Obama’s presidency is no longer historic just
because of his race, but also because this president has accomplished
100% of his domestic agenda.
Jonathan Chait summed it up,
“On January 20, 2009, when Obama delivered his inaugural address as
president, he outlined his coming domestic agenda in two sentences
summarizing the challenges he identified: “Homes have been lost, jobs
shed, businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly, our schools
fail too many, and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use
energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.” Those were
the four major areas of domestic reform: economic recovery measures,
health-care reform, a response to climate change, and education reform.
(To the justifiable dismay of immigration advocates, Obama did not call
for immigration reform at the time, and immigration reform is now the
only possible remaining area for significant domestic reform.) With the
announcement of the largest piece of his environmental program last
Monday, Obama has now accomplished major policy responses on all these
things.”
The fact that Obama has accomplished everything that
he has while confronting unprecedented repugican obstruction makes
what he has done all the more incredible. The repugicans set out to block
the entire Obama agenda, and make him a one term president. They failed
on both points.
In the face of such day to day frustration over the repugican refusal to govern, it is easy to forget how much that this
president has achieved. He has ended two wars, been bold on education
reform, put the economy back on track, and most importantly has
delivered a healthcare reform that has helped hundreds of millions of
Americans beyond the newly insured.
The repugicans love to label this president, and his
presidency a failure, but nothing could be further removed from the
truth. All presidents leave something undone in their domestic agenda.
This isn’t the case with President Barack Obama. There is definitely
more to do, but it would be a disservice to view the Obama
administration as the post-shrub reboot of America.
President Obama has built a lasting legacy, and his
leadership has transformed America for the better. The next president is
going to have a tough act to follow trying fill the shoes of Obama.
No comments:
Post a Comment