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14-11-2016, 11:00 AM
An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:
Like many progressive observers, my view of Barack Obama has been a bit of a roller-coaster.
Stunned when I stood on the floor of the Democratic Convention in 2004 and witnessed this unknown senator deliver his spellbinding keynote speech.
Hugely excited and impressed by the campaign nine years ago, frustrated and depressed by the middle of the first term, reconvinced by his 2012 performance and the achievements of the second term, then taken to a new high by his astonishing campaign performance in the last three months.
Given politics’ short-term memory, it is important not to forget Obama’s considerable legacy. He saved the global economy from collapse, rescued the American auto industry, rebuilt America’s reputation internationally, gave the life-saving benefit of public health care to 20 million people and on and on. Like great American presidents before him he not only delivered huge policy wins, he did it in the face of enormous political resistance. Even if some of it may now be unwound, the achievements remain a powerful legacy.
As Obama famously put it, “Don’t do stupid (stuff ).” Trump should listen. Although not explicitly aimed at George W. Bush, the message was clear. Unlike his two failed wars, Jimmy Carter’s Iran disaster, Bill Clinton’s bungling in both Somalia and Rwanda, or George H.W. Bush, who left an underground fire burning in Iraq, Obama’s foreign policy record is clearly better. Trump has big shoes to fill, here, too.
To those who would blame Vladimir Putin’s excesses on Obama, or China’s increasingly hard line, or his failure to rein in the self-destructive Israeli government, one can only recall one of Obama’s best lines, “Come on, man! Really?”
Did he move the dial in Cuba? Evidentamente! Has Obama left Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL), the Taliban, and Al Qaeda in worse shape than when he arrived? With the imminent collapse of Mosul and Raqqa, the question answers itself. Charles Krauthammer, and those local pundits who rewrite him for Canadian conservative audiences, like to claim Obama led an American retreat from global leadership. Their evidence is laughable.
They also might ask themselves why the Russian-rigged parliament rose to a standing ovation on news of Putin’s pal’s triumph. What they are really saying is that Obama did not bomb Damascus or Tehran or require the CIA to overthrow offensive governments in Venezuela or North Korea, or raise the level of confrontation with China and Russia. To more thoughtful international observers, each of those would clearly have fallen into the “stupid stuff” category. Now, we may get a tragic demonstration of stupid stuff on each of those files.
Liberal domestic critics complain about rising racial tensions and social inequality today and falling productivity and loss of high-wage jobs. Their grandparents criticized F.D.R. for not having done enough to ease poverty, their parents were disappointed that L.B.J. did not push civil rights far enough. If they are among the five million Democrats who failed to vote for his successor, they will now have four painful years to see those gains reversed.
There is the harsh reality for every leader that the trees you plant only deliver fruit to opponents far in the future — some may even get chopped down by your successor. Resolving the chaos and inefficiency of the American health-care system took a giant leap forward and that may now be gutted. Access to university and lifting the burden of student debt took a big leap under Obama, too — now also at risk.
It will be Trump’s successor who will have to clean up the trash he will inevitably leave behind — let us hope it is only four years from now — before America can begin to reap the benefits of a healthier America, more university graduates and rising American productivity, jobs and wages, all of which got a new start under Obama.
Whether it is 2020 or four years later, Obama will be working on the international stage. Then he will, no doubt, put that aside and bring his powerful presence back to support the Democratic challenger. Some are dreaming it may be Michelle Obama.
Progressives around the world are already preparing themselves for the huge gap his departure will leave on the world stage. From inauguration day we will miss painfully his oratory, his humour, his intelligence and his humanity — a package that comes only once in a generation, if a people are lucky.
Today, though, America and the world should simply say, “Thank you, Barack Obama.”
Robin V. Sears, a principal at Earnscliffe Strategy Group and a Broadbent Institute leadership fellow, was an NDP strategist for 20 years.
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?237723-What-an-awful-president-Obama-was&goto=newpost).
