The Obama Legacy

TGHusker said:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-rest-of-the-story-what-obama-wont-tell-you-about-his-legacy-2017-01-05

One person's opinion with a lot of valid points.
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A few thoughts

1. It’s (still) the economy, stupid

The expansion that began in June 2009 has been the weakest since World War II, with real gross domestic product growth averaging 2.1%. At 7 1/2 years and counting, it is also among the longest on record. But it hasn’t packed much of a punch.

-So an unmitigated economic disaster that was decades in the making wasn't cleaned up fast enough? Really? Mmmk.

2. A Legacy of Ashes

Obama’s continued popularity hasn’t had much of a trickle-down effect. In the eight years since he was first elected, Democrats have lost more than 1,000 seats at the state and national level. Republicans now control 4,170 state legislative seats compared with 3,129 for the Democrats, an all-time low.

-Convenient that GOP gerrymandering and the gutting of the voting rights act (that resulted in nearly a thousand polling places closing since 2012) wasn't mentioned

3. Keep your friends close

At his year-end press conference on Dec. 16, which was short on questions, long on answers, Obama spoke about his response to the Russian hacking of Democratic National Committee emails during the election.

He said that when he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in China in September, he told him to “cut it out” in terms of the hacking.

Sorry, Mr. President, the world isn’t afraid of you and your empty threats. Eight years of leading from behind has left America’s standing in the world diminished, its moral authority compromised and its foreign policy in tatters.

-Has his record been perfect? Of course not, however foreign policy rarely yields simple answers and solutions. I'd rather take a stab at diplomacy than starting endless wars.

4. Divided we stand

Obama may have broken racial barriers when he became the first African-American president of the U.S., but his election did nothing to improve race relations.

-Obama isn't responsible for changing racist people's minds.

5. That which must not be named

Radical Islamic terrorism. Obama has spent eight years deftly avoiding using those three words to call an act what it is. He has intellectualized his position by claiming the phrase “equates Islam with terrorism,” which is counterproductive to U.S. counterterrorism efforts.

- Maybe he just took a lead from W and ran with it. But hey, why would we want to "intellectualize" anything anyway?

"The terrorists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself.” -George W. Bush

"“There are thousands of Muslims who proudly call themselves Americans, and they know what I know — that the Muslim faith is based upon peace and love and compassion.” -George W. Bush

 
Sorry, Mr. President, the world isn’t afraid of you and your empty threats. Eight years of leading from behind has left America’s standing in the world diminished, its moral authority compromised and its foreign policy in tatters.
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Putin does not equate to "the world." "The world" doesn't want to be afraid of America, should not be afraid of America, and it's not a desirable thing for "the world" to be scared of us. What kind of asinine analysis is that?

 
Spoiler because of NSFW language.

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I've always found it hypocritical that some people believe Obama has worsened or done little to improve race relations. Then, on the other hand, these same people crack racist jokes, make racist remarks or share racist material on various media platforms.

 
It's probably true that so-called "race relations" in America would be a lot more harmonious if white people stayed in charge and everybody agreed not to challenge or upend this.

That's not peace, though. That's occupation, life at the edge of the sword.

 
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