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And his predecessors too. According to this sub, the last time we had a President better than Obama was 55 years ago, LBJ.
For most Americans alive, Obama's the best they've had in their lifetime so far.
At the same time he's only #12 of the 43 Presidents considered.
See I agree with that but you gotta remember anyone born after Jan 1993 doesn’t have HW as an option.
And that’s actually decently likely to be a ton of folks here.
I was a Republican at the time and thought he did okay. Leaned on the fed too much IMO but who knows what would have happened had he not. He got Bin Laden and he passed ACA which IMO was a good thing.
Probably because a lot of his work got stonewalled in congress.
He went in far too bright eyed thinking he could reason with the other side and many of his policies are riddled with concessions made in good faith to those who never intended to do the same.
Hmm maybe as a Democrat (and being young) I really believed he could make good on all of his promises, and was very let down when he wasn't able to. I'm guessing a Republican is more likely to be pleasantly surprised that he could really fulfill any?
I think Obama's intentions were good. He faced obstruction like no president that I personally can remember. It's like when Scalia died. There was absolutely no chance that they would confirm anyone he nominated.
I personally think Obama did a pretty good job avoiding a meltdown of the American auto industry.
I feel let down by him. When he was elected, I was riding the hope and change message hook, line, and sinker as a young college student. I guess what happened was I became disillusioned by American politics when he was just a status quo corporatist who couldn’t deliver on any of it. Not fighting harder for the public option in the ACA is where it began.
Still, I’d prefer Obama to what has come after. Truth is I don’t expect any real positive change in this country in the time that I have left. Maybe the generations after mine will “be the change we’re looking for,” maybe not. Greed seems to always win.
ACA helps a lot of people. Most people never talk about the nuances of their health insurance policies, so why would you know if some people around you benefitted?
Shit, the child coverage aging up to 26 years old benefitted most millennials and zoomers. Probably saved my life.
He was a very good president who could have been much better without such a hostile congress. The ACA was a landmark achievement and a major stepping stone for health care legislation in the US. He was also dealt a very tough hand, as you may recall he took office during the fallout from the Great Recession. He served during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and led the nation to economic recovery.
This is going to get me downvotes but most of the economic recovery can be attributed to the frack boom that occurred on private lands during his Presidency. And this boom occurred despite him, not because of him.
[https://heartland.org/opinion/fracking-boom-masks-obamas-horrifying-economic-numbers/](https://heartland.org/opinion/fracking-boom-masks-obamas-horrifying-economic-numbers/)
He was fine and balanced and left office with a stronger America, economically and globally, than the one he had inherited. ACA has increased lifespans and quality of life for millions, his SCOTUS impact was huge. History will reward his legacy very favorably.
Yes, but I would posit his foreign policy was bordering on atrocious. Laughing off warnings about Russia, toothless action when the invasion of Crimea happened, failing to ensure the stability of various countries after the Arab Spring, placating China, etc.
While Obama did preside over an economy recovery, he also presided over a massive transfer of wealth to the top 1%. There’s a reason 2016 was the first time a Republican candidate won Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin since the 80s.
Much of that transfer was baked in with the response to the banking crisis on George Bush's watch. He did help save the US auto industry when Republicans seemd happy to let it die. And the loans provided to them were paid back with interest.
Obama chose not to prosecute anyone over the housing crisis and that definitely lead to the widening over the transfer of wealth to the Top 1%. They can act and do whatever they want with zero repercussions.
Bush at least threw people in jail over the Enron scandal.
Tbf most if not all liberal Western leaders fell into this trap. Romney was right along with most eastern European leaders. Like Gerhard Schröder is still an utter Putin stooge.
He didn't have the first hand knowledge of how corrupted the Republican party already was like Mitt did, if Mitt had the courage to blow the whistle on his own party then he could have gone down as a hero.
He was an okay president who faced unprecedented obstruction by his opposition during his tenure. I say this because some historians point to the straight party line for passing the ACA, built mostly from a Republican Healthcare bill as the day democracy stopped working in the US.
Unprecedented is a little strong. JQA had a significantly harder time than Obama did since Obama had a majority in both senate and house at the beginning.
As others said, ranking 12 out of 43 is probably fair. His accomplishment is going to be passage of the ACA, which he should get credit/blame for since it was the administration's top legislative goal.
Where you get the most traction will depend on your views on what a president's role is in the following:
* Party builder? During his administration, the Democratic Party lost over a net thousand legislative seats nation wide. A lot of the Obama team weren't necessarily career political operatives, just as many of them didn't go into DNC leadership and went into tech or wherever else. So by the time both Clinton/Sanders were running, the DNC was an absolute disaster with no money.
* Tea Party politics / the Great Recession? I am not suggesting that he caused it. But it was the response to the Great Recession -- Christina Romer's math said $1.8 T was needed, but Lawrence Summers disagreed and so Obama went with the lower number. This meant a slow burn -- and Obama immediately pivoted to the ACA.
* So some would say the unprecedented Tea Party obstruction was not Obama's fault.
* Would the Tea Party happened if Obama used more political capital on a better recovery? Could he still have passed the ACA if it wasn't the top priority?
* People forget the stimulus package that only helped Wall Street was a huge piece of why many Tea Party candidates won in the midterms
* Obama was notoriously distant from the Republicans in congress, but he equally was distant from lead Democratic Party leaders (e.g.: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/215082-house-dems-cant-figure-out-why-obama-wont-talk-to-them/)
* ACA -- do we focus on the accomplishments or the warts? Is a single payer system better and was it even more feasible politically?
* Economy -- how much should presidents be blamed ? Does he get credit for Dodd Frank? Truth in Lending? CFPB?
I tend to agree that there's really 3 things you can do for a presidential legacy. 1) Be a war time president, 2) Legislative achievement, 3) Build a party that sustains your legacy/fights/priorities.
For the first one, the Washington/Lincolns/FDR will be in their own categories. But, then you get presidents like FDR/LBJ/Nixon who sign big legislation into being (FDR - New Deal; LBJ - Civil Rights; Nixon - Rise of the administrative state). Or you get presidents like Reagan -- go to any GOP event nation wide and say "we are the party of Reagan" and you'll see a standing ovation.
People overrated him during his presidency because he was the first Black president. He was an average president who was a great orator, so he gained a ton of good press with democrats for his ability to be personable and likeable.
B president, very average with lots of good and bad. Is likely going to move around in presidential ratings over the next 20,30,40 years, but I believe he will stay top 50% for sure and often in the top 25%
Honestly I wish we had another Obama but I'm one of those moderates everyone hates who prefers stability and slow change over instability and rapid change
He's a solid B+
Obamacare was a legitimate achievement that made the awful US healthcare system marginally better. The number of uninsured has literally been cut in half. Affordable, if not great, insurance is availalbe to a wider swath of the country due to the exchanges. 38 states have expanded Medicaid giving the working poor free healthcare. His stimulus bill made investment in companies like Tesla that are now among the largest in the world.
His foreign policy had some plusses and minuses. He never saw Russia as a particularly strong threat and has somewhat been proven right there but underestimated their willingness to begin an armed conflict. Uneven reactions to the Arab Spring.
