Trump’s seriousness about keeping his promises will determine Obama’s ultimate legacy.
As the curtain begins to fall on Barack Obama’s time in the White House, the time to assess his true legacy is at hand.
And no, this won’t be fawning liberal media “fake news,” not-so-cleverly disguised as analysis. Nor will this be a conservative polemic, either, because Obama’s legacy is more complicated than that.
See, the truth of the matter is there’s no way Donald Trump would be taking the oath of office on January 20th if it weren’t for Obama, and this initial assessment has nothing to do with the backlash against his policies (although that is a factor we will discuss in a moment). However, the conditions which gave birth to Obama’s political rise set three precedents that a man such as Trump needed established beforehand, if he ever dreamed of going from vanity candidate to president of these United States:
- Confirmation that nothing is more powerful in this day and age than the cult of personality/celebrity. Not issues, not ideology, not integrity, nor anything else.
- The power of social media.
- That you don’t have to win a majority of the American people to win, but a majority of the American people who actually vote.
Just as Obama used the cult of personality/celebrity to build a base of support impervious to critical analysis, so has Trump. Just as social media was key to Obama establishing his identity and connecting with his audience, so it is with Trump. Just as Obama found people who were his voters — if not reliable voters for his political party to reshape the electorate — so did Trump.
In many ways, Trump’s victory last November is more than the result of Obama’s presidency — it’s an homage to it. It remains to be seen if Trump is able to get re-elected the same way as Obama did. As well as avoid disappointing legions of admirers if he’s unable to meet their expectations to solve all their problems, the same way Obama did. For there are many Americans feeling left behind, who once were inspired by “Hope and Change” but now want to “Make America Great Again.”
In fact, this duality exists throughout Obama’s legacy.
A recent Gallup Poll shows that Americans gained ground the most during the Obama years in the areas of Rainbow Jihad propaganda and global warming scams. But in nearly all of the 16 other policy areas surveyed, Americans viewed their country as having taken steps backward. Not forward, as Obama promised us.
This is why Democrats aren’t a true national party at the moment. The areas they are making progress in aren’t exactly ‘high-traffic’ ones for most Americans. When Hillary Clinton was able to secure electoral victory in only roughly 15 percent of the nation’s counties, it tells you just how wide a swath of America they have alienated.
Not to mention the fact the party is at its lowest level of office-holders since before the Great Depression. And let’s face it, that’s not because Republicans have won some kind of existential showdown, because Republicans tend to run and hide from such confrontations. Rather, backlash against Obama’s policies produced this Democrat purge all on its own.
Clearly, eight years of progressive wish-casting has taken its toll on ordinary Americans.
Most of the country’s take on Obama’s legacy is actually nothing short of dire. The Americans who say the federal debt is worse than it was eight years ago outpace those who don’t by 36 percent. In the area of crime, that gap is 35 percent. The net gap between the rich and the poor is worse by 34 percent. And even race relations — the very thing we were finally going to put behind us with the election of Obama — is viewed as worse than eight years ago by a net of 27 percent.
So to sum up, we are dead broke, and we care about one another a lot less.
Allow me to go on, though, because who doesn’t enjoy laying bare the disemboweling of a once great nation? The situation in Iraq is viewed as worse by a net 22 percent; terrorism by 21 percent; the U.S.’ position in the world by 19 percent; immigration by 18 percent; the situation in Afghanistan by 12 percent; taxes by 11 percent; national defense/military by 9 percent; education by 8 percent; and trade relations by 4 percent.
Clearly, eight years of progressive wish-casting has taken its toll on ordinary Americans.
Yet while it’s tempting to fast forward to Friday’s inaugural address and put a period on Obama’s legacy right here, again the dual-nature of his presidency forbids it.
One of the smartest things I’ve heard a politician say the last few years is when Rick Santorum once told me this: “If back in 2009, when they were forcing Obamacare down our throats, if Obama could see what this would cost his party politically in the future he would still do it. Because it would be worth the power and control.”
Yes, progressives don’t like to lose, but they also define losing differently than we do. We tend to define it simply by the result at the ballot box, as if all is right with the world provided Team GOP has scoreboard. Meanwhile, they primarily define it by moving the fulcrum of political/cultural power to the Left — by hook or by crook, whether through public office or public education, pop culture, media, etc.
And it is there that Obama has succeeded beyond anything the Left could’ve fever dreamed when he first took the oath eight years ago. Which is also why it’s impossible to downplay Obama’s legacy despite how it decimated his party. Until we know how much the new regime is truly prepared to undo how Obama decimated the country.
