washington, where both the Republicans and Democrats left Congress impotent when they refused to compromise on important issues.  So the President resorted to signing more executive orders than any other in history.

Take the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.  Obama's signature health care law was approved by only Democrats when they controlled Congress in his first term, not Republicans.  Now that he's leaving office, the Republicans who now run Congress couldn't get rid of the ACA fast enough.  And they still haven't come up with an acceptable alternative.

Another example is the blatant disregard for human life shown by that same Congress every time there's a mass gun shooting or terrorist attack, the latest of which occurred in Fort Lauderdale, Florida a couple of weeks ago.  The President could offer condolences to the families of the victims and rail against the injustice, but he couldn't get Congress to pass new restrictions on weapons.  Because the Second Amendment (and the National Rifle Association's money and power) were too sacred for them to mess with.

Barack Obama was the first African-American man to be elected.  Twice.  But in this supposedly "post-racial" era, all the racist yahoos came out of the woodwork, questioning his citizenship and religious background (having the middle name Hussein didn't help), using racial slurs against him and his wife Michelle, among other things.  It was also open season on unarmed black men by mostly white police officers, leading to violent protests across the country.  Add to that the backlash against immigrants (legally entered or not) due to fears of terrorism and siphoning off tax dollars, which was made worse by the devastating civil war in Syria and lapses in the security net.

Obama ends his presidency with high approval ratings, which is what he didn't have during much of his two terms  However powerful his personality was, he couldn't get Democrats to win more seats for a majority in Congress or to elect his party's successor in the White House.  There were also those who couldn't stand the fact that a liberal African-American was President for two terms, so they did everything they could to shut him down.  And, for the most part, they succeeded.  Which is why it's hard to see anyone other than a white male being President for a long time to come, given what Obama had to go through.

Barack Obama had already made his mark in history the moment he became President, but he tried to do so much more than that.  And he would have if gridlocked politicians and unenlightened souls had let him do his job.  Despite his best efforts, much of his legacy will be erased by the incoming Republican President.  But given time, history might treat Obama a lot better than Washington ever did.