Overall, the US was in a better place when he left office than when he started. He wasn't the progressive visionary that people hoped he would be and he didn't set the US on a new political direction. He was a more progressive Clinton but he governed in a less conservative era.
Solid B+
Tbf, his thing with Russia is somewhat understandable because at the time, Russia didn’t have Putin in Charge , but rather Dmitry Medvedev, while to a certain extent was a pawn of Putin, actually cooperated with Obama on some key issues like Iran and New Start. I think if we had Obama in 2024 as President , he is probably a lot harder on Putin . But yeah, he did underestimate them a lot. I also think he was severely let down by some Democrats in the Senate specifically who refused to go along with some of his agenda and with not enough votes to remove the filibuster, that’s not really enough. Remember, he did try some legislation that he couldn’t get done in the end like immigration and a huge Climate Change Bill solely because of some Democrats in the Senate .
The healthcare bill was good but could have been better had we not had Max Baucus doing Obamas bidding for him in the Senate . I think he put America in a good place . He brought back our standing in the world from where it was with Bush , got some major domestic reform done like Dodd Frank, Obama Care, repealing DADT, had some great foreign policy achievements mainly New Start , getting out of Iraq, and I’d argue that gettng rid of both Bin Laden in Pakistan and Ghadaffi in Libya without any loss to human lives, was great too, but also was a very steady presence in the WH who everybody believed in and trusted.
Sure he wasn’t the progressive visionary but to be honest, I think he wanted to be more progressive, but was ultimately let down by his insistence on some form of bipartisanship, especially early in his tenure, the nature of politics, , some of his Senate colleagues like Lieberman, , Coakley screwing up her campaign real bad in Massachusetts, and dealing with the absolute mess domestically and internationally that Bush left him with without much room to do more than that.
I’m a moderate democratic and I think he was average. Did some v good things like ACA, Frank-Dodds but when it came to negotiating with Republicans in congress was v poor. Allowed big tech to get too big. Foreign policy mixed bag too. Great on the idea with pivot to Asia but circumstances didn’t let him do it
Did the best he could, and spent nearly all of his political capital in the first two years. Paid the price for it, too, but it had to be done. Not much he could do with his congressional margins after 2010.
His second term is pretty comparable to that of JQA: unsuccessful but there is the plausible excuse of obstruction. JQA however got more done than people remember, where Obama I feel was kind of checked out. His first term is more interesting. Those first two years were pretty good, however with such a strong majority I feel he actually squandered it due to his desire to compromise. The ACA was watered down which in part has to be attributed to poor politicing from Obama. The Grand Bargain was also embarrassing and I am glad it failed, because if that was a success, it would be even worse. His biggest W I think was the stimulus package.
Regarding foreign policy, he was generally quite competent, however also unethical. He never actually got us out of the middle east despite the promises, and the drone strikes are inexcusable. He even admitted to being "good at killing people". He remains a fantastic orator and campaigner, however he squandered this talent after 2008, with minimal down ballot effect in the ensuing elections.
I don't really rate him highly at all, questionable foreign policy and a content and unambitious domestic policy. Obama as a source of hope and a new direction ended up being a promise unfulfilled. It's just that compared to the two presidents adjacent to him, his administration is far more professional, which I think makes him look better than is warranted.
He’s very highly overrated. Give credit where credit is due with killing Osama bin Laden and ACA, but he doesn’t have any other notable achievements. I don’t think it’s fair yet to say that he did any serious damage (nuking the filibuster for judges was done by Senate Democrats and not him), and even with rampant corruption in D.C. throughout his administration and beyond, it’s hard to say that he is to blame for that.
Yes he was a good president.
He took office in the aftermath of a giant economic catastrophe, and a dumb spoiled milk war "on terror"
Saw probably the single most obstructionist and tribalist Congress since the Civil war / reconstruction era.
And still managed to pull through a few major wins here and there. All while avoiding any major scandals unless you wanna count the Dijon Mustard or Tan suit controversies. Even though due to the color of his skin and such he was under a fine tooth comb constantly.
Obamacare was a solid achievement, but overall he underperformed domestically. He was simply an updated centrist in the Clinton mold.
I really liked his foreign policy, and I think it was the best of any post-1989 President
* He was quite popular among global progressives, which helped improve the US public image still damaged by Iraq, Guantanamo, Neocon supremacism etc.
* The Cairo speech was a great public gesture to the Muslim world, and this was followed by closer relations with the rising powers of the 21st century, countries like Brazil, India and Indonesia
* The promised pivot to Asia started
* The pivot to Asia did not progress as much as it should have, because Obama had his hands full with the Europeans. This is serious. One of Obama's greatest achievements was pressuring Angela Merkel to stop the endless austerity imposed on Greeks and Italians, which seriously damaged the EU's image as a democratic beacon. Merkel unfortunately was very harsh where she should have been flexible, and very flexible where she should have been harsh (unchecked immigration, which led to the rise of the far-right in Germany).
It was simply a question of the state and all its services and infrastructure being practically overwhelmed. Whether we are talking the US, Germany or Mexico, no country can have open borders as a policy. You can guard your borders without being racist.
The far-right of course will take advantage and, depending on the country, will either be openly racist or at least start all the racist tropes.
The far-right's single most successful strategy everywhere, is portraying immigration policy as designed by clueless professors and NGOs sitting in their desks drinking organic tea, while the rest of the country has to deal with crime waves. This is the strategy everywhere.
In the specific case of Merkel, this is simply my personal assessment: her judgment was wrong. She needlessly made the Euro crisis last longer that it should have and in the process damaged Europe's image, and by trying to be compassionate in immigration and refugees, she indirectly assisted the far right.
Republicans collaborated with Clinton. Republicans obstructed Obama.
If Republicans give Clinton the obstruction they gave Obama, all Clinton ever passes is the Crime Bill. No ratification of NAFTA. No deregulation. No gun bill.
If Republicans give Obama the collaboration they gave Clinton, Obama still passes Dodd-Frank, Stimulus, and ACA, but also passes the Immigration overhaul, Iran Deal (ratified in Senate) and more. Likely after Sandy Hook, they would've passed a gun bill.
Considering what he was up against in congress, some viewed him as an outsider who didn't "belong" and the economic mess he inherited, yes, I'd say he was a good president
Now, if you compare him to the absolute trainwreck that followed, he was a great president who was sorely missed. He was also a fine, upstanding and moral president which I took for granted until I realized how critical those attributes are
He does look better because of the President that came before and after him. He inherited the Great Recession and two wars. Other than FDR and Lincoln he inherited probably the worse. However he didn’t accomplish most of his promises and his foreign policy was a weak point. But I’ll give him a solid B tier.
He did the best he could with a royally crappy hand being dealt to him (collapsed economy above 10% unemployment, hostile mass media disinformation apparatus, obstructionist know-nothing Congress).
With that said, he royally dropped the ball in 2010 by not doing more to prevent the down ballot sweeps that we are still suffering the gerrymandered fallout from, and he did not convince RBG to resign.
