Thursday, September 15, 2016

The Legacies of Barack Obama; it includes the candidacy of Donald Trump

Victor Davis Hanson
"Racial relations in this country seem as bad as they have been in a half­ century. " . . .

Mr Hanson writes of what he sees happening in Obama's home stretch:

. . . "Apparently Obama is veering even further to the left, in hopes of establishing a rhetorical progressive legacy in lieu of any lasting legislative or foreign policy achievement. Turning the presidency into an edgy soapbox is seemingly all that is left of Obama's promise to "fundamentally transform" the country. 

"But divisive sermonizing and the issuing of executive orders are not the same as successfully reforming our health care system. The Affordable Care Act, born of exaggeration and untruth, is now in peril as insurers pull out and the costs of premiums and deductibles soar. 

"Even presidential nominee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is not really defending the Obama administration's past "red line" in Syria, the "reset" with Vladimir Putin's Russia, the bombing of Libya, the Benghazi tragedy, the euphemistic rebranding of Islamic terrorism as mere "violent extremism," the abrupt pullout from (and subsequent collapse of) Iraq, or the Iran nuclear deal that so far seems to have made the theocracy both rich and emboldened. 

"The U.S. economy ­­ with its record ­low growth over eight years, near ­record labor nonparticipation rates, record national debt and record consecutive years of zero interest rates ­­ is not much of a legacy either. " . . .



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