Why Was Obama So Bad?

Some reasons why I liked him:

• He ordered the killing of some really bad guys…..namely Bin Laden and other terrorists via drone attacks and special forces intervention. Strategic approach to national security without long-term foreign engagement.
• He made the best of circumstances having inheriting an unjust war that was started by George W. Bush and his warmongering team (Wolfowitz, Chaney, Rumsfeld, etc.) and their allegation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD’s) in Iraq.
• He made the best of circumstances having inherited a collapsed financial market and the great recession at the end of the Bush administration. He averted a complete financial collapse and instituted guidelines so as to prevent the next financial bubble to burst (measures which, by the way, are being dismantled as we head toward the next financial crisis fueled by greed). He continued to advocate for a steady (albeit slow) economic recovery.
• He implemented the Affordable Care Act (aka, Obamacare) enabling millions of Americans who had pre-existing medical conditions that precluded them from obtaining affordable health care to now receive this coverage. Who could be against providing affordable health care for the chronically ill?
• He brokered an international treaty with Iran that put a moratorium on their development of a nuclear arsenals. Now that treaty was torn up with no replacement and heightened likelihood of war
• He brokered an international treaty designed to address global warming and climate change (which by the way is not a hoax). Now that agreement was torn up by the USA with no replacement and we are ignoring an existential threat to our existence.
• He increased USA goodwill and profile among nations and strengthened relations with our allies. Now we are not trusted by our allies and the dominant them of our foreign relations is unpredictability.

For those who insist that Obama was a horrible president, I ask the following questions:

• Under whose watch was Bin Laden captured and killed?
• Whose life was ruined by Obamacare? Ask the formerly uninsured. Ask the patients with chronic pre-existing conditions who now could access affordable health care and insurance.
• What was the major scandal that occurred during his tenure? Some might say that the terrorist attack in Benghazi Libya was a scandal on his watch. Though this was a tragic occurrence, it’s inconceivable that Obama caused this.
• Economic recovery was tracking upward (maybe not at the robust pace everyone wanted) but you have to admit that he and his team brought us back from the brink of financial collapse.
• I’m a child of the 1960s when we had race riots, Vietnam war protests, Kent State massacre, Mai Lai massacre in Vietnam, colleges and cities in flames, rioting at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, rampant drug use and assassination’s of our leaders. Now those were troubled times! And then there were the 1970’s when we had the gas crisis, oil embargo, inflation and economic stagnation (a combination referred to as stagflation) and last but not least Watergate and the resignation of Nixon. And then there was the Iran Hostage crisis that bogged down the Carter administration at the tail end of the 1970’s. Along came the Reagan years and relative prosperity during the 1980’s but let’s not forget about the corruption of the Iran-Contra affair. As a student of history and someone who “has seen a thing or two” (to paraphrase a line from the Farmers Insurance commercial), I truly can not share the view that the 8 years of the Obama administration were as horrible as some persons describe it.

Having just finished watching all 4 nights of the Democratic National Convention and the nomination of Joe Biden for President, I felt compelled to post this blog which I had on the shelf for a couple of weeks. I watched the Republican National Convention and tried to keep an open mind for any proposals that I can support but didn’t see any. I had to shut off the tv on doctors orders for fear that my blood pressure would skyrocket!