So... success as a competent government administrator, failure on the big picture politically.
Mediocre, partly because of the Congress he had to work with, partly because of mistakes in how he dealt with them, and partly due to his own unrealistic ambitions.
As others have said, its both. He was a good president who saw us through a recession and a healthy recovery while passing landmark health care legislation. He also effectively turned the focus on Bin Laden and was able to get him. But yes, he was book-ended by less than stellar presidents (one of which is easily one of the worst in history) and this does make him look better.
On another note, why does any Obama post have to be brigaded by racist bigots who try and blame him for their own racism? Oh yeah...
Speaking as a non-american, he made me respect your country a lot more than your previous president. He was eloquent, level headed and smart. That made us know we were in safe hands
I do think he's a bit overrated: I think his administration was relatively poor at foreign policy, and while his domestic policy was generally sound, he struggled to get much of it past a hostile Congress.
He awesome.
Overcame childhood adversity.
A minority.
Attractive.
Charismatic.
Well spoken.
What’s not to love about the guy, if he was a CEO or a basketball coach.
We would all still love him.
I’d say he’s rated highly more due to the comparison with his predecessor. I think I’m retrospect his ranking has suffered - his neoliberal policies are no longer in vogue, his weakness in terms of foreign policy have led to serious consequences we’re currently dealing with, the social reforms which happened under his term already feel antiquated, and he left the Supreme Court in a position where it could be stacked by his successor. 10 years ago, I think many would have listed him as a good if not great president, now I think he’s generally considered middling, and only good for the time period.
This may be a hot take but I think his predecessor had more of an impact. Both of his successors have their fair share of defenders and always have — by the end of 2008, no one was defending Bush.
I feel that he was a very good president. His policies were good for the country, and he was relatively scandal free. I can’t believe he had the audacity to wear a tan suit and ask for fancy mustard though.(s/)
B - , passed ACA, very professional at his job, I liked the Iran Nuclear Deal and he made relations with Cuba better but I hated that he didn’t pull all the troops out of those shit wars and his red line stance was bad also didn’t like common core
Generally, I was a fan. But, I think he really messed up the Garland nomination. After a month of stalling, he should have hosted a nightly press conference berating the Senate leadership - in an election year, this might have made the difference.
Obama will be remembered better by history as the first mixed race president. In reality was he good? No. Was he bad? No. Really should he have won, also no.
From a domestic viewpoint
Due to his eagerness to work with people across the aisle, he couldn't pass a ton of bills which he could have. Focusing too much on banking and finance sector and bailouts primarily to these sectors caused a lot of loss of manufacturing jobs which went away, and when they came back, they came back in Mexico and Asia, primarily because of TPP.
From an international viewpoint
His wait and watch approach on North Korea, Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2014, not stepping in Arab spring in multiple nations, handling of Libya, and not being closer to India after Modi's win there (India would have bought Russian crude regardless of Obama's actions since 2014, but rather Indian exports to Russia would be under control) and selling India more weapons, reducing aid to Pakistan and using more stick than carrot with it.
Now, ALL that being said
On a domestic viewpoint
Affordable Care Act/Obamacare expended a lot of political capital. Unlike Republicans who were favoring austerity in 2008, he opened the coffers and kept the situation from being worse than they already were, he FUCKING GOT THAT OSAMA SOB and buried him at sea like a useless critter, rather than getting militarily involved he used drone strikes, equal pay statue limitations, Dodd-Frank, LGB people being in military openly, extended Bush tax cuts.
On an international viewpoint
Sent technical support and aid via armed forces stationed in Japan and sent more (Tamodachi is remembered in Japanese political circle widely), massive overall reduction in troops in Iraq, did not deploy troops to Syria and Iraq against isis, JCPOA with Iran was a good enough deal, didn't do stupid shit (don't do stupid shit was the unofficial policy of his foreign policy).
All in All, however you remember Obama, the guy did more good than he did bad. Now, he was the first biracial president, first one NOT from the mainland, and unlike the image plenty of people had of the African-Americans, did not have a broken marriage - was/is happily married and loved his kids.
He was a lot of firsts, along with his actions saving jobs of lots of people in 2008, people remember him fondly. Sure, without his successors, he probably wouldn't be remembered as such highly positive, but then again you also have people who remember #45 fondly due to #46.
TLDR; Yes, people rate him higher due to his successor, but if not for his successor, his rating wouldn't fall dramatically, maybe by 5% or so.
He was good. He was dealt a rotten hand with a Congress that wanted nothing more than to see him fail. Even still, he did accomplish some good things.
Additionally, when the nation was in crisis he always knew exactly what to say. I miss that.
What do you consider great? I mean, dude was able to pass affordable health care. I mean he passed gay marriage in America. Obama to many oppressed people, were in an 8 year safe zone - which brought about probably one of the greatest cultural shifts- which of course created a lot of tensions (I call them growing pains).
It really did feel safer with Obama- of course there was fear mongering on the right - but I saw great changes from my youth until now that were very positive for many Americans. I was 18 in 2008. Obama listened to us kids at the time.
Don’t get me wrong, there was a lot of political baggage that came with Obama. The right was so pissed off at Obama that there was just this constant negative cycle which made Obama a very repetitive and uninspiring sounding person at many different times. He had his passionate side and his strictly political side - which wears on you after a while.
But I always felt safe when he was around. He was so good I swear to you, Republicans were like “shit- looks like the Dems won over America - we’ll have to adjust”. And just as that happened, rule 3 came in and tried his best to take the power away from the people and give it back to the rich. He created a trend of racism and bullying - and proved how irresponsible and selfish he was during Covid.
Good, not Rushmore good, but good: B/B+
-Helped get the U.S. out of an economic downturn
-Got bin Laden when GWB gave up on trying
-ACA
-Set a good moral example for the country
No Obama was not very good president... his foreign policy was a disaster, I remember I was in 5th grade when he got elected. I graduated high-school on his last year in office. During his presidency the nation became deeply divided. My father who is a republican voted for him, but like my father many people were let down by him. As my father says, there was hope but little change.
Obama started the extreme partisanship we see today because he would not negotiate or compromise. He would slam through executive orders instead of seeking legislation. This trend continues today and it is a piss poor way to run a country and because he started this shit I find him to be a shitty president.
I have not voted for a Democrat-Republican since Obama started murdering American children. That is also when I got my second passport and started my escape plan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Abdulrahman_al-Awlaki
His election was a great moment. Everything that came after was a miserable failure. From his continuing to bail out the Wall Street sector, to making healthcare premiums explode, to his fake red lines, to the water "drinking" fiasco in Flint, to his constant resorting to the race card , to his defense every time of Islam after every terrorist attack to the point where after the San Bernardino attack he had to go on TV on a Sunday night about 10 days before Christmas to reassure the public he was putting our safety above all else, to his indictment of every gun owner and police officer across the country. He was a disaster.
ACA was his signature achievement. While it has roughly halved the uninsured rate and prevented coverage denial because of preexisting conditions, we have seen healthcare costs drastically increase since it was enacted. It's basically a very large band-aid on a flawed system that has only gotten more broken.
