PrintObama's Disastrous Legacy
Obama is proud of himself. He and his devoted followers believe he has left America in better shape than when he found it.
Wrong.
To avoid the accusation of bias and (fake) "fake news," let's use the mainstream news media and government websites, in almost every case, to prove that Obama and his core followers are misjudging their own country and the world.
Foreign Affairs
1. His Benghazi policy was deadly for four Americans.
These deaths happened in September 2012, before his re-election, so the DNC had to adopt a false narrative about a video because terrorist groups were supposedly in retreat.
Politico: Final Benghazi report details administration failures
2. Obama withdrew the troops from Iraq prematurely.
We should have kept a military base there for as long as we have in Germany, Japan, and Korea. But Obama believes the standard leftist lie that America around the globe causes problems, not solves them.
CBS News: Leon Panetta Criticizes Obama for Iraq Withdrawal
3. The rise of ISIS "took me by surprise."
It did not surprise all of U.S. intelligence. The generals told him trouble was brewing.
CNN: ISIS rise surprised Obama, US intelligence
4. Syria and northern Iraq are disaster zones.
Refugees are streaming out of the area.
NPR: As East Aleppo Falls, Accounts Of Carnage – Then A Cease-Fire
5. ISIS has gone global.
CNN: ISIS goes global: 143 attacks in 29 countries have killed 2043
6. U.S.-Israel relations has deteriorated under Obama.
L.A. Times: Obama's tense relationship with Netanyahu colors Obama's legacy on Israel
His recent refusal to vote against the U.N. resolution that restricted Israel's right to build where it thinks best in Jerusalem indicates the deterioration.
WaPo: U.S. declines to veto U.N. Security Council resolution for Israel to stop Jewish settlement activity
7. Russia did provocative flybys near our ships.
The Hill: Russia rattles nerves by buzzing US ship
8. Obama said on a live mic to Medvedev that he'd be more "flexible" after the 2012 election.
N.Y. Times: Microphone catches a candid Obama
9. The Iran deal is a betrayal without getting anything in return except promises.
We will one day wake up to hear the news that Iran can weaponize nuclear power.
N.Y. Times: Iran tests long-range missile, possibly violating nuclear accord
10. About 400 million dollars for hostage payment.
We should have gotten the hostages out from the very beginning – without begging or paying.
CNN: US sent plane with $400 million in cash to Iran
11. American ships captured by Iran showed weakness to a second-rate terrorist nation.
CNN: Navy report: Failure at every level for US ships captured by Iran
12. The Cuba deal got nothing in return.
Dissidents are still in prison; the economy shows no sign that it will come out from under communist oppression.
PBS: What does the U.S. get out of the Cuba deal?
13. China's expansion in South Pacific will cause conflict.
Like Russia, China took the measure of the leftist president and concluded he is weak.
ABC (Australia): China extends its influence in the South Pacific
14. He shows no caution in his immigration philosophy – both from south of the border and from Syrian war zones.
CNN: Deadlocked Supreme Court deals big blow to Obama immigration plan
The Hill: Obama vows to 'speed up' efforts to admit Syrian refugees
These suffering humans need safe zones closer to home.
15. He is all in for climate change.
One question: Did the climate change before humans got here? Of course. So there are many factors to its changes beyond a prosperous economy that the left wants to put in shackles.
White House: FACT SHEET: Obama Administration Highlights Opportunities for Building Community Climate Resilience across the Nation
16. Gitmo prisoners have been released and gone back to fight for terrorist groups.
WaPo: Obama administration approves its largest single release of Guantanamo detainees ever
National Economy
17. The corporate tax rate is higher than it is in other industrialized nations and third highest in the world.
"The United States has the third highest general top marginal corporate income tax rate in the world, at 38.92 percent."
Tax Foundation: Corporate Income Tax Rates around the World, 2016
18. Median household incomes have dropped over the past seven years.
It has dropped from about 57K (2007-2008) to about 52K (2014). Thankfully, however, the incomes have recently risen, but rising from the basement is a small step.
Real Clear Markets: The Obvious for the Decline in Median Income (The obvious is that people are working fewer hours.)
