Why barack obama is a bad president

In the near-term, he brought stability to the economy, to the job market, to the housing market, to the auto industry and to the banks. And then the question is in the longer term what have you left for the future that will be remembered by historians years from now. Some of that will depend on what happens to health care. People will see enormous progress in the lives of gay people, and a president helps sometimes those cultural changes take place or at least he gets credit when it happens.

In terms of foreign policy, he ended combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. How did that affect the Middle East? And I suspect one of the signature international agreements was the climate change agreement in Paris, which would be a marker perhaps of the first time the world really took action together to slow climate change.

The question will be what happens to that agreement now again under Trump. Syria will probably be a problem for him. James Grossman, executive director of the American Historical Association:. Ranking presidents requires a certain amount of hubris, if not arrogance.

I take seriously historian E. The leader of the opposing party declared that the highest priority—more important than the public good—was to make sure Obama would not be reelected. This imperative failed, but the racism that runs so deep in American culture was unleashed as it had not been for two generations.

The bandages have been ripped off the sores, which are now open and festering in public culture. Was Obama then a failure? In the Republicans appeared bankrupt as a governing party having embarked on one of the major foreign policy fiascos in American history the Iraq War and the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Instead of focusing on jobs and pocketbook issues and hammering home for the voters the many failures of the Republican program, within just two years the Republicans won back both Houses of Congress. Further, instead of taking strong action to address the causes of the financial crisis Obama turned around and appointed people from the Clinton administration who had played some early role in setting the stage for the crisis in opposing regulation of derivatives. It is not hard to understand the popular discontent that this engendered.

As a result, during the Obama years the Democratic Party lost 1, elected positions across the country down to the state level as well as majorities in Congress. The election of Donald Trump as his successor was the final blow. This article is written out of disappointment, not denunciation. Obama — despite the divisiveness and vitriol that the right projected on him — sought to be a uniter and a healer.

In another era, perhaps in which compromise rather than confrontation was the order of the day, he could have been a great president, rather than merely a competent but conventional president. During his tenure the economy recovered from the brink, no troops were committed to new disastrous wars, he did attempt to address the problem of the large number of people who lacked health insurance and he conducted himself with the dignity that the office deserves.

However, the large electoral vote majorities that propelled him into office had different expectations of what he would do in office and the nation required something more. Cable TV, by contrast, remained among the most helpful sources for all other adults.

In , relatively few Americans said they got their news through social media or via a smartphone or other mobile device. By , six-in-ten Americans said they got their news through social media and seven-in-ten said they accessed it through a mobile device.

Print newspapers continued a long-term decline, with sharp cuts in newspaper staffing and a severe dip in average circulation. Newspaper editorial staff in the U. While television remains a major source of news for Americans, there are signs of change. Viewership of local TV newscasts has been flat or declining for years, depending on the time of day.

Overall, Americans remained extremely wary of the news media. Nearly three-quarters said in a separate survey that the news media are biased. But for all the skepticism facing the media, Americans continued to value the watchdog functions of the press. While the election may be one for the history books, looking ahead requires equal measures of caution and humility, particularly when it comes to politics and public policy.

It remains to be seen, for example, whether Donald Trump will push forward on some of his highest-profile campaign priorities, such as constructing a wall on the U. On some of his priorities, Trump appears to have the support of the public; on others, he appears to be out of step with public sentiment.

Either way, history suggests that opinion can change significantly as general proposals move to concrete legislation. Still, there are certain bigger trends we know are going to continue and others that show no signs of reversing.

Americans seem to expect major changes: More than six-in-ten, for example, believe that within 50 years, robots or computers will do much of the work that is currently done by humans.

The demographic changes that have taken hold across the U. The nation as a whole will turn grayer and its racial and ethnic diversification is expected to continue: In less than 40 years, the U. The foreign policy challenges facing this politically fractured nation seem endless, from Russia and China to terrorism and the environment.

At home, financial prosperity — even stability — feels increasingly out of reach to many Americans: Today, far more people are pessimistic than optimistic about life for the next generation of Americans. Yet the United States enters this uncertain new era with undeniable, if often overlooked, strengths. Republicans and Democrats, for example, differ dramatically over whether the nation has gotten more or less powerful as a global leader over the past decade, but majorities in both parties say the U.

And most Americans say that one of the hallmarks of U. It is tempting to believe that the pace of change in the U.

As significant as the current moment of transition is, however, only the passage of time can reveal the trends that will truly have lasting importance. Michael Dimock is the president of Pew Research Center, where he leads a domestic and international research agenda to explain public attitudes, demographic changes and other trends over time.

A political scientist by training, Dimock has been at the Center since and has co-authored several of its landmark research reports, including studies of trends in American political and social values and a groundbreaking examination of political polarization within the American public. Fresh data delivered Saturday mornings. About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world.

It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. A report by the Committee to Protect Journalists documents case after case of whistleblowers being punished and public documents being kept from the public. The unknown: If the deal struck with Iran by the U. If it also achieves what Obama envisions — establishing a Middle East balance of power that yields stability and a less radical Tehran — it will be a triumph for the ages.

If the Precision Medicine Initiative the president launched with his State of the Union speech lives up to its promise, it could radically reduce human misery and increase life expectancy.

Eric Topol of the San Diego-based Scripps Research Institute is co-leader of the project , which is built on the idea that tailoring treatments to individuals based on their genetic makeup and health histories makes far more sense than a one-size-fits-all approach. If it succeeds, it will be remembered as akin to the Manhattan Project for medicine. But an administration has so many duties that it is hard to fathom anyone declaring a president to be a total success or an utter failure.

Twitter: sdutIdeas. Facebook: UTOpinion. Opinion: Feds finally act on Tijuana sewage mess. Now they also need to address long border delays. Opinion: U. Caution took a toll. Opinion: San Diego got tougher on air pollution this week. Americans reacted with joy to the discovery of a vaccine for polio. COVID has killed far more people. Safe shots should be embraced. As with attempts to oust Gov.