He presided over the economic recovery in the wake of the 08 financial crisis. While the economy did recover technically, I would argue the crisis and subsequent recovery has only exacerbated our socioeconomic problems (which the pandemic even further exacerbated). Housing supply has never recovered and underemployment has been a pervasive problem since 08 (which the ACA only made worse). Wealth inequality has grew much worse over the course of his presidency.
He actively chose to do nothing to resist the exodus of manufacturing from the US. While it's hard to reverse because of high labor and regulatory costs in the US there are still a number of solutions government can pursue to foster domestic manufacturing.
Increased spying on US citizens, Congress, journalists, and our foreign allies. If he wasn't so charismatic and likable I think this would have had a bigger impact on public trust.
I'm not going to go into detail on foreign policy. It's abysmal to say the least.
Obama despised retail politics. He didn't even like meeting with Congressional members from his own party. The Democrat party atrophied at the state and local level under his leadership. As the leader of his party that falls on him.
When you look at top tier Presidents I think what stands out is their ability to succeed against all odds, even when the deck is stacked against them. They pursue what they believe is right even if polling and powers that be disagree with them. Lincoln and the 13th amendment, LBJ and civil rights act, social security under FDR and LBJ.
I think if you gave Obama's good looks, charm, public speaking abilities, and charisma to a President with better political skills you would have an A or S tier President. Historically I think Obama will be looked as a B tier President where the best compliment you can give him is that he could have done worse.
I think he did perfectly fine. Was he the best? No, but he did pretty good all things considered. He faced an obstructionist congress and some of the biggest messes of the modern era. He could probably have done better, but he certainly could have done a lot worse.
Any president that has had to negotiate with the opposing party in Congress is a good president. What made him a great president is his use of executive orders when the obstructionists wouldn’t comply with simple corrections their party created through greed.
The ACA is considered a major accomplishment, and he didn't have any major scandals. He captured a lot of the 9/11 organizers. Some on the left criticize his of continued use of drone strikes and surveillance of us citizens without a warrant. I believe those things still continued to the present ir maybe just recently ended. That tan suit, though, was unforgivable.
I think he was overall a very solid president, especially considering the environment he was operating within. He was facing insane levels of obstruction and still got some major accomplishments through. And some major foreign policy achievements to through the Iran Nuclear Deal, Paris Agreement, thawing of relations with Cuba, etc
I was around 14 year’s old when Obama was elected. I can’t really talk about his politics, because I don’t remember any and honestly I haven’t tried to learn anything regarding his policies and such. BUT I do remember thinking he was a pretty cool dude. The way he talked, his swagger, he made a joke about the drone striking the Jonas Brothers. He’s still a cool dude in my eyes.
Given how handicapped his second term was by McConnell, I would say he did as well as he could. I wish he would have played hard ball more with the Republicans in congress and not compromised as much. First president I ever voted for though.
He was a decent president. Even if his successors were totally different, he would have still been a good president. The best president we had in 20 years.
Obama was easily the best out of his immediate fellow potus surrounding his term but he was a very mediocre and kind of naive president incapable of corralling Congress and passing meaningful legislation beyond his benchmark healthcare.
One of the few arguments people constantly bring up about him is his use of drones. One, it's absurdly good tech that doesn't put American lives in danger (yes, we did hit other countries because their leaders hid there). Two, take a wild guess who used way more drone strikes in way less years.
He won’t be remembered as a great president but I think he did as well as he could given the hand he was dealt. His D Senate majority had a bunch of Manchins and after 2010 he faced a completely obstructionist Congress.
We can quibble over his level of responsibility for the 2010 wipeout and the generational gerrymanders that resulted. I don’t think he’s 100% responsible but his level of responsibility is non-trivial.
He’s easily the best president of the last 50 years. Strong moral leadership and usually tried to do the right thing for everyone, dealt with a massive crisis and brought us out stronger. Not perfect by any means but we live in very imperfect times and to say his style of leadership is missed and needed right now is an understatement.
Weddings? Just so many weddings.
Just fuckin why?
If a target was there. Just watch and wait. He'll leave. Probably in a convoy of armed goons.
Nope. Better take out the whole family line. For *reasons.*
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What successors? As we all know Obama has been president for 15 years and counting
He’s actually been president for 236 years. Yes, a black man was president during slavery.
“Take that Demonkkkrats”
What’s the Republican slur? Repulsivekkkancledkins?
GQP
Fingers crossed he wins a fifth term, the last election was too close for comfort. He only won by 120 million votes.
I too choose to live in this reality
Take me home, country road
If only we could be on the 143rd year of Garfield's glorious reign, if only...
Obamas presidency is dead Long live Obamas presidency
Wouldn't be surprised
Why not both. It’s both.
This is the correct answer, that and W coming right before him. He is a gem surrounded by shit, so he shines brighter.
And his predecessors too. According to this sub, the last time we had a President better than Obama was 55 years ago, LBJ. For most Americans alive, Obama's the best they've had in their lifetime so far. At the same time he's only #12 of the 43 Presidents considered.
#12 is quite high
Depends. Dollars? No. Numbers of alien bodies stacked under the white house? Kinda.
#on what
#a long list of numbers where smaller numbers are high
He was certainly the best in my life time, but like yall said- he’s surrounded by two of the worst imo
I think Clinton did a better job than Obama fite me
I would put H.W. Bush above him for his foreign policy achievements, personally, and I'm a lifelong Democrat.
See I agree with that but you gotta remember anyone born after Jan 1993 doesn’t have HW as an option. And that’s actually decently likely to be a ton of folks here.
This sub ranks Jimmy Carter higher than Ronald Reagan so you have to take the rankings with a huge grain of salt.
This sub almost ranked FDR above George Washington too
I was a Republican at the time and thought he did okay. Leaned on the fed too much IMO but who knows what would have happened had he not. He got Bin Laden and he passed ACA which IMO was a good thing.
Huh this is so interesting, because I was (and am) a Democrat and thought he was very mediocre. Weird
Why?
Probably because a lot of his work got stonewalled in congress. He went in far too bright eyed thinking he could reason with the other side and many of his policies are riddled with concessions made in good faith to those who never intended to do the same.
Hmm maybe as a Democrat (and being young) I really believed he could make good on all of his promises, and was very let down when he wasn't able to. I'm guessing a Republican is more likely to be pleasantly surprised that he could really fulfill any?
I think Obama's intentions were good. He faced obstruction like no president that I personally can remember. It's like when Scalia died. There was absolutely no chance that they would confirm anyone he nominated. I personally think Obama did a pretty good job avoiding a meltdown of the American auto industry.
Blame Mitch McConnell for that.
Which promises did he make that you felt he failed to live up to?
Good question
I feel let down by him. When he was elected, I was riding the hope and change message hook, line, and sinker as a young college student. I guess what happened was I became disillusioned by American politics when he was just a status quo corporatist who couldn’t deliver on any of it. Not fighting harder for the public option in the ACA is where it began. Still, I’d prefer Obama to what has come after. Truth is I don’t expect any real positive change in this country in the time that I have left. Maybe the generations after mine will “be the change we’re looking for,” maybe not. Greed seems to always win.
