Barack Obama and an unchanged world

Jan 15, 2017 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Barack Obama was a historic president. He rode to office against the expectations of change and hope, but at the end of his presidency Americans are asking themselves whether anything has changed, and whether he brought any hope to the country.
In a country in which more than 60% of the electorate was White, it was a historic feat for a person of mixed ancestry to be elected as President. Such a historic President deserved and did secure a second term.
Barack Obama offered hope to young Americans. He assumed office in the midst of a global financial crisis. He promised solutions to both the man in Wall Street and the people on Main Street. He ended up bailing out Wall Street and leaving the ordinary man in Main Street wondering where was the anticipated recovery.
Barack Obama was the perfect poster President. He was handsome, relatively young, and untainted by the personal and political scandals which now seem with regularity to characterize American Presidential candidates.
He was the perfect candidate for President. He had just what the big companies and vested interests that dominate American politics wanted to help restore America’s image in the world.
That image has however been sullied during the two terms that Obama reigned as President. The Arab Spring was massaged by his administration. It was turned into a winter of discontent. Obama’s desire to crush Arab governments that his administration viewed as anti-American came with a huge backlash. ISIS replaced Al Qaeda as the leading threat to the national security of the so-called liberated states and to the free world.
The world is no safer after eight years of Obama. America is no safer. Terrorist attacks are now taking place on American soil. This had led to rising anti-immigrant prejudices as evinced years ago over the opposition to the building of a mosque near to the original 9/11 site.
The riots of the past few years against police killings of African- Americans are an indictment against the failure of the Obama administration to fix race relations.
America’s standing in the world has fallen. America’s leadership in the world has been questioned. China, using soft power, has emerged more influential than America in global affairs. No major international agreement has taken place without the support of Beijing.
The Chinese have begun their penetration into the American economy. They are a global juggernaut in a hunt for resources to propel their slowing economic growth.
The change promised under Obama did not materialize. Economic recovery – if you can call it that – has been at best sluggish. Americans are still searching for the job boom that was promised.
His ardent supporters are shaky in defending his achievements. Obamacare, the hard-fought health care reform, is now being placed on the chopping block. The House of Representatives has narrowly passed a resolution calling for an alternative to be drafted.
It is not simply a case of dismantling what many consider Obama’s greatest achievement. Obamacare was aimed at offering affordable health care to those who were locked out of the system. It has ended up being caricatured as a case of those who work having to pay more for those who do not work.
Obamacare has led to a boon for the insurance companies. Even those who will now benefit from increased coverage, especially those heavily dependent on social security and food stamps, have found that they have to fork out more for Obamacare. So much for his legacy!
He is also hailed as the man who normalized relations with Cuba. Well, normalization is not quite the case. Travel and trade are not yet fully liberalized. The embargo has not yet been fully lifted.
However, the improvement in relations with Cuba, notwithstanding, has been a forward step which has not been taken by any previous President. Like Obamacare, however, that legacy is at risk. The blow struck this week against Obama’s healthcare plan is likely to be followed, later rather than sooner, by a stilling of the reforms in Cuba policy. That policy is not likely to be improved under Trump. So much for Obama’s legacy!
What this leaves is a virtual empty slate to define Obama as a President that rocked. This is why as he prepares to depart the White House this week, a new refrain is emerging from his devout followers. He has been described as a scandal-free President. This is another attempt to make him a poster President. His clean and charismatic image is being highlighted simply because there is not much else to highlight.
The Russians are now being blamed from Hillary Clinton’s loss. No one has tried to assess just how much the failures of the Obama presidency contributed to her narrow loss to Donald Trump, a man who could not even gain the Republican nomination to contest against Obama in 2012.
Americans wanted more than an honest and charismatic President. American’s wanted an effective President that would bring back jobs and global leadership to America.
Obama rides off this Friday into the political sunset. He will remain a poster President with little to show how much his eight years changed the world.

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