The Student Room Group

Obama's Presidency Vote

Poll

How has Barack Obama performed as POTUS?

Well he's almost out, and unless he does something really good or astonishingly bad with pardons the Obama administration has effectively come to a close.

How do we think he's done?

Plus points:
* The passage of the Affordable Care Act
* Left Iraq
* Bin Laden dead
* Lack of high-profile scandals

Negatives
* Foreign Policy ineptitude led to more instability in the Arab World
* Race relations deteriorated and political polarization rose
* Slowest economic recovery since 1930s.
* Numerous incidents of government malpractice (ie Fast and Furious)

Not many there, I'm sure you know of more, but I'm trying to be as impartial as I can. Vote on your cellphones now.

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
Given the extreme hostility he's faced from opponents in the various houses, he's done alright.

Not great, but ok.
Reply 2
Mediocre at best.
Reply 3
His foreign policy wasn't challenged by people until it went sour, he was doing great with Russia until they entered Syria and that is where he went wrong. At that point he should've fully backed the rebels or preferably abandoned them. Race relations have always been poor, only now people feel free to protest it and do something about it and its a movement although it doesn't seem to be getting anywhere due to poor tactics. I'd say leaving Iraq too soon was his biggest mistake, but i think the most important thing is he was a president for the people and he was in touch. You forget to mention Cuba which I think is his greatest achievement. Obamacare will cease to exist in a few months, the Iraq war seems to be anything but over, Al-Qaeda are still very powerful so its a mix of things, his legacy will only become apparent when the Trump effect kicks in but with the legacy of George bush Sr. & Jr and Bill Clinton, he's not got tough competition for History to have a positive memory of him.
Reply 4
Original post by zayn008
His foreign policy wasn't challenged by people until it went sour, he was doing great with Russia until they entered Syria and that is where he went wrong. At that point he should've fully backed the rebels or preferably abandoned them. Race relations have always been poor, only now people feel free to protest it and do something about it and its a movement although it doesn't seem to be getting anywhere due to poor tactics. I'd say leaving Iraq too soon was his biggest mistake, but i think the most important thing is he was a president for the people and he was in touch. You forget to mention Cuba which I think is his greatest achievement. Obamacare will cease to exist in a few months, the Iraq war seems to be anything but over, Al-Qaeda are still very powerful so its a mix of things, his legacy will only become apparent when the Trump effect kicks in but with the legacy of George bush Sr. & Jr and Bill Clinton, he's not got tough competition for History to have a positive memory of him.


There's a lot here, but I'll address what I can. I think the fact that Russia felt able to move into Syria and prop up Bashar Assad is proof that there was already a behind-the-scenes failure with his foreign policy. Race relations have actually been pretty good, up until Obama's second term. Courtesy of Gallup:



Leaving Iraq early was an immeasurably huge ****-up and Trump is right to say that Obama effectively created ISIS. Opening up to Cuba is a terrible policy from my point-of-view and from the points-of-view of the Cubans who fled Castro terror and set up shop in Florida.
Good:

- Economic recovery
- Same sex marriage (not directly an act of Obama's, but occurred under his Presidency)
- Osama Bin Laden
- Iran deal
- Cuba normalisation of ties

Bad:

- Guantanamo Bay still open (not for the want of trying)
- Record military aid deal to Israel
- No gun control (again, not for the want of trying)


Considering the impediments he has faced (i.e. Republican controlled House and Senate that completely oppose everything he tries to do and all of his attempts to work together), he has done a pretty good job. He does, however, have to take some responsibility for Trump's victory, which was almost a vote on his 8 years in power (as Hillary was largely seen as a continuation of Obama, but she was mired with scandals and a terrible candidate, so I wouldn't put too much blame on Obama for her failures).
Original post by Palmyra
Good:

- Economic recovery
- Same sex marriage (not directly an act of Obama's, but occurred under his Presidency)
- Osama Bin Laden
- Iran deal
- Cuba normalisation of ties

Bad:

- Guantanamo Bay still open (not for the want of trying)
- Record military aid deal to Israel
- No gun control (again, not for the want of trying)


Considering the impediments he has faced (i.e. Republican controlled House and Senate that completely oppose everything he tries to do and all of his attempts to work together), he has done a pretty good job. He does, however, have to take some responsibility for Trump's victory, which was almost a vote on his 8 years in power (as Hillary was largely seen as a continuation of Obama, but she was mired with scandals and a terrible candidate, so I wouldn't put too much blame on Obama for her failures).


This wasn't his fault though. The gun lobby fought him to a standstill
Reply 7
Very poor
ACA is going
Trouble in Iraq occurred after troops left
The negatives you said plus many more
Also more and more people were losing hope during his presidency and it lead to the highest suicide rate for 30 years
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 8
Original post by StrawbAri
This wasn't his fault though. The gun lobby fought him to a standstill


Two things on that:

Firstly, that's a given. The NRA is enormously influential in Washington and if you're going to try and reform firearms regulation then taking them on is factored into the equation. If they beat you, it's still a failure on your part because the NRA is there for the purpose of keeping politicians off of guns, it's daft to expect them to turn around and support you.

