Oh, I highly doubt that
Posted on 08/02/2019 7:10:44 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Whatever happened to Barack Obama?
For a while there, no modern figure was supposed to be as consequential. It's difficult to describe the hype in the early days of the Obama era. Time, Newsweek and countless deep thinkers cast him as a 21st century Lincoln or FDR. Some literally saw a messianic figure -- "The One," in Oprah Winfrey's words. Self-help guru Deepak Chopra said Obama represented a "quantum leap in American consciousness."
George Lucas speculated that he might even be a Jedi.
It was a global phenomenon. In a move that embarrassed Obama himself, the Nobel Committee gave him a Peace Prize on spec -- i.e. in anticipation of what they were sure he would do. A leading Danish newspaper editorialized "Obama is, of course, greater than Jesus."
Obama himself set his sights lower; he wanted to be the Democrats' Ronald Reagan. And for a time, it seemed to many that he'd succeeded. As late as April of 2017, CNN's Fareed Zakaria said, "Obama aspired to be a transformational president, like Reagan. At this point, it's fair to say that he has succeeded."
But this proved to be a mirage. As National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru observed in 2017, Obama left office almost as popular as Reagan, but when Reagan departed for California, he left his party stronger than when he found it, holding more elected offices at the federal and state level. And the public felt better about the direction of the country as well. When Obama left office, nearly 1,000 Democrats lost their jobs, and the GOP was better positioned than at any time since the 1920s.
Some analysts plausibly argue that these statistics are unfairly inflated because they're pegged to the large coattails Obama had in 2008. Even so, it demonstrates that Obama failed by his own standard in so far as transformational presidents expand and entrench their parties the way FDR and Reagan did.
In fairness, Reagan and FDR had an advantage Obama did not: They were
succeeded by allies. Since so much of what presidents do can be reversed by the next president, particularly when done by executive order -- as Obama did for most of his presidency -- it takes a new, friendly, replacement to solidify a presidential legacy. Donald Trump reversed many of Obama's policies with a stroke of a pen (just as a Democratic successor would do to Trump's).
Still, it was hard to appreciate the extent of Obama's incredible shrinking presidency until the recent Democratic presidential debates. Much of the post-debate punditry has focused on the fight between the handful of moderates, led by Obama's Vice President Joe Biden, and the far more numerous left-wingers, who attacked numerous Obama policies from the left, most notably his signature Affordable Care Act, AKA Obamacare, but also his immigration and economic policies.
Attacks on the Reagan legacy on the right are lamentably increasing among some intellectuals on the right, but we've never seen anything remotely like this in a GOP presidential debate. Attacking Reagan is still risky for a Republican politician, and he left office over three decades ago.
The Democrats' migration to the left is not merely a story of ideological or intellectual transformation, though it is that, it's also the direct consequence of Obama's presidency. However we're supposed to measure the total number of Democratic losses under Obama, the important part isn't the quantity of the loss, but the quality.
The ranks of moderate and conservative Democrats were disproportionately hollowed out under Obama, while Democrats in deep blue liberal areas were emboldened to move even further left. (Trump has had a similar effect on the right, decimating the moderate wing of the GOP while intensifying the partisanship of conservatives in safe red areas).
The big-name Democrats who survived Obama are more concerned by primary challenges to their left than general election threats from their right. As a result, they have a hard time talking to audiences that don't already agree with them on the big questions.
Those ultra-liberal politicians -- Warren, Sanders, et al -- now drive the party to such a degree that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now seen as a moderating force on the Democrats. The moderates in the debates are like refugees of a wing of a party that has shrunk to a feather. Only Biden stands as a formidable figure, because of his time at Obama's side.
And now even that is turning into a liability, at least on the debate stage.
Sorry Barack. But unless you win a major war during your Presidency, it is soon forgotten.
I can’t believe what I am seeing. Revisionist history being applied to the Obama presidency by Democrats?
And the conclusion is that the leftist leaning Obama just wasn’t liberal enough for today’s Democrats?
Maybe Hell is freezing over??? The icon Obama is not above criticism by good Democrats???
Tell me one thing that traitorous ,felonious,anti American POS did for this Great Nation. Nothing!
And war on the American people doesn’t count
RE: And the conclusion is that the leftist leaning Obama just wasn’t liberal enough for today’s Democrats?
well, just consider what Obama was for and against when he first ran for President.
He was against gay marriage
He was against illegal immigration
He was against paying for the healthcare of illegal aliens (Of course when he said it in his speech to Congress, Rep. Joe Wilson shouted “YOU LIE”, and he was right ).
As President, he actually DEPORTED nearly 3 million illegals. The family separation policy EXISTED under President Obama, so was the incarceration of illegals.
How many of today’s candidates would be for what Obama stood for then?
The Rats are critical of the few things Obongo almost got right. We are at the point where every election determines whether we keep our country or not.
For most small business owners, the Obama years were a nightmare.
Oh, I highly doubt that
Being a politician is not a “job.”
IIRC one of the dems gave Hussein a shout-out for the current economy lol! So if they go into delusion mode, they do give him credit for something.
...made PDJT's election possible.
“In fairness, Reagan and FDR had an advantage Obama did not: They were succeeded by allies”
Obama wasn’t succeeded by an ally because voters didn’t like what he was doing.
Obama’s balloon isn’t the popping type but it’s losing air.
The Obama groupies will never admit that he was far from “The One” but a lot of them know it down deep. They’re in love.
I would imagine most of those deported came right back.
Barack deserves plenty of blame but so does Hillary. It was her ego, thinking that she could just coast into a Presidency she thought she deserved, that really cost them the election. Had Joe Biden run in 2016, it at least would have been a tougher fight, but since Hillary held the reins of the DNC, he couldn’t even attempt it.
Obama the stealth communist is just not good enough for them anymore. They yearn for a real communist.
The Kenyanesian Usurpation was a disaster.
Even Democrats see that now.
He could have imposed their entire Socialist dream agenda on 1/21/2009. Nobody and nothing would have stood in his way and stopped him.
He did not. And for that the Left will NEVER forgive him.
Lesson learned: Don’t choose a lazy dope-smoking narcissist as the vanguard of your revolution.
‘What the Hell, People?’ CNN’s Dem Panel Blasts Debate Attacks on Obama
Paul Begala has his panties in a wad...
Why just the other morning on the radio
some stooge said the purple lipped rat eared
dog-eater made us (America) feel safe
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