Barack Obama led this country out of a severe recession, was an advocate for the civil rights of all Americans and used executive powers to expand the role of government in many areas. But he could not end the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq or the fighting in Syria in America’s favor.
He was rightly determined not to be a black president, but a president for all Americans. Opportunities for blacks would increase, he believed, as opportunities increased for everyone.
His largest domestic initiative was a success in that it triggered new thinking about how to provide health insurance and care. He ended the long-held insurance model that had premiums and deductibles climbing, limited coverage of the sickest and saddled hospitals with uncompensated care, but without a sustainable template.
The quantity and cost of health care in the U.S., and patients’ expectations, far outstrip what individuals can pay. How to deliver proper care, and reduce its cost, are still the challenges.
As to climate change and humankind’s role in it, Obama moved the country ahead by light years. Heavy government incentives and regulations have created more energy efficiencies and significant amounts of renewable energy. That will not be turned back. Power plants and automobiles are cleaner and solar panels and wind turbines have proliferated. The surprising explosion in the amount of natural gas discovered is bringing the use of coal to an end – by economics, not by government action.
With their visibility, Barack and Michelle Obama have been role models around the world. That a member of a minority could democratically become the most powerful person on Earth has forced foreign leaders to rethink their allies and biases, and broadened horizons for 12-year-olds.
But for all the president did and wanted to do, he had no skills at encouraging doubters or those opposed to joining him. A time of Republicans intractable in their opposition coincided with a president who did not naturally reach out to the other side. Nor did he know how to lead his Democratic party, which has significantly lost influence in most states.
With Republicans refusing to talk about immigration except for securing the border, the president used executive action to the assist the most innocent, including children who arrived with their parents. At the same time, more illegal immigrants than ever were sent home, something he received little credit for.
He began to end the long-failed isolation of Cuba, something Congress did not have the political courage to do.
In the Middle East, Americans have learned that religious doctrine and tribal loyalties, and religious extremism, cannot be eliminated by the world’s strongest military, nor by America’s largess and best intentions. George W. Bush began to discover that lesson, and Obama confirmed it.
That Saddam Hussein and Moammar Gadhafi kept a lid on their countries’ violence, brutal as they were, and that in 15 years no one in Afghanistan surfaced to democratically lead, must have influenced Obama’s decision not to decisively challenge Bashar Assad in Syria. In hindsight, given the death and destruction in that country and flood of immigrants, that may have been the wrong decision.
At the same time, whether greater U.S. military intervention in the Middle East would have been productive or not, Americans – including members of Congress – would have no part of it. Obama cannot be charged with losing the Middle East. The forces at play, and Americans’ limited patience, were too great.
Obama’s thoughtfulness in several key speeches was welcome. So, too, the obvious personal emotional reactions he showed to the shootings of school children and to the death of young black men. He showed he had a heart.
Barack Obama pressed forward on major issues desiring significant successes, against formidable opposition, always with clear visions of what America should be.
