Pulse of the Peninsula: Obama’s legacy: ‘more perfect union’

Karen Rubin

Obama will leave office with some of the highest ratings for an outgoing president — remarkable considering the unprecedented opposition and obstruction he has faced from the moment he swore his oath.

It bears reminding that no one came into the presidency with more challenges than Obama — not Washington, Lincoln or FDR.

None of them on their first day, had to contend with an imploding economy headed into a Great Depression at the same time the country was embroiled in two foreign wars, not to mention the swine flu epidemic and environmental disasters  (BP Oil spill) that came soon after.

Despite the best efforts of the Republicans to insure Obama’s failure, Obama brought the economy back from the brink of a Great Depression, saved the American auto industry, launched the renewable energy industry, restored America’s leadership in the world (Paris Climate Agreement, Iran Nuclear Agreement, opening relations with Cuba after more than 50 years), succeeded where seven presidents before him failed to provide nearly universal affordable, accessible health care.

Despite unprecedented opposition — including bills that were tabled — he made inroads into immigration reform, gun violence prevention, criminal justice reform, advanced manufacturing.

He accomplished the most sweeping financial protections since the Depression, and yet the stock market has nearly tripled during his tenure, hitting record after record, and since signing Obamacare into law, America’s businesses have added more than 15 million new jobs.

Eight years since taking office, an economy that was shedding 800,000 jobs a month, has had the longest streak of job creation in history; wages have grown faster than any time in the past 40 years.

Last year, the poverty rate fell at the fastest pace in almost 50 years while the median household income grew at the fastest rate on record.  And Obama did it while cutting deficits by nearly two-thirds.

His signature Affordable Care Act — which should be his crowning achievement — has brought health insurance to 20 million American adults and 3 million children.

For the first time ever, more than 90 percent of Americans have health insurance.

Health costs are rising at the slowest rate in 50 years. Every American now has the benefit of true patient protections that hadn’t existed before, when everyone was at the mercy of for-profit insurance companies: people can’t be rejected for pre-existing conditions, there are no annual or lifetime caps, a cap on what private-insurance can spent on non-patient care, and if you lose your job (or your marriage) or start a business, you can still have access to affordable health insurance.

Obama’s health reforms have saved an estimated 87,000 lives, when before, more than 20,000 were dying each year simply for lack of access to health care, not counting how many tens of thousands suffered debilitating diseases that could have been prevented or cured early.

He brought back 180,000 American troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, eliminated the mastermind of the September 11 2001 terror attacks that succeeded in knocking America off its foundation, and yes, kept America safe from another major, orchestrated attack.

And, with the coalition he forged and a relentless campaign of 16,000 airstrikes, the U.S. is “breaking the back” of ISIS, taking away safe havens (most recently in Libya), achieved at a cost of $10 billion over two years, the same amount that was spent in just one month of the Iraq War.

He accomplished a minor miracle by bringing nearly 200 nations together — including China and India — around a climate agreement that could literally save this planet.  And he applied climate action initiatives here, to stem the destruction and public health disasters of pollution, wild fires, drought, floods.

Obama used his executive authority more than any other president to protect iconic historic, cultural and ecological sites across the country representative of the full spectrum of America’s diverse heritage, paying homage to civil rights, women’s suffrage, workers rights, LGBT rights and adding 554 million acres to our national birthright.

He did more to address systemic racism than any president since Lyndon B. Johnson, including unleashing DoJ investigations into police departments and challenging voter suppression.

Years from now, perhaps not that many — we will realize how much was squandered — Obama’s talent, his compassion, his sense of justice and fairness, his brilliance.

How much more could have been accomplished in solving the intractable problems of our time (and would have if Hillary Clinton won the Electoral College).

The progress that could have been made to ameliorating climate change, income inequality, advancing health care, promoting quality education and job training, protecting and preserving the environment, a preference for diplomacy and coalitions over war.

We will miss his calm, his coolness, his dignity and grace, his pragmatic idealism, his nuanced reasoning, his intelligence, the way he always seemed to have a clear-eyed understanding of what American people were feeling (and cared), and his ability to always find the right words.

We will miss No Drama Obama.

Every aspect of Obama’s legacy will now be erased by a successor intent on doing the opposite of everything Obama accomplished. Because he can.

The only solace I take is that Obama has created the templates for solutions will be taken out, dusted off, and implemented in order to propel this nation back on the path to being a more perfect union.

 

 

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