The Iran nuclear deal is made. Can it passes Congress? Well, it won't pass but it probably will survive a veto override as I don't think the GOP can get two third majority in the Senate. When this deal goes into effect, it will be part of Obama's legacy for years to come. Actually, Obama has a few things that will be looked at by historians in the future. Even though he may not leave office popular, I think history will be kind to him.
Whether you like them or not, presidents usually have at least one thing that defined their tenure. FDR obviously had the New Deal,, Truman used the bomb, Eisenhower railed against the military industrial complex, Kennedy the Cuban missile crisis, LBJ the Great Society, Nixon the opening of China, Carter the Israel Egypt peace treaty, Reagan the fall of USSR, Bush1 the first Gulf war, Clinton the tech age, Bush II 9/11. I think unpopular presidents like Nixon and Carter are looked upon as much better when their legacies are evaluated years later. I think Obama will also be better in the years ahead although it is not a slam dunk.
Obamacare and getting out of the recession are controversial subjects that will be debated years from now. Just in recent weeks, gay marriage won in the Supreme Court. The U.S. embassy is set to reopen in Cuba and now the Iran deal. There will be many people who are against these and will continue to think Obama is a terrible president. Obamacare and the Iran deal still can blow up in his face. But I think in the future gay marriage and opening of Cuba will be accepted as the norm. And there is no argument that the economy is better today than when he took office although one can argue that is not his doing. So I think overall Obama is likely to be judged well in history.
Sunday, July 19, 2015
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It'll be interesting to see what legacy Obama will have. I think first and foremost will be that he will be remembered as the first black president (after Clinton, if you ask some people). I will always remember Carter with his Israel/Egypt treaty. It seems to have stood the test of time, though the region is still unstable.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking recently how Trump is making this presidential run a little exciting. I question whether he will still be there in the end. The things that he is criticized for are the same things that he is praised for. He is not a politician and does not talk like one. To me, I don't know if he'd ever win, so I just think he's wasting money. Which is something I can't imagine he likes doing.
I've always thought that he was a secret Democrat and is doing these outrageous things to split up the GOP vote. But I somehow also think that what he says and does is truly him. And maybe I don't understand him because his personality is so different from mine. Maybe that's why he has billions and I have cents!
-LBOAYM
I think Obama would be disappointed if his best legacy is that of first black president. It would be like Jeremy Lin is only known as the first Taiwanese American NBA player. We will have to wait several years before we see how his presidency will be viewed in history. Remember Nixon was roundly criticized by conservatives for going to China. Reagan was also criticized for dealing with Gorbachev. In both cases conservatives complained that Nixon and Reagan were appeasing the enemy like Chamberlain did with Hitler. How wrong were they. I am actually sick of people using Chamberlain/Hitler every time they think the U.S. is making a bad deal. Don't they realize Chamberlain had to appease Hitler because Germany would have kicked the UK in the butt if they fought at that time? It was not the situation with Nixon or Reagan. It is not that situation with Obama today. We can always bomb Iran if we had to. Or do the critics want us to do that today?
ReplyDeleteWell, LBOAYM took my next blog topic away when he says that Trump is a secret Democrat. I was going to point that out. He is a great help to the Democrats right now. He was taking the Hispanic votes away from the GOP. Now he is getting veterans votes away from the GOP as well. About the only better thing he can do for the democrats would be if he runs as a third party candidate, alas Perot. I think secretly he likes the Clintons so as Perot helped Bill win, Trump might help Hillary win!
You are right that Obama would be disappointed about his legacy if he was known as the first black president. But it'll probably be the first thing people will remember about him. People remember Jackie Robinson for breaking the color barrier, even though he was a very good baseball player.
ReplyDeleteI understand where you are coming from with the Chamberlain/Hitler analogy. Though, most people will still see that the Nazis did invade Poland after Munich. It also doesn't help that Churchill overshadowed Chamberlain.
As far as Iran goes, I did like Kerry's statement that something had to be done or the other option was war.
So, you actually were thinking about Trump as a secret democrat? I figured I was the only one to think that. Though I do have a hard time believing it myself. The guy has a massive ego and I think he's been used to just doing and saying whatever comes in his head. Though I think he's also smart enough to be calculating. Would be nice to have all that money to play around with though.
-LBOAYM