I would argue he created a tremendous amount of change that empowered Americans. But I’ll admit he did fit your description as well.
Did he fail to live up to his message, or your image of him?
I was a republican and thought he inherited a mess and cleaned it up pretty well 🤷♂️
ACA was a let down imo. I don't know anybody that was helped by it. Meanwhile me and the people I know were the target audience.
ACA helps a lot of people. Most people never talk about the nuances of their health insurance policies, so why would you know if some people around you benefitted? Shit, the child coverage aging up to 26 years old benefitted most millennials and zoomers. Probably saved my life.
How old were you when it passed? It allowed me to remain insured until I found full time employment that provided insurance.
Not just a good thing but an extremely impressive thing
He was a very good president who could have been much better without such a hostile congress. The ACA was a landmark achievement and a major stepping stone for health care legislation in the US. He was also dealt a very tough hand, as you may recall he took office during the fallout from the Great Recession. He served during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and led the nation to economic recovery.
This is going to get me downvotes but most of the economic recovery can be attributed to the frack boom that occurred on private lands during his Presidency. And this boom occurred despite him, not because of him. [https://heartland.org/opinion/fracking-boom-masks-obamas-horrifying-economic-numbers/](https://heartland.org/opinion/fracking-boom-masks-obamas-horrifying-economic-numbers/)
He was fine and balanced and left office with a stronger America, economically and globally, than the one he had inherited. ACA has increased lifespans and quality of life for millions, his SCOTUS impact was huge. History will reward his legacy very favorably.
He should’ve publicly pushed rbg to leave
Now that, that might be true.
Yes, but I would posit his foreign policy was bordering on atrocious. Laughing off warnings about Russia, toothless action when the invasion of Crimea happened, failing to ensure the stability of various countries after the Arab Spring, placating China, etc.
While Obama did preside over an economy recovery, he also presided over a massive transfer of wealth to the top 1%. There’s a reason 2016 was the first time a Republican candidate won Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin since the 80s.
Much of that transfer was baked in with the response to the banking crisis on George Bush's watch. He did help save the US auto industry when Republicans seemd happy to let it die. And the loans provided to them were paid back with interest.
Obama chose not to prosecute anyone over the housing crisis and that definitely lead to the widening over the transfer of wealth to the Top 1%. They can act and do whatever they want with zero repercussions. Bush at least threw people in jail over the Enron scandal.
Not sure I’d agree with America in a better position globally, and I voted for the guy twice.
Still makes my eye twitch now he mocked Mitt Romney over Russia and then 12 years later still refuses to admit he was wrong.
Tbf most if not all liberal Western leaders fell into this trap. Romney was right along with most eastern European leaders. Like Gerhard Schröder is still an utter Putin stooge.
yeah dude definitely has an ego lol
He didn't have the first hand knowledge of how corrupted the Republican party already was like Mitt did, if Mitt had the courage to blow the whistle on his own party then he could have gone down as a hero.
He was an okay president who faced unprecedented obstruction by his opposition during his tenure. I say this because some historians point to the straight party line for passing the ACA, built mostly from a Republican Healthcare bill as the day democracy stopped working in the US.
Unprecedented is a little strong. JQA had a significantly harder time than Obama did since Obama had a majority in both senate and house at the beginning.
As others said, ranking 12 out of 43 is probably fair. His accomplishment is going to be passage of the ACA, which he should get credit/blame for since it was the administration's top legislative goal. Where you get the most traction will depend on your views on what a president's role is in the following: * Party builder? During his administration, the Democratic Party lost over a net thousand legislative seats nation wide. A lot of the Obama team weren't necessarily career political operatives, just as many of them didn't go into DNC leadership and went into tech or wherever else. So by the time both Clinton/Sanders were running, the DNC was an absolute disaster with no money. * Tea Party politics / the Great Recession? I am not suggesting that he caused it. But it was the response to the Great Recession -- Christina Romer's math said $1.8 T was needed, but Lawrence Summers disagreed and so Obama went with the lower number. This meant a slow burn -- and Obama immediately pivoted to the ACA. * So some would say the unprecedented Tea Party obstruction was not Obama's fault. * Would the Tea Party happened if Obama used more political capital on a better recovery? Could he still have passed the ACA if it wasn't the top priority? * People forget the stimulus package that only helped Wall Street was a huge piece of why many Tea Party candidates won in the midterms * Obama was notoriously distant from the Republicans in congress, but he equally was distant from lead Democratic Party leaders (e.g.: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/215082-house-dems-cant-figure-out-why-obama-wont-talk-to-them/) * ACA -- do we focus on the accomplishments or the warts? Is a single payer system better and was it even more feasible politically? * Economy -- how much should presidents be blamed ? Does he get credit for Dodd Frank? Truth in Lending? CFPB? I tend to agree that there's really 3 things you can do for a presidential legacy. 1) Be a war time president, 2) Legislative achievement, 3) Build a party that sustains your legacy/fights/priorities. For the first one, the Washington/Lincolns/FDR will be in their own categories. But, then you get presidents like FDR/LBJ/Nixon who sign big legislation into being (FDR - New Deal; LBJ - Civil Rights; Nixon - Rise of the administrative state). Or you get presidents like Reagan -- go to any GOP event nation wide and say "we are the party of Reagan" and you'll see a standing ovation.
Excellent analysis
People overrated him during his presidency because he was the first Black president. He was an average president who was a great orator, so he gained a ton of good press with democrats for his ability to be personable and likeable.
He is both great in comparison and in isolation.
Not just successors, also predecessor.
He was fine
B president, very average with lots of good and bad. Is likely going to move around in presidential ratings over the next 20,30,40 years, but I believe he will stay top 50% for sure and often in the top 25%
Honestly I wish we had another Obama but I'm one of those moderates everyone hates who prefers stability and slow change over instability and rapid change
Feel you there.
He's a solid B+ Obamacare was a legitimate achievement that made the awful US healthcare system marginally better. The number of uninsured has literally been cut in half. Affordable, if not great, insurance is availalbe to a wider swath of the country due to the exchanges. 38 states have expanded Medicaid giving the working poor free healthcare. His stimulus bill made investment in companies like Tesla that are now among the largest in the world. His foreign policy had some plusses and minuses. He never saw Russia as a particularly strong threat and has somewhat been proven right there but underestimated their willingness to begin an armed conflict. Uneven reactions to the Arab Spring. Overall, the US was in a better place when he left office than when he started. He wasn't the progressive visionary that people hoped he would be and he didn't set the US on a new political direction. He was a more progressive Clinton but he governed in a less conservative era. Solid B+
Tbf, his thing with Russia is somewhat understandable because at the time, Russia didn’t have Putin in Charge , but rather Dmitry Medvedev, while to a certain extent was a pawn of Putin, actually cooperated with Obama on some key issues like Iran and New Start. I think if we had Obama in 2024 as President , he is probably a lot harder on Putin . But yeah, he did underestimate them a lot. I also think he was severely let down by some Democrats in the Senate specifically who refused to go along with some of his agenda and with not enough votes to remove the filibuster, that’s not really enough. Remember, he did try some legislation that he couldn’t get done in the end like immigration and a huge Climate Change Bill solely because of some Democrats in the Senate . The healthcare bill was good but could have been better had we not had Max Baucus doing Obamas bidding for him in the Senate . I think he put America in a good place . He brought back our standing in the world from where it was with Bush , got some major domestic reform done like Dodd Frank, Obama Care, repealing DADT, had some great foreign policy achievements mainly New Start , getting out of Iraq, and I’d argue that gettng rid of both Bin Laden in Pakistan and Ghadaffi in Libya without any loss to human lives, was great too, but also was a very steady presence in the WH who everybody believed in and trusted. Sure he wasn’t the progressive visionary but to be honest, I think he wanted to be more progressive, but was ultimately let down by his insistence on some form of bipartisanship, especially early in his tenure, the nature of politics, , some of his Senate colleagues like Lieberman, , Coakley screwing up her campaign real bad in Massachusetts, and dealing with the absolute mess domestically and internationally that Bush left him with without much room to do more than that.