19. Obamacare is still a disaster.
In 2016, the overall premium increase across the fifty states is 25%. In many states, the rise is much higher. It means that businesses won't hire full time, and they reduce the number of hours their current employees can work.
Fiscal Times: Here's How Much Obamacare Premiums Are Rising in All Fifty States
20. We're broke: The national operating debt has reached gargantuan proportions.
The debt is almost $20 trillion, about $3-4 trillion over the yearly GDP.
21. The stimulus didn't stimulate, but put us deeper in debt.
Investor Politics: 7 Ugly Truths about Obama's $787B Stimulus
22. As of November 2016, the U-6 unemployment number is 9.3%.
This measurement, not the U-3 line, reveals the true unemployment number.
Bureau of Labor Statistics: Economic News Release
23. Economic growth is slow.
It hasn't broken through 3% – a historic record. "On Friday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that 2015 U.S. real GDP (RGDP) growth was 2.38%. No matter what revisions are subsequently made, 2015 will have been the tenth year in a row that RGDP growth came in at under 3.0%. The longest previous such run in U.S. economic history was only four years, and the last time that this happened was during the Great Depression (1930 - 1933)."
Real Clear Markets: Obama's Sad Record on Economic Growth
24. The federal government has grown more than it did under Bush and Clinton.
CNNMoney: Did Obama really make government bigger?
The article's answer: "By many measures, the federal government has indeed grown during Obama's tenure."
The bigger the public sector, the smaller and slower the private sector.
Domestic and Social Issues
25. The IRS harassed conservative groups.
"The IRS admitted that it targeted nonprofit political advocacy groups with the terms 'tea party' or 'patriot' in their names."
WaPo: Everything you need to know about the IRS scandal in one FAQ
26. As of December 2016, there have been five terror attacks on U.S. soil since Obama took office.
That number doesn't count the ones that have failed.
Free Beacon: There Have Been Six Successful Acts of Islamic Terrorism on American Soil Since 9/11: Five happened after 2008
For another report in September 2016, see the New Observer Online: ISIS Terror Attacks Sweep US.
27. Racial division is worse.
N.Y. Times: Race Relations Are at Lowest Point in Obama Presidency, Poll Finds
28. Black people are doing worse economically.
Atlantic: How Barack Obama Failed Black Americans
29. The murder rate has gone up.
Chicago leads the way with a 41.8% increase over last year, but there 14 other troubled cities.
N.Y. Times: A Handful of Cities Are Driving 2016's Rise in Murders
USA Today: Chicago hits grim milestone of 700 murders for 2016 and the year's not over
30. Heroin smuggling into the U.S. from Mexico has increased.
USA Today: Why heroin is Mexican drugcartels' new product of choice
Open borders – based on a refusal to tighten them up – allows for the surge.
31. P.C. culture has become more intense.
WaPo: Liberal intolerance is on the rise on America's college campuses
Obama never said "Merry Christmas" on White House greeting cards. Trump says he intends to change that P.C. policy.
32. The rise of the radical left has led to less religious freedom.
Bakers and florists have lost their businesses because they refused to share in a same-sex commitment ceremony.
PBS Newshour: Why some wedding businesses say 'I don't' to gay couples
33. His SCOTUS appointments have not respected the Constitution.
The left loves it because they need to lead stupid sheep, also known as the Average Common Sense American, toward their enlightenment.
But Article Three is slapping around Article One. It's rule by judges, a kritocracy.
34. He spent $85 million for vacation expenses over eight years, paid by our taxes.
The Blaze: Here's how much the Obama family has spent on vacations over the last eight years
35. Executive orders were abused.
They were a reaction to GOP congressional victories in 2010 and 2014. It's not so much the sheer number of orders (though that's bad enough), but the scope of them.
Federal Register: 2016 Barack Obama Executive Orders
USA Today: Obama's executive orders you never hear about
36. The only good news: The Democrat Party has been decimated.
"His legacy regrettably includes the more than 1,000 Democrats who lost their elections during his two terms. Republicans now have total control in half of America's states."
N.Y. Times: Was Barack Obama Bad For Democrats?
Obama has been an eight-year mistake for this wonderful country. It's soon to be a happy day when he is gone.
James Arlandson's website is Live as Free People, where he has posted The GOP is on a national losing streak and How the left misreads world affairs.
