The Obama Legacy is Well Underway

The creation of the Obama legacy is well underway and he is not even out of office yet. As the Obama Administration winds down, the liberal media has made sure to let you know that Barack Obama has done an amazing job for America over the last 8 years. The media and academia ponder over such absurdities as how great it would be if we violated the Constitution and let him serve another term. It is everywhere. Even worse, many are towing the line on social media, going on about how great things are and how Obama has "fixed" everything. Spoiler alert: we are in very unstable times and in desperate need of some honest dialog.
Sticking with the theme of cleaning your own house first, we must take a hard look at the realities in which we all find ourselves today. As I see more and more of these headlines, I am shocked at how much support Obama garners despite the actual results of his policies. But then again, look at what is going on in both political parties...we are playing teams. The media is guilty, the parties are guilty, and most of us are guilty of blindly supporting our team and excusing any behavior. Stop.Playing.Teams.
Let's get real for just a few minutes and attempt to have an adult conversation. In order to assess what our next steps should be, we must be able to honestly assess where we are today. Progressivism is a problem in both of the major political parties. The policies of both the Democrats and Republicans have set the stage for Obama. And boy did Obama make use of that stage. While Obama did not start the progressive problem in America, he sure has advanced it.
Let's take off the Obama beer goggles and realize we have a lot of hard work ahead of us. We find ourselves with $20Trillion, yes that's Trillion, of national debt. In addition, the Fed has artificially held down interest rates while feverishly printing dollars. We are on the verge of a depression regardless of who got into the White House.
I often wondered why anyone would want to be president right now. If there is an economic collapse whoever is in office will take the blame, and let's just say that things are shaky at best. Of course, the media won't tell you this. They have to create the legacy of Obama and, therefore, cannot be bothered by the facts.
Usually this type of legacy building is much less obvious until years after a president leaves office. The media and academia allow the forgetfulness of time to set in, and then they work on rewriting history. They aren't even doing that anymore. I wonder, has the media and academia gotten so lazy they can't even be bothered with rewriting history anymore? Apparently, they now simply create the false narrative from the beginning.
I say this really as a plea to us all. We must start living in reality and not just the reality that the media and academia present to us. Times are unstable. We are financially unstable, the Middle East is unstable, Russia is unstable, race relations are unstable...I could go on and on. We must be willing to be as critical of those we are for as we are those who we are against.
The following list is a quick summary of the failed policies of the Obama Administration. Again, we must be willing to have an honest conversation that begins with an honest look of where we are at. Regardless of what party is leaving power, we must be willing to honestly assess our position.
(Although I could go on and on explaining the many effects of the policies of the Obama Administration, none have said it more succinctly than Glenn. The following quotes and summaries are taken from Glenn Beck's "Liars," see pp. 149-77 for references)
-Auto Bailout. As soon as he came into office, Obama used Bush's TARP program (another progressive tragedy), which was limited to financial institutions, to take over the auto industry. "Specifically, Obama ran roughshod over the bankruptcy code on behalf of the United Auto Workers union that had bankrupted Chrysler and General Motors in the first place, and did so while abrogating the property rights of creditors."
-Dodd-Frank. The disastrous Dodd-Frank legislation ensured no bank was "too big too fail." The big banks have only gotten bigger and we have ensured taxpayer bailouts will continue.

-Fast and Furious. Together with his Attorney General, Eric Holder, he and Obama ran two thousand guns to criminals across our border with Mexico. These guns killed hundreds of Mexicans and U.S. Border Agent Bryan Terry. The lies and cover-up continue to this day.
-IRS Scandal. Federal agencies have been weaponized against political rivals. "Obama also took a page from the FDR playbook by using the IRS to chill political dissent." Not only Obama's IRS, but the EPA, DOJ, ATF and a host of other powerful federal agencies were unleashed on conservative groups and individuals. We should all be afraid of a president exhibiting tyranny.
-Amnesty. The disaster at the border is clear for those of us on the West Coast. Between Obama's unconstitutional executive amnesty and the floods of