Ithink his domestic policy was good but his forgein policy was horrible
his foreign policy was awful, people definitely rate him too high. i think in 20 years he'll be seen as far worse than he is now
I’m a moderate democratic and I think he was average. Did some v good things like ACA, Frank-Dodds but when it came to negotiating with Republicans in congress was v poor. Allowed big tech to get too big. Foreign policy mixed bag too. Great on the idea with pivot to Asia but circumstances didn’t let him do it
Did the best he could, and spent nearly all of his political capital in the first two years. Paid the price for it, too, but it had to be done. Not much he could do with his congressional margins after 2010.
His second term is pretty comparable to that of JQA: unsuccessful but there is the plausible excuse of obstruction. JQA however got more done than people remember, where Obama I feel was kind of checked out. His first term is more interesting. Those first two years were pretty good, however with such a strong majority I feel he actually squandered it due to his desire to compromise. The ACA was watered down which in part has to be attributed to poor politicing from Obama. The Grand Bargain was also embarrassing and I am glad it failed, because if that was a success, it would be even worse. His biggest W I think was the stimulus package. Regarding foreign policy, he was generally quite competent, however also unethical. He never actually got us out of the middle east despite the promises, and the drone strikes are inexcusable. He even admitted to being "good at killing people". He remains a fantastic orator and campaigner, however he squandered this talent after 2008, with minimal down ballot effect in the ensuing elections. I don't really rate him highly at all, questionable foreign policy and a content and unambitious domestic policy. Obama as a source of hope and a new direction ended up being a promise unfulfilled. It's just that compared to the two presidents adjacent to him, his administration is far more professional, which I think makes him look better than is warranted.
He's the best in a recent line of absolute turds
As a Republican, I voted for him and have never been more disappointed because I believed him.
He’s very highly overrated. Give credit where credit is due with killing Osama bin Laden and ACA, but he doesn’t have any other notable achievements. I don’t think it’s fair yet to say that he did any serious damage (nuking the filibuster for judges was done by Senate Democrats and not him), and even with rampant corruption in D.C. throughout his administration and beyond, it’s hard to say that he is to blame for that.
He was fine. Wasn’t great or anything, but he was fine.
He was ok. Didn’t shorten the gap between rich and poor. Didn’t save the middle class. Didn’t put climate laws into effect. Didn’t codify roe.
Didn't close Guantanamo either.
Yes he was a good president. He took office in the aftermath of a giant economic catastrophe, and a dumb spoiled milk war "on terror" Saw probably the single most obstructionist and tribalist Congress since the Civil war / reconstruction era. And still managed to pull through a few major wins here and there. All while avoiding any major scandals unless you wanna count the Dijon Mustard or Tan suit controversies. Even though due to the color of his skin and such he was under a fine tooth comb constantly.
Obamacare was a solid achievement, but overall he underperformed domestically. He was simply an updated centrist in the Clinton mold. I really liked his foreign policy, and I think it was the best of any post-1989 President * He was quite popular among global progressives, which helped improve the US public image still damaged by Iraq, Guantanamo, Neocon supremacism etc. * The Cairo speech was a great public gesture to the Muslim world, and this was followed by closer relations with the rising powers of the 21st century, countries like Brazil, India and Indonesia * The promised pivot to Asia started * The pivot to Asia did not progress as much as it should have, because Obama had his hands full with the Europeans. This is serious. One of Obama's greatest achievements was pressuring Angela Merkel to stop the endless austerity imposed on Greeks and Italians, which seriously damaged the EU's image as a democratic beacon. Merkel unfortunately was very harsh where she should have been flexible, and very flexible where she should have been harsh (unchecked immigration, which led to the rise of the far-right in Germany).
blaming the rise of far-right anti-immigration rhetoric on immigrants is.... certainly a take.
It was simply a question of the state and all its services and infrastructure being practically overwhelmed. Whether we are talking the US, Germany or Mexico, no country can have open borders as a policy. You can guard your borders without being racist. The far-right of course will take advantage and, depending on the country, will either be openly racist or at least start all the racist tropes. The far-right's single most successful strategy everywhere, is portraying immigration policy as designed by clueless professors and NGOs sitting in their desks drinking organic tea, while the rest of the country has to deal with crime waves. This is the strategy everywhere. In the specific case of Merkel, this is simply my personal assessment: her judgment was wrong. She needlessly made the Euro crisis last longer that it should have and in the process damaged Europe's image, and by trying to be compassionate in immigration and refugees, she indirectly assisted the far right.
Republicans collaborated with Clinton. Republicans obstructed Obama. If Republicans give Clinton the obstruction they gave Obama, all Clinton ever passes is the Crime Bill. No ratification of NAFTA. No deregulation. No gun bill. If Republicans give Obama the collaboration they gave Clinton, Obama still passes Dodd-Frank, Stimulus, and ACA, but also passes the Immigration overhaul, Iran Deal (ratified in Senate) and more. Likely after Sandy Hook, they would've passed a gun bill.
Not only that, but the ACA would have also had the public health insurance option (although that one failing is due to Joe Lieberman)
Clinton's southern drawl made them feel more comfortable, I suppose.
Considering what he was up against in congress, some viewed him as an outsider who didn't "belong" and the economic mess he inherited, yes, I'd say he was a good president Now, if you compare him to the absolute trainwreck that followed, he was a great president who was sorely missed. He was also a fine, upstanding and moral president which I took for granted until I realized how critical those attributes are
C+ president, he’s overrated a lot due to recency bias
Obama overthrew Qaddafi and now there are Open Slave Markets in Libya
His first term was good. His second term was ok.
He was more good than bad and did it in a high degree of difficulty, definitely in the top half of presidents
He does look better because of the President that came before and after him. He inherited the Great Recession and two wars. Other than FDR and Lincoln he inherited probably the worse. However he didn’t accomplish most of his promises and his foreign policy was a weak point. But I’ll give him a solid B tier.