Like many progressive observers, my view of Barack Obama has been a bit of a roller-coaster.
Stunned when I stood on the floor of the Democratic Convention in 2004 and witnessed this unknown senator deliver his spellbinding keynote speech.
Hugely excited and impressed by the campaign nine years ago, frustrated and depressed by the middle of the first term, reconvinced by his 2012 performance and the achievements of the second term, then taken to a new high by his astonishing campaign performance in the last three months.
Given politics’ short-term memory, it is important not to forget Obama’s considerable legacy. He saved the global economy from collapse, rescued the American auto industry, rebuilt America’s reputation internationally, gave the life-saving benefit of public health care to 20 million people and on and on. Like great American presidents before him he not only delivered huge policy wins, he did it in the face of enormous political resistance. Even if some of it may now be unwound, the achievements remain a powerful legacy.
As Obama famously put it, “Don’t do stupid (stuff ).” Trump should listen. Although not explicitly aimed at George W. Bush, the message was clear. Unlike his two failed wars, Jimmy Carter’s Iran disaster, Bill Clinton’s bungling in both Somalia and Rwanda, or George H.W. Bush, who left an underground fire burning in Iraq, Obama’s foreign policy record is clearly better. Trump has big shoes to fill, here, too.
To those who would blame Vladimir Putin’s excesses on Obama, or China’s increasingly hard line, or his failure to rein in the self-destructive Israeli government, one can only recall one of Obama’s best lines, “Come on, man! Really?”
Did he move the dial in Cuba? Evidentamente! Has Obama left Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL), the Taliban, and Al Qaeda in worse shape than when he arrived? With the imminent collapse of Mosul and Raqqa, the question answers itself. Charles Krauthammer, and those local pundits who rewrite him for Canadian conservative audiences, like to claim Obama led an American retreat from global leadership. Their evidence is laughable.
They also might ask themselves why the Russian-rigged parliament rose to a standing ovation on news of Putin’s pal’s triumph. What they are really saying is that Obama did not bomb Damascus or Tehran or require the CIA to overthrow offensive governments in Venezuela or North Korea, or raise the level of confrontation with China and Russia. To more thoughtful international observers, each of those would clearly have fallen into the “stupid stuff” category. Now, we may get a tragic demonstration of stupid stuff on each of those files.
Liberal domestic critics complain about rising racial tensions and social inequality today and falling productivity and loss of high-wage jobs. Their grandparents criticized F.D.R. for not having done enough to ease poverty, their parents were disappointed that L.B.J. did not push civil rights far enough. If they are among the five million Democrats who failed to vote for his successor, they will now have four painful years to see those gains reversed.
There is the harsh reality for every leader that the trees you plant only deliver fruit to opponents far in the future — some may even get chopped down by your successor. Resolving the chaos and inefficiency of the American health-care system took a giant leap forward and that may now be gutted. Access to university and lifting the burden of student debt took a big leap under Obama, too — now also at risk.
It will be Trump’s successor who will have to clean up the trash he will inevitably leave behind — let us hope it is only four years from now — before America can begin to reap the benefits of a healthier America, more university graduates and rising American productivity, jobs and wages, all of which got a new start under Obama.
Whether it is 2020 or four years later, Obama will be working on the international stage. Then he will, no doubt, put that aside and bring his powerful presence back to support the Democratic challenger. Some are dreaming it may be Michelle Obama.
Progressives around the world are already preparing themselves for the huge gap his departure will leave on the world stage. From inauguration day we will miss painfully his oratory, his humour, his intelligence and his humanity — a package that comes only once in a generation, if a people are lucky.
Today, though, America and the world should simply say, “Thank you, Barack Obama.”
Robin V. Sears, a principal at Earnscliffe Strategy Group and a Broadbent Institute leadership fellow, was an NDP strategist for 20 years.
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?237723-What-an-awful-president-Obama-was&goto=newpost).