Once again, as a nation, we need to be rational, and acknowledge the greateness of our President and not cheapen ourselves because we are Republican, or something else. Let's be honest and give credit to the man.
Mike Ghouse
President Obama graces the cover of the latest issue of Rolling Stone.
http://www.lovebscott.com/news/rolling-stone-names-president-obama-one-of-the-most-successful-presidents-in-american-history
In the mag, Nobel Prize- winning economist Paul Krugman wrote an amazing piece in defense of President Obama’s presidency.
Mainstream media is often quick to point out President Obama’s
perceived failures during his tenure, so it’s refreshing to see a
publication highlight his many accomplishments — especially because
President Obama’s approval rating is currently the lowest it’s ever been
(according to CNBC).
Krugman declares President Obama as one of the “one of the most
consequential and, yes, successful presidents in American history” and
acknowledges the harsh and often unfair criticism he endures.
Obama faces trash talk left, right
and center – literally – and doesn’t deserve it. Despite bitter
opposition, despite having come close to self-inflicted disaster, Obama
has emerged as one of the most consequential and, yes, successful
presidents in American history. His health reform is imperfect but still
a huge step forward – and it’s working better than anyone expected.
Financial reform fell far short of what should have happened, but it’s
much more effective than you’d think. Economic management has been
half-crippled by Republican obstruction, but has nonetheless been much
better than in other advanced countries. And environmental policy is
starting to look like it could be a major legacy.
I’ll go through those achievements
shortly. First, however, let’s take a moment to talk about the current
wave of Obama-bashing. All Obama-bashing can be divided into three
types. One, a constant of his time in office, is the onslaught from the
right, which has never stopped portraying him as an Islamic atheist
Marxist Kenyan. Nothing has changed on that front, and nothing will.
There’s a different story on the
left, where you now find a significant number of critics decrying Obama
as, to quote Cornel West, someone who ”posed as a progressive and turned
out to be counterfeit.” They’re outraged that Wall Street hasn’t been
punished, that income inequality remains so high, that ”neoliberal”
economic policies are still in place. All of this seems to rest on the
belief that if only Obama had put his eloquence behind a radical
economic agenda, he could somehow have gotten that agenda past all the
political barriers that have con- strained even his much more modest
efforts. It’s hard to take such claims seriously.
Finally, there’s the constant
belittling of Obama from mainstream pundits and talking heads. Turn on
cable news (although I wouldn’t advise it) and you’ll hear endless talk
about a rudderless, stalled administration, maybe even about a failed
presidency. Such talk is often buttressed by polls showing that Obama
does, indeed, have an approval rating that is very low by historical
standards.
But this bashing is misguided even in its own terms – and in any case, it’s focused on the wrong thing.
As far as that low approval rating is concerned, Krugman attributes
most of it to the President’s accomplishments and efforts towards the
betterment of the American people.
Yes, Obama has a low approval rating
compared with earlier presidents. But there are a number of reasons to
believe that presidential approval doesn’t mean the same thing that it
used to: There is much more party-sorting (in which Republicans never,
ever have a good word for a Democratic president, and vice versa), the
public is negative on politicians in general, and so on. Obviously the
midterm election hasn’t happened yet, but in a year when Republicans
have a huge structural advantage – Democrats are defending a
disproportionate number of Senate seats in deep-red states – most
analyses suggest that control of the Senate is in doubt, with Democrats
doing considerably better than they were supposed to. This isn’t what
you’d expect to see if a failing president were dragging his party down.
More important, however, polls – or
even elections – are not the measure of a president. High office
shouldn’t be about putting points on the electoral scoreboard, it should
be about changing the country for the better. Has Obama done that? Do
his achievements look likely to endure? The answer to both questions is
yes.
Paul goes on to discuss President
Obama’s impact on the economy, healthcare reform, national security,
financial reform, and the environment. It’s a lengthy read, but it
really helps shift things into perspective.
[via The YBF]