Secondly, the NRA is so powerful in Washington because it has majority support from American people. So, if anything, achieving gun restrictions would be a blotch on Obama's record.
Original post by jape
Two things on that:

Firstly, that's a given. The NRA is enormously influential in Washington and if you're going to try and reform firearms regulation then taking them on is factored into the equation. If they beat you, it's still a failure on your part because the NRA is there for the purpose of keeping politicians off of guns, it's daft to expect them to turn around and support you.

Secondly, the NRA is so powerful in Washington because it has majority support from American people. So, if anything, achieving gun restrictions would be a blotch on Obama's record.

So it's a damned if you do damned if you don't situation?
Original post by joecphillips
Very poor
ACA is going
Trouble in Iraq occurred after troops left
The negatives you said plus many more
Also more and more people were losing hope during his presidency and it lead to the highest suicide rate for 30 years


What does his presidency have to do with the suicide rate?
Commuting suicide is to do with mental health problems/unmanageable personal struggles. I don't think Obama can help it if somehow during his presidency people killed themselves more. Besides it's not just America. Globally suicide rates have increased.
Reply 11
Original post by StrawbAri
So it's a damned if you do damned if you don't situation?


More damned if you do than if you don't, but basically.
Original post by zayn008
His foreign policy wasn't challenged by people until it went sour, he was doing great with Russia until they entered Syria and that is where he went wrong. At that point he should've fully backed the rebels or preferably abandoned them. Race relations have always been poor, only now people feel free to protest it and do something about it and its a movement although it doesn't seem to be getting anywhere due to poor tactics. I'd say leaving Iraq too soon was his biggest mistake, but i think the most important thing is he was a president for the people and he was in touch. You forget to mention Cuba which I think is his greatest achievement. Obamacare will cease to exist in a few months, the Iraq war seems to be anything but over, Al-Qaeda are still very powerful so its a mix of things, his legacy will only become apparent when the Trump effect kicks in but with the legacy of George bush Sr. & Jr and Bill Clinton, he's not got tough competition for History to have a positive memory of him.


The reason the civil rights "movement" seems stalled is not because of poor tactics but because there is no movement. The validity of the civil rights movement of the 60's was unquestioned because it was supported by virtualy every black person in the country. The inequality the blacks were having to endure was plain to anyone. Tens of millions of whites were sympathetic. Compare that to today. A handful of Anarchists calling themselves B.L.M.. They have no spokesman because no Black leader wants to be identified that closely to them.
The truth has finally sunk in that the biggest problem the black community has to overcome is the break-up of the family. Advocating for the nuclear family doesn't bring a lot of fame so it's probably going to be a while before a leader emerges who can bring concrete changes. Obama had a chance but he blew it.
A mediocre president held back because of a GOP dominated congress - he could do very little.
Reply 14
Original post by StrawbAri
What does his presidency have to do with the suicide rate?
Commuting suicide is to do with mental health problems/unmanageable personal struggles. I don't think Obama can help it if somehow during his presidency people killed themselves more. Besides it's not just America. Globally suicide rates have increased.


People with hope don't commit suicide and according to a lot of supporters that what obama brought so it is fair to use that as a measurement
Original post by joecphillips
People with hope don't commit suicide and according to a lot of supporters that what obama brought so it is fair to use that as a measurement


Joe! Reply to PMs pls
Reply 16
Original post by Connor27
A mediocre president held back because of a GOP dominated congress - he could do very little.


When he took power congress was held by the democrats
Original post by joecphillips
When he took power congress was held by the democrats


That's true, but he only had a dem congress for 2 years - the reps had power from 2010 midterms right until now in the house at least.
Reply 18
Original post by Connor27
That's true, but he only had a dem congress for 2 years - the reps had power from 2010 midterms right until now in the house at least.


Which is another failure, I'd argue. His personal popularity was high (because he's a celebrity and a media-whore) but his policies were consistently unpopular and he sunk the Democratic Party on every level of American government.

Republicans can amend the Constitution without so much as a peep from Democrats if they win one more state legislature and achieve 66 in the Senate, which is totally within the realms of possibility in 2018. That was unthinkable 10 years ago.
Original post by jape
Well he's almost out, and unless he does something really good or astonishingly bad with pardons the Obama administration has effectively come to a close.

How do we think he's done?

Plus points:
* The passage of the Affordable Care Act
* Left Iraq
* Bin Laden dead
* Lack of high-profile scandals

Negatives
* Foreign Policy ineptitude led to more instability in the Arab World
* Race relations deteriorated and political polarization rose
* Slowest economic recovery since 1930s.
* Numerous incidents of government malpractice (ie Fast and Furious)

Not many there, I'm sure you know of more, but I'm trying to be as impartial as I can. Vote on your cellphones now.


The two in bold are a joke, right?

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