The Obama Report Card: The Good, the Bad and the Incomplete
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/obama-report-card-good-bad-and-incomplete?akid=13840.227380.3rpmA-&rd=1&src=newsletter1048244&t=3
Forget hope and change. Let’s look at the record. When Barack Obama ran for president in 2008 and 2012, he didn’t just run on hope and change. He made hundreds of promises, everything from changing the way CEOs are taxed to allowing Americans to buy prescription drugs abroad. Those and scores more didn’t happen. And he hasn’t really addressed some of the key issues that will mark his his legacy, such as his overseas assassination policies involving drones and special forces.
As Obama approaches his final year, it’s become trendy among supporters to say he has done the best he can given Republican obstructionists in Congress and red states. There is some truth to this notion. Obviously, he’s been better on most issues than a Republican would have been, and certainly far better than their new flock of candidates. But as the GOP has become radicalized and pulled the political center to the right, some of Obama’s moderate stances have been wrongly labeled as liberal, which demonstrates how far right the public debate has become. We at AlterNet have prepared a report card looking at successes, failures and a number of incompletes as Obama enters the last of his eight years in the White House. While there are dozens of issues and policies we could have included, we have chosen five in each of these categories that are especially important, compelling or decisive...
15 topics listed and discussed
Grading the President
There are dozens of issues upon which Obama’s presidency can be judged and evaluated. At his best, he has shown that government can act in powerful ways to reorient its safety nets and the economy and be more responsive to public needs, without the sky falling as his critics have blared. Nowhere is that more evident than with Obamacare, which despite its flaws, has scores of provisions that expand access to health care and is pushing medicine toward a more prevention-oriented and cost-conscious focus. His trust in diplomacy and focus on beginning to address climate change is also laudable.
But Obama’s greatest early attraction, his aversion to the arrogant leadership of George W. Bush, is now being seen by many as wanting. Following the ISIS-inspired attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, national polls say he’s not seen by Americans as a reassuring counterweight to public fears over foreign threats. As David Axelrod, his 2008 political guru, told CNN, his response to Paris was “tone deaf.” His Oval Office speech after San Bernardino emphasized the need for gun controls, which is factually correct, as most of the country’s 33,000 annual gun deaths are from suicides or domestic disputes. But the public often seeks more visceral reassurance and its absence creates openings for loud opportunists, exemplified by Donald Trump.
While polls say most Democrats approve of Obama, the enthusiasm is gone.