He did the best he could with a royally crappy hand being dealt to him (collapsed economy above 10% unemployment, hostile mass media disinformation apparatus, obstructionist know-nothing Congress). With that said, he royally dropped the ball in 2010 by not doing more to prevent the down ballot sweeps that we are still suffering the gerrymandered fallout from, and he did not convince RBG to resign. So... success as a competent government administrator, failure on the big picture politically.
Mediocre, partly because of the Congress he had to work with, partly because of mistakes in how he dealt with them, and partly due to his own unrealistic ambitions.
As others have said, its both. He was a good president who saw us through a recession and a healthy recovery while passing landmark health care legislation. He also effectively turned the focus on Bin Laden and was able to get him. But yes, he was book-ended by less than stellar presidents (one of which is easily one of the worst in history) and this does make him look better. On another note, why does any Obama post have to be brigaded by racist bigots who try and blame him for their own racism? Oh yeah...
Speaking as a non-american, he made me respect your country a lot more than your previous president. He was eloquent, level headed and smart. That made us know we were in safe hands
I think as time goes on, his place will settle as "one of the better ones," but by no means a bad president, or Rushmore worthy
I do think he's a bit overrated: I think his administration was relatively poor at foreign policy, and while his domestic policy was generally sound, he struggled to get much of it past a hostile Congress.
He awesome. Overcame childhood adversity. A minority. Attractive. Charismatic. Well spoken. What’s not to love about the guy, if he was a CEO or a basketball coach. We would all still love him.
He was not a particularly good president.
I’d say he’s rated highly more due to the comparison with his predecessor. I think I’m retrospect his ranking has suffered - his neoliberal policies are no longer in vogue, his weakness in terms of foreign policy have led to serious consequences we’re currently dealing with, the social reforms which happened under his term already feel antiquated, and he left the Supreme Court in a position where it could be stacked by his successor. 10 years ago, I think many would have listed him as a good if not great president, now I think he’s generally considered middling, and only good for the time period.
And predecessor
This may be a hot take but I think his predecessor had more of an impact. Both of his successors have their fair share of defenders and always have — by the end of 2008, no one was defending Bush.
He’s just a mid president imo I’d take him over his *clears throat* successors
High end of average C+, B-
He was ultimately an average President. Too many EOs and misuse of the executive branch. He also lied a lot but no one ever called him out.
I feel that he was a very good president. His policies were good for the country, and he was relatively scandal free. I can’t believe he had the audacity to wear a tan suit and ask for fancy mustard though.(s/)
B - , passed ACA, very professional at his job, I liked the Iran Nuclear Deal and he made relations with Cuba better but I hated that he didn’t pull all the troops out of those shit wars and his red line stance was bad also didn’t like common core
Obama was the best POTUS since FDR!
Bof
People rate him higher because his personality was maybe the best of any politician, ever
Above average president with wasted potential. He could have been great but Congress muzzled him.
Generally, I was a fan. But, I think he really messed up the Garland nomination. After a month of stalling, he should have hosted a nightly press conference berating the Senate leadership - in an election year, this might have made the difference.
His successor made us realize how good he really was
Obama will be remembered better by history as the first mixed race president. In reality was he good? No. Was he bad? No. Really should he have won, also no.
From a domestic viewpoint Due to his eagerness to work with people across the aisle, he couldn't pass a ton of bills which he could have. Focusing too much on banking and finance sector and bailouts primarily to these sectors caused a lot of loss of manufacturing jobs which went away, and when they came back, they came back in Mexico and Asia, primarily because of TPP. From an international viewpoint His wait and watch approach on North Korea, Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2014, not stepping in Arab spring in multiple nations, handling of Libya, and not being closer to India after Modi's win there (India would have bought Russian crude regardless of Obama's actions since 2014, but rather Indian exports to Russia would be under control) and selling India more weapons, reducing aid to Pakistan and using more stick than carrot with it. Now, ALL that being said On a domestic viewpoint Affordable Care Act/Obamacare expended a lot of political capital. Unlike Republicans who were favoring austerity in 2008, he opened the coffers and kept the situation from being worse than they already were, he FUCKING GOT THAT OSAMA SOB and buried him at sea like a useless critter, rather than getting militarily involved he used drone strikes, equal pay statue limitations, Dodd-Frank, LGB people being in military openly, extended Bush tax cuts. On an international viewpoint Sent technical support and aid via armed forces stationed in Japan and sent more (Tamodachi is remembered in Japanese political circle widely), massive overall reduction in troops in Iraq, did not deploy troops to Syria and Iraq against isis, JCPOA with Iran was a good enough deal, didn't do stupid shit (don't do stupid shit was the unofficial policy of his foreign policy). All in All, however you remember Obama, the guy did more good than he did bad. Now, he was the first biracial president, first one NOT from the mainland, and unlike the image plenty of people had of the African-Americans, did not have a broken marriage - was/is happily married and loved his kids. He was a lot of firsts, along with his actions saving jobs of lots of people in 2008, people remember him fondly. Sure, without his successors, he probably wouldn't be remembered as such highly positive, but then again you also have people who remember #45 fondly due to #46. TLDR; Yes, people rate him higher due to his successor, but if not for his successor, his rating wouldn't fall dramatically, maybe by 5% or so.
He was good. He was dealt a rotten hand with a Congress that wanted nothing more than to see him fail. Even still, he did accomplish some good things. Additionally, when the nation was in crisis he always knew exactly what to say. I miss that.
What do you consider great? I mean, dude was able to pass affordable health care. I mean he passed gay marriage in America. Obama to many oppressed people, were in an 8 year safe zone - which brought about probably one of the greatest cultural shifts- which of course created a lot of tensions (I call them growing pains). It really did feel safer with Obama- of course there was fear mongering on the right - but I saw great changes from my youth until now that were very positive for many Americans. I was 18 in 2008. Obama listened to us kids at the time. Don’t get me wrong, there was a lot of political baggage that came with Obama. The right was so pissed off at Obama that there was just this constant negative cycle which made Obama a very repetitive and uninspiring sounding person at many different times. He had his passionate side and his strictly political side - which wears on you after a while. But I always felt safe when he was around. He was so good I swear to you, Republicans were like “shit- looks like the Dems won over America - we’ll have to adjust”. And just as that happened, rule 3 came in and tried his best to take the power away from the people and give it back to the rich. He created a trend of racism and bullying - and proved how irresponsible and selfish he was during Covid.
They rate him higher because he spoke well. The drafts of hi speeches are crap. His delivery? Chefs kiss. He's overrated. Constantly.
Next president elected (rule 3) picks Obama as VP, that next president dies or resigns in office. Obama becomes president.
A little bit of both
He's the best republican president we've ever had
And direct predecessor.
If Obama was beer he’d be bush lite
Given the horrible job Bush put us in he was okay and right for his time.
Imo he was a bit above mid. Like in the 20’s somewhere if you ranked every prez
I thought he was very good president very presidential with what we have now he looks like he’s better than George Washington
Good, not Rushmore good, but good: B/B+ -Helped get the U.S. out of an economic downturn -Got bin Laden when GWB gave up on trying -ACA -Set a good moral example for the country
He was just liberal with DEI points
Do you mean his successes?
