Obama: The 'yes we can' president with the 'at least I tried' legacy
US President Barack Obama
Tue Sep 23, 2014 3:29AM GMT
Gary Younge , The Guardian
On September 30, 2011 Barack Obama woke up to the news that his order to
kill Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen living in Yemen, in a drone attack
had been carried out successfully. That afternoon, according to Mark
Helperin and John Heilemanns book Double Down, the US president addressed
his inner core in the White House Roosevelt room about issues on which he
felt he should be truer to his progressive roots. Three years later, he is
still wrestling with most of them.
There was climate change: last week his administration confirmed it would
give nothing to assist poor countries to make the transition from fossil
fuels and protect their citizens from climate change-related catastrophes.
Immigration reform: two weeks ago he reneged on his pledge to deal with it
through executive authority by the summers end, postponing his efforts
until the end of the year. Poverty: last week saw the first drop in the
poverty rate since 2006 thats good news, even if it does remain
considerably higher than when he took office. Israel/Palestine: we saw how
that panned out over the summer. Guantánamo Bay: still open. And gay
marriage which he eventually came out and supported.
The point he drummed home during the election was that if the Republicans
won, things would be worse. That was true. And he managed to convince the
electorate. But what he conceded that day in the Roosevelt room was that he
could do better on his own terms. That remains true.
Naturally, this is about more than Obama. He ran as the embodiment of
liberal electoral aspirations, and now he stands as the emblem of the
limitations on those aspirations. He sits at the center of a system that is
openly gerrymandered and in which you have to pay to play. He might have
done better, but there was insufficient pressure from below. His tenure
proves just how little progressive change is possible through the ballot box
in the absence of social movements. It is not about him. But it is through
his presidency that these aspirations have been filtered.
When it comes to the publics general view on how he is doing his job, the
verdict is pretty grim Obamas approval ratings have not touched 50% since
May. When his abilities are assessed more specifically, its even worse. His
administrations approval ratings for handling the economy, foreign policy
and immigration are all significantly lower. As Novembers midterm elections
approach, Democratic candidates in tight races are running away from him.
Most Americans have not felt the country has been moving in the right
direction since he came to power; most still think they are in a recession.
Thats the good news. The bad news is that the question about the potential
of his presidency is rapidly shifting from a matter of opinion to one of
time. Hes had six years. Notwithstanding events, whatever he was going to
do hes done already. Claims that he is dealing with the mess of his
predecessor or being obstructed by unreasonable Republicans now sound weak,
even when theyre true. History will judge him by his achievements, not his
obstacles. His campaign slogan was Yes we can; those who defend him by
blaming others carve a presidential epitaph that reads: At least he tried.
After the midterms, when the entire House of Representatives and a third of
the Senate are up for grabs, it wont just be his performance thats in
question but his relevance.
First, people will be looking over his shoulder at candidates for 2016. With
more than a year to go before primaries, the media class is already obsessed
by whos eating steak in Iowa, breaking bread in New Hampshire or throwing
rubber chicken fundraisers in South Carolina (three key early-voting
states). Moreover, those Democratic candidates will have to both distinguish
and, arguably, distance themselves from the unpopular incumbent. Hillary
Clinton has already started. Last month she berated the administration for
failing to back the Syrian rebels earlier in the civil war, which, she
argued, facilitated the rise of Islamic State: The failure to do that left
a big vacuum, which the jihadists [sic] have now filled, she said.
Second, because Congress the very body that Obama blames for stymieing his
agenda will become more oppositional, not less. Republicans already
control the house and are not likely to lose it. They need a net gain of six
seats to win the Senate. They can safely count on three. If they dont lose
any (an increasingly big if) there are seven more states from which they
might win the rest. With states as varied as Alaska and Louisiana in play,
the situation is too volatile to predict if they will succeed. But one can
say with near certainty that by Thanksgiving there will be more Republicans
in the Senate than there are now.
Obama has a legacy. A survey last week showed the number of Americans
without medical insurance fell by 8% in the first quarter of this year. Even
poor conservatives dont hate him more than they like having healthcare,
which is why Republicans have not made Obamacare the focus of their
campaigns this year. Also, under his tenure cultural issues such as
abortion and gay marriage have become a liability for Republicans, not
Democrats. With the liberals on the offensive, Conservatives are having to
prove their moderation and tolerance. A decade ago gay marriage was a wedge
issue; today bigotry is.
With Congress less popular than head lice, clearly disaffection with Obama
cannot be divorced from disillusionment with the broader political class.
But he promised to be both better and different. At this stage his problem
is not that people are disappointed; its that they have long ceased
believing.
Once again this is not something he doesnt know. After his woeful first
presidential debate against Mitt Romney, his aides told him he needed to
sound less defensive and more hopeful. Obama bristled. You keep telling me
I cant spend too much time defending my record, he said. And that I
should talk about my plans. But my plans arent anything like the plans I
ran on in 2008. I had universal healthcare plan then. Now Ive got
what? A
manufacturing plan? What am I gonna do on education? What am I gonna do on
energy? Theres not much there.
Gary Younge is a feature writer and columnist for The Guardian based in the
US.
GJH/GJH
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in
anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni
katika machafuko"
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