Remembering Barack
Because major American media sources were so forgiving of, and apologetic for, former president Barack Obama, readers may have trouble remembering the nearly constant string of malfeasance and preventable calamities that took place on his “watch.” Let’s revisit some.
First, the economy. As summed up by the Boston Globe (no bastion of conservatism, I might add, being, among other things, the first American newspaper to have editorialized against the Vietnam war): “Obama took office during a painful recession and (with Congress’s help) made it even worse. Historically, the deeper a recession, the more robust the recovery that follows, but the economy’s rebound under Obama was the worst in seven decades. Annual GDP growth since the recession ended has averaged a feeble 2.1 percent, by far the puniest economic performance of any president since World War II. Obama spent more public funds on “stimulus” than all previous stimulus programs combined, with wretched, counterproductive results. On his watch, millions of additional Americans fell below the poverty line. The number of food stamp recipients soared. The national debt doubled to an incredible $20 trillion. According to the Pew Research Center, the share of young adults (18- to 34-year-olds) living in their parents’ homes is the highest it has been since the Great Depression.”
The full article can be found at:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2017/01/08/home-and-abroad-obama-trail-disasters/YOaU1KuAT3hSHaGHkmGCeN/story.html?outputType=amp
Further on the domestic front, and despite campaign pledges to be a “uniter,” Obama went on to become the most DIVISIVE president in American history. Again, from the Boston Globe: “Obama became the most polarizing president in modern history. Like all presidents, he faced partisan opposition, but Obama worsened things by regularly taking the low road and disparaging his critics’ motives.” To this observation, I would add that his all too frequent race baiting only inflamed racial tensions after the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Trayvon Martin in Florida, and several others.
In the international arena, amazingly, it got even worse. Again from the Boston Globe: “In his rush to pull US troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, he created a power vacuum into which terror networks expanded and the Taliban revived. Islamic State’s jihadist savagery not only plunged a stabilized Iraq back into shuddering violence, but also inspired scores of lethal terrorist attacks in the West.”
Then there was his absolutely abominable policy toward Iran. Not only was the United States outfoxed by the Ayatollahs on the JCPOA (the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action nuclear “deal”) but Obama lost every “game of chicken” that Iran played with us. Weeks after the JCPOA was signed, Iran began testing long range ballistic missiles, in direct violation of the just signed agreement. In response, Obama did NOTHING. Then, the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors were soon denied unannounced access to nuclear sites, as REQUIRED by the JCPOA. Obama, in response, again did NOTHING. On January 12, 2016, Iran seized 2 US Navy boats and captured 10 service members who were then made to kneel in front of the world’s cameras. Wether or not it’s true that the US boats entered Iranian waters, as claimed by Iran, the proper response would have been simply to escort our boats back out to international waters. Instead, knowing they’d get no forceful repose from Obama, they chose to grandstand and humiliate us. And, Obama’s response was, predictably, to do NOTHING. He did, however, call Iran’s actions “unprofessional.” “UNPROFESSIONAL??!” For goodness sakes!
In a similarly aggressive fashion, during the JCPOA talks, Iran arrested five Americans, including a Christian pastor, citing vague accusations of spying. This blatant hostage taking was simply carried out in order to achieve monetary advantage in the final agreement. Dutifully, Obama ponied up $400 million IN CASH, thereby violating long standing US policy which prohibits paying ransom money in order to de incentivize the taking of hostages. Obama subsequently followed this munificence with another 1.7 BILLION to make his signature JCPOA “achievement” happen. Sad to say, the lion’s share of that money was used by Iran to shore up their teetering regime. And with some monies left over, they funded other worthy causes, such as the terrorist group Hamas, the Shiite mercenary Houthis and other assorted terrorists around the globe.
In another blatant example of ransom negotiating, Obama arranged the release of Army deserter Beau Bergdahl (whose desertion resulted in the deaths of several service men in what was initially thought to be a rescue operation) in exchange for FIVE Islamic terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay. Guantanamo “detainees” have been described as “the worst of the worst” enemies of the United States. (We know that one of the released terrorists promptly went back to trying to kill Americans, because he was subsequently killed in Iraq!).
And let’s not forget that Obama policies and weaknesses aided and abetted the glorious “Arab Spring” of 2011, which resulted in further fundamentalist radicalization of the region.
And, we must never forget the Obama and Hillary Clinton debacle in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans, including idealistic Ambassador Chris Stevens, were murdered, as well as the subsequent attempt at cover up. Unconscionably, available military assets were not called in for some twelve long hours, at which time it was too late to save those lives. And, it should also be noted that ONLY ONE terrorist, Mustafa Al-Imam, was ever charged in the raid. Only ONE.
But our national humiliation under Obama was not limited to the Mid East! Weak Obama policies emboldened both petty and not so petty dictators across the globe. After Obama began to “make nice” with Cuba, the Castro government responded, not with conciliation, but rather with increasingly ruthless oppression of its dissidents. And, in 2016, they went on to deploy diabolical “sound wave attacks” (the “Havana Syndrome”) against US diplomatic personel. Obama responded, again, by doing NOTHING.
Also on the home front, it is without question that Obama was the impetus for the spying that was carried out on the Trump campaign throughout 2016. Lackeys such as James Comey, Susan Rice, and others, did the “dirty work,” but all of them, you can bet, at Obama’s bidding.
North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, likewise, felt empowered. While pursuing his nuclear ambitions without pause, on March 29, 2013, he went so far as to threaten the United States by “declaring that rockets were ready to be fired at American bases in the Pacific.” He then continued long range missile tests with some of the rockets flying over our ally, Japan. Obama, of course, did NOTHING.
And, all of these weaknesses, were not lost on Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Emboldened by feckless Obama policy, a revanchist Putin felt free to annex Crimea in the Ukraine, as well as to destroy the the anti Assad city of Aleppo in Syria. Predictably, Obama did NOTHING.
Now, it should be conceded that Obama did posses a unique talent: the RARE ability to look into someone’s eyes and, unflinchingly, flat out lie. His “if you like your health insurance, you can keep your health insurance” is justly famous, but there were many other bold faced lies regarding taxes, Islam, Bergdahl among others.
But, aside from all of the above, what about the man’s personality and character?… I’m afraid, dear reader, that there’s not much to laud here either: in my estimation, Barack Hussein Obama was, and remains, a conceited, supercilious, duplicitous, vindictive, vituperative, ungrateful prima donna, with a history and motives that are suspect at best. As the reader can see, I do remember Barack Obama. Unfortunately, I remember him all too well.