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Post by robeiae on Jan 19, 2017 18:14:10 GMT -5
So, tomorrow it ends, eight years of the Obama administration. How did he--and his admin--do, overall? Feel free to break it down to specific areas (domestic, foreign affairs, economics, social policy, what have you) in the thread, the poll is asking for an overall grade.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2017 8:26:23 GMT -5
I probably plunk down at a B. I was tempted to grade him more highly than that -- he inherited a mess, getting much of anything done in the political climate we have now is just about impossible, and today of all days, watching Trump makes me realize how much I'll miss Obama's dignity, poise, and calm. I have a feeling that in a couple of months, Obama will be a solid "A" in my book...
Then, too, I think it is difficult to grade a president until a bit of time has passed -- one needs to see how his accomplishments play out.
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Post by Don on Jan 20, 2017 8:42:30 GMT -5
I give him a D at best.
Just a few of the reasons:
His failure to take any significant action in the War on Drugs.
His expansion of executive power over the government and of regulatory control over the economy and individual actions.
His support for the surveillance state, lies about transparency, and treatment of whistleblowers.
His failure as a "Peace President" to produce ONE SINGLE DAY of peace during eight years in office.
His support of economic policies that continue to hollow out the middle class.
His construction of the terribly shaky edifice called the ACA.
His continuous appeals to identity politics.
His callousness toward civilians in his drone attacks.
That's just off the top of my head. I'll probably add more later.
He'll go down as another Jimmy Carter. A fundamentally decent man with horrid ideas about governing and economics.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2017 8:58:56 GMT -5
In these two areas, I'm inclined to agree with you -- though less so on his treatment of whistle-blowers after his commutation of Manning's sentence.
My biggest disappointment with him, by far, was that he didn't make more effort to roll back the post 9/11 excesses in expansions of executive power and the surveillance state. If he didn't do it, I'm not sure who will. We will likely pay a steep price for that now.
The ACA and the wars -- I don't love that, but I consider the former a bipartisan frankenstein mess and the latter... Well, I'm not happy about it, but I'm also not sure staying out of those conflicts would have the best thing for us to do (nor that another president would have kept us out).
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2017 10:01:53 GMT -5
Seriously, with the prospect of President Trump in two hours, nostalgia for Obama -- and for that matter, both Bushes, Clinton, and Reagan -- overwhelms me. I'd give a great deal to wake up and see any one of them going into office instead. Or pretty much any President in recent memory except maybe Nixon. Maybe.
Given that feeling, it was all I could do to remember anything to criticize about Obama today.
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