The results of a new Quinnipiac National poll has Barack Obama rated as the worst United States president since World War II–worse than George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Richard Nixon. The poll also finds a majority agreeing that America would be better off if Republican Mitt Romney had won the 2012 presidential election.
Another poll by Gallup finds that only 29% of all people polled are confident that Obama can properly lead the country.
As a sitting president, making largely unpopular decisions will trigger a dent in the ratings, but it’s tough to justify the crater that is this president’s current numbers. How will the legacy of America’s first black president be rated years after he leaves the White House?
From one House Republican calling him a “liar” to his face, to a “pro-Obama” newspaper article calling the President of the United States of America the N-word, Obama has had to endure extremely disturbing disrespect for a sitting president.
What crimes has he committed inside the Oval office that have sullied his legacy?
There’s the thinning of his own red line in Syria. He seemed to hesitate over punishing Bashir Al-Assad after evidence surfaced he had gassed his own people. The release of five senior Taliban militants from Guantanamo Bay didn’t go down very well either. Neither did Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the alarming implosion of Iraq. There is also, the scandal at the Veteran Affairs and, of course, the Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare.
It’s hard to believe that these actions are bigger in magnitude than those committed by Nixon, a president who resigned in disgrace, or of his predecessor, who reportedly lied to invade a sovereign nation, but this is the America we live in today.
Obama addressed four major issues during his 2009 inaugural address. As he put it, “Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many, and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.”
Bear in mind that the former and current United States Congress, lovingly dubbed, “the do-nothing congress” is on track to produce the lowest number of legislative proposals since the Clinton administration. He’s had to go the course alone, often without overwhelming support from his own party.
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After inheriting two wars and a nation in the middle of the great recession, let’s take a collective snapshot of America today. The wars have ended. The new jobs report released for the month of June finds the economy added nearly 300,000 jobs. The unemployment rate dropped to 6.1%, that’s 1.7 points lower than when he took office and 3.9 points lower than it was at its worst point during October 2009. Stocks are trading at record highs on Wall Street. And the U.S. is leading the world in manufacturing and promoting clean energy.
That’s just a snapshot. Let’s put the country and Obama’s promises under a magnifying glass.