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.
The nation largely avoided a complete meltdown after the Obama administration’s $800 billion stimulus program, the Dodd-Frank financial regulations, and the auto bailout.
On the education front, the race-to-the-top grants, programs to push universal Pre-K, and reducing the burden from student loans are restoring belief in the U.S. education system.
A year ago, Obama asked, “Someday, our children, and our children’s children, will look at us in the eye and they’ll ask us, did we do all that we could when we had the chance to deal with this problem and leave them a cleaner, safe, more stable world?”
He refused to condemn this generation and future generations to a planet “beyond fixing.” His Administration is now taking the necessary steps to cut carbon pollution, help prepare the United States for the impacts of climate change, and continue to lead international efforts to address global climate change. Wind capacity has tripled and solar capacity increased 16-fold. His new power plant regulations have also created a market-based cap on carbon pollution.
The jury is still out on how his presidency will be judged on Obamacare. The roll-out was an unmitigated disaster, but creating legislation to provide quality health insurance for more than forty million Americans without access has to be considered a step in the right direction. Especially for minorities and people of color. The nation had watched idly as hundred of thousands of families were destroyed by medical emergencies in addition to the millions dying because they lacked health care coverage or because they were snubbed by medical facilities.
Obama stated two clear goals for his Affordable Care Act. Lowering medical costs and expanding access for those who couldn’t afford it. More than eight million signed up during the initial enrollment period, 57% of whom had no prior coverage.
So what will be the legacy of President Barack Obama? Do his pros outweigh the cons? You and history will be his judge.