Last week I reviewed the less than sterling record of Barack Obama on foreign policy. Not surprisingly, I concluded that his legacy was far from exemplary. Today, I turn to his domestic exploits. These too, I am afraid, leave a great deal to be desired.
Let me begin with our former president’s economic policy. He led off with a stimulus package designed to rescue us from a housing bubble. Something had to be done, and he deserves credit for doing it. Nevertheless, his initiative did not have the desired effect.
Pumping a trillion dollars into shovel ready projects that were not shovel ready never spurred growth. Not in eight years did it reach two percent per annum. Why? Because government bureaucrats are dreadful at picking winners and losers. Pouring money into clean energy companies, for instance, saw these funds go down the proverbial drain.
Another reason was crony capitalism. Democrats gave tons of money to friends, irrespective of their qualifications. They also suffocated the economy with reams of ill-conceived regulations. No enterprise was too small for them to quash, especially in the energy sector.
As a result, manufacturing languished, while the national debt soared. Then too the Dodd-Frank debacle tightened credit and drove small banks out of business. The consumer protection agency did something similar. All in all, there were fewer start-up companies; sadly accompanied by sluggish wage growth.
Meanwhile, ObamaCare scrambled the medical marketplace for little gain. Although costs were supposed to go down, they climbed. Despite predictions, emergency room usage also rose. As for the bungled rollout of the program, the less said about it, the better.
On the social scene, things were worse. Obama promised that he would be a uniter; not a divider. Most Americans fervently hoped he would bring the races together. Instead, the opposite happened. In picking at a historic scab, he reanimated grievances that had been subsiding.
On Obama’s watch, political correctness grew to epic proportions. Minorities rioted in the streets. Gender lawsuits abounded. As importantly, liberals and conservatives became so wary of each other that barely a civil word passed between them.
Then there was the surge in lawlessness. While Barack was a former law professor, his community organizer identity prevailed. His impulse was to do what he thought politically expedient, regardless of its constitutionality. With lapdogs in the Department of Justice and the media, he knew he could get away with nearly anything.
Richard Nixon was excoriated for attempting to use federal agencies to punish political enemies. He did not succeed. Obama, however, accomplished this deed masterfully. He used the IRS and the FBI to target his foes without leaving so much as a fingerprint.
Next came the immigration debacle. The federal government is supposed to protect our borders, whereas Barack threw them wide open. He simply stopped enforcing the law, whether at the Rio Grande or in sanctuary cities. The dreamers were actually given extra-legal benefits.
Nor did the promised gains in education materialize. Costs went up, while achievement scores didn’t. The crime rate likewise went from falling to rising. Chicago’s murder numbers speak unambiguously to what happened. In the meantime, unwed births hit record heights, with nary a word said about the damage inflicted on innocent children.
All of this ineptitude was accompanied by a blizzard of lies. Almost every day, the American public was treated to scores of eloquent falsehoods. Whether these came for the president’s mouth, or those of his allies, or his media stooges, they so corrupted the national atmosphere that complaints about a decline in our moral standards proliferated.
Obama’s was going to be an era of “hope and change.” Yet not even his most fervent devotees today make that claim. They realize that their hero’s failures paved the way for Donald Trump. Their frenzied opposition to his successor is testimony to a profound disappointment.
In sum, Barack Obama was the worst president in living memory. His legacy incudes preparing the ground for a socialist revival, while triggering unprecedented levels of partisan hostility. He did not elevate our sights. To the contrary, he stoked utopian bitterness.
About the only positive thing I can say about Obama’s presidency is that he broke the color barrier. This is small compensation for an otherwise disastrous scorecard.
Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Kennesaw State University
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