THE OBAMA LEGACY

The Obama presidential legacy is written: signed, sealed and delivered. Presidents aspire for a legacy that will put them at the top of presidential greatness. Unfortunately, most end up with a legacy that they would prefer to forget. Looking back over several decades, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s legacy remains the invasion of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese and his “There is nothing to fear but fear itself” speech. Harry Truman’s legacy was his dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Dwight Eisenhower’s legacy was his golf game. John F. Kennedy’s legacy was the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and his assassination. Lyndon B. Johnson’s legacy was the Viet Nam war. Jimmy Carter’s legacy was the Iran Hostage Crisis. Ronald Reagan’s legacy was reversing Carter’s failed economic policy and restoring economic prosperity. George H.W. Bush’s legacy was “Read my lips, no new taxes!” Bill Clinton’s legacy was the Monica Lewinsky scandal and his impeachment. George W. Bush’s legacy is the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, that brings us to the present day and the legacy of Barack Hussein Obama.

With less than 3 years into the first term of his presidency, the legacy of Barack Hussein Obama has been written into history and there is nothing he can possibly do to eclipse that. Looking back over his short time in office, some historians might argue Mr. Obama’s legacy should be the prolonged economic recession exacerbated by his implementation of the Obama/Keynesian economic model; after all this current recession has been the slowest to recover since the Great Depression.

Others might argue that the Obama legacy revolves around the fact that 14 to 18 million Americans remain jobless despite Obama’s attempt to pump trillions of dollars into the economy; which created another potential legacy event by running up the country’s debt to over $14 trillion...going on $16 trillion. Some might remember the Obama presidency because of his hijacking of the healthcare industry; or an anemic housing market that refuses to reverse its downward slide; or his unexplained antagonism towards our international allies like England, Germany and especially, Israel; or the looming scandal that could erupt over the “Fast and Furious Mexican Gun” debacle, which will come to be known as FF-gate.

No, the Obama legacy was chiseled into history on Black Friday, August 6, 2011. The Obama legacy is his lack of presidential leadership that forced the international rating agency, Standard & Poor’s to downgrade the credit rating of the United States of America from a global envied AAA to AA+. Why is this a legacy event? This is a legacy producing event because it is a “first.” It is the first time the Triple-A credit rating of the United States has been downgraded since Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s or Fitch began rating corporations, municipalities or sovereign countries. S & P’s downgrade of the United States is a huge and memorable event that cannot be reversed; and it surely will not be matched or surpassed during the remainder of the Obama presidency, or at least I hope not.

In typical Obama fashion, the President didn’t accept responsibility for the downgrade but issued a statement blaming Standard & Poor’s for a “fundamentally flawed’ analysis. Unfortunately, the President, once again, has it wrong. It is not Standard & Poor’s analyses that lead to the credit rating downgrade but an Obama economic policy that is fundamentally flawed. Taking it a step further, the Obama administration has promoted a foreign policy that is fundamentally flawed; a monetary policy that is fundamentally flawed; a regulatory policy that is fundamentally flawed; a housing policy that is fundamentally flawed; and a legislative policy that is fundamentally flawed.

And, when the negative results start to materialize because of his fundamentally flawed presidency, Mr. Obama chooses to respond by blaming former President Bush, the House Republicans, the Tea Party, Fox News, Rep. Paul Ryan, millionaires and billionaires, Wall Street, chicken soup and Mom’s apple pie.

After all is said and done, I think Jimmy Carter is still going to be historically viewed as the worst U. S. President but Barack Hussein Obama will not be far behind. When we were living through the Carter stagflation years, we thought the country would never heal; but it did because of its resiliency and the entrepreneurial spirit of the American people. It might appear that we find ourselves in a similar malaise but I am sure this great nation can endure the next year and a half when we can bring sanity and good old fashion conservative values back to the White House and the reinstatement of our Triple-A rating.