We need to scrub his legacy out of the record, like the Egyptians did to Akhenaten.
(They look alike too.)
Outside of the technology industry and the finance industry (professions dominated by the coastal regions of the USA), Obama’s legacy will be the erosion of the industrial base and the rapid decline of the middle class.
Debt!
The list of negatives associated with Obama will fill volumes as history tries to document the carnage.
So let’s start with what legacy has not yet been fully written.
1. He closed Gitmo!
2. War with Iran (backed by Russia and China)
3. The fall of USA credit rating
4. The reason for Austerity in America as subsidies must be cut when America is no longer able to borrow because of the debt ratio. Checks will stop.
The rise of part-time and temp jobs.
It's true that government loans to banks (the "bailouts") helped with the consolidation of some of those institutions, and allowed them to stay afloat and restructure. But I'm not certain that the markets couldn't have come up with a solution on their own.
Even if you believe that the government bailouts helped, Obama and his defenders always likes to sell that period in time as one of irresponsibility on the part of Republicans, especially George W. Bush. Yet, there are no specific Bush administration policies that led to the activities going on at Bear-Sterns, Lehman Bros. or AIG. In fact, the Senate was controlled by Democrats at the time, and one could argue that they overlooked their responsibility to provide oversight to the banking industry.
Regardless, a true historical accounting would show that Obama's "investments" and changes to the banking and financial industries were more damaging than helpful. Instead of a robust period of growth after a recession--especially after nearly 8 years--we're seeing low unemployment numbers with much larger numbers out of the work force completely.
You guys are way too harsh. Everything is great, the Dow is up 195 today! / another super sarc