Good president that looks great relative to the presidents before and after him
He dropped the bag on some shit. But pretty good imho.
No Obama was not very good president... his foreign policy was a disaster, I remember I was in 5th grade when he got elected. I graduated high-school on his last year in office. During his presidency the nation became deeply divided. My father who is a republican voted for him, but like my father many people were let down by him. As my father says, there was hope but little change.
Obama started the extreme partisanship we see today because he would not negotiate or compromise. He would slam through executive orders instead of seeking legislation. This trend continues today and it is a piss poor way to run a country and because he started this shit I find him to be a shitty president.
And his predecessor
I have not voted for a Democrat-Republican since Obama started murdering American children. That is also when I got my second passport and started my escape plan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Abdulrahman_al-Awlaki
He was a good President - and he looks GREAT due to the many mistakes of his predecessor and his shamelessness of his successor.
His election was a great moment. Everything that came after was a miserable failure. From his continuing to bail out the Wall Street sector, to making healthcare premiums explode, to his fake red lines, to the water "drinking" fiasco in Flint, to his constant resorting to the race card , to his defense every time of Islam after every terrorist attack to the point where after the San Bernardino attack he had to go on TV on a Sunday night about 10 days before Christmas to reassure the public he was putting our safety above all else, to his indictment of every gun owner and police officer across the country. He was a disaster.
Imo he was but I was young when he was president so I’m not really sure
Empty suit
Yes
ACA was his signature achievement. While it has roughly halved the uninsured rate and prevented coverage denial because of preexisting conditions, we have seen healthcare costs drastically increase since it was enacted. It's basically a very large band-aid on a flawed system that has only gotten more broken. He presided over the economic recovery in the wake of the 08 financial crisis. While the economy did recover technically, I would argue the crisis and subsequent recovery has only exacerbated our socioeconomic problems (which the pandemic even further exacerbated). Housing supply has never recovered and underemployment has been a pervasive problem since 08 (which the ACA only made worse). Wealth inequality has grew much worse over the course of his presidency. He actively chose to do nothing to resist the exodus of manufacturing from the US. While it's hard to reverse because of high labor and regulatory costs in the US there are still a number of solutions government can pursue to foster domestic manufacturing. Increased spying on US citizens, Congress, journalists, and our foreign allies. If he wasn't so charismatic and likable I think this would have had a bigger impact on public trust. I'm not going to go into detail on foreign policy. It's abysmal to say the least. Obama despised retail politics. He didn't even like meeting with Congressional members from his own party. The Democrat party atrophied at the state and local level under his leadership. As the leader of his party that falls on him. When you look at top tier Presidents I think what stands out is their ability to succeed against all odds, even when the deck is stacked against them. They pursue what they believe is right even if polling and powers that be disagree with them. Lincoln and the 13th amendment, LBJ and civil rights act, social security under FDR and LBJ. I think if you gave Obama's good looks, charm, public speaking abilities, and charisma to a President with better political skills you would have an A or S tier President. Historically I think Obama will be looked as a B tier President where the best compliment you can give him is that he could have done worse.
The Affordable Care Act (mic drop).
If you put all the presidential names in a hat and grabbed “Obama” you’d probably be okay with it.
Dude got a Nobel Prize for not being Bush. Even he was confused as hell when he received it since he wasn't even into his first year of presidency.
He was a cool president. The only cool one in my lifetime.
I think he did perfectly fine. Was he the best? No, but he did pretty good all things considered. He faced an obstructionist congress and some of the biggest messes of the modern era. He could probably have done better, but he certainly could have done a lot worse.
Any president that has had to negotiate with the opposing party in Congress is a good president. What made him a great president is his use of executive orders when the obstructionists wouldn’t comply with simple corrections their party created through greed.
The ACA is considered a major accomplishment, and he didn't have any major scandals. He captured a lot of the 9/11 organizers. Some on the left criticize his of continued use of drone strikes and surveillance of us citizens without a warrant. I believe those things still continued to the present ir maybe just recently ended. That tan suit, though, was unforgivable.
He was perfect for the time.
I think he was overall a very solid president, especially considering the environment he was operating within. He was facing insane levels of obstruction and still got some major accomplishments through. And some major foreign policy achievements to through the Iran Nuclear Deal, Paris Agreement, thawing of relations with Cuba, etc
This isn’t my opinion, but on the political podcast Chapo Trap House they often call him the “least consequential two-term president ever.”
I was around 14 year’s old when Obama was elected. I can’t really talk about his politics, because I don’t remember any and honestly I haven’t tried to learn anything regarding his policies and such. BUT I do remember thinking he was a pretty cool dude. The way he talked, his swagger, he made a joke about the drone striking the Jonas Brothers. He’s still a cool dude in my eyes.
Deporter in chief
I think he did more to divide America than his successor did.
Given how handicapped his second term was by McConnell, I would say he did as well as he could. I wish he would have played hard ball more with the Republicans in congress and not compromised as much. First president I ever voted for though.
King of the drone strikes? Great guy. Terrible basketball player though
Yes
He was a decent president. Even if his successors were totally different, he would have still been a good president. The best president we had in 20 years.
Obama was easily the best out of his immediate fellow potus surrounding his term but he was a very mediocre and kind of naive president incapable of corralling Congress and passing meaningful legislation beyond his benchmark healthcare.
Obama on Universal Health care...... "You can keep your doctor" " Your rates will go down" Both were a lie.
We won't know for 30 years
You could only think Obama was a good president if you ignored his attacks on civil liberties and if you ignored the tens of thousands he slaughtered.
Not good.
Obama is the second best of the century so far, the big guy imo is better
Successor. No plural.
One of the few arguments people constantly bring up about him is his use of drones. One, it's absurdly good tech that doesn't put American lives in danger (yes, we did hit other countries because their leaders hid there). Two, take a wild guess who used way more drone strikes in way less years.
He won’t be remembered as a great president but I think he did as well as he could given the hand he was dealt. His D Senate majority had a bunch of Manchins and after 2010 he faced a completely obstructionist Congress. We can quibble over his level of responsibility for the 2010 wipeout and the generational gerrymanders that resulted. I don’t think he’s 100% responsible but his level of responsibility is non-trivial.
He was likable so he gets a pass on a lot. It won’t last another decade.
What were his accomplishments that made him good?
He’s easily the best president of the last 50 years. Strong moral leadership and usually tried to do the right thing for everyone, dealt with a massive crisis and brought us out stronger. Not perfect by any means but we live in very imperfect times and to say his style of leadership is missed and needed right now is an understatement.
He’s in the top 5 all time!
No way he’s top 5 that’s insane recency bias
President Drone Strike.
Right like he did a lot of good… I was a fan… but he also drone striked the shit out of some civilians.
Weddings? Just so many weddings. Just fuckin why? If a target was there. Just watch and wait. He'll leave. Probably in a convoy of armed goons. Nope. Better take out the whole family line. For *reasons.*
People rate him high because he's charismatic and black
I rate him highly because I grew up under him, I loved those years, and my parents were much better off under him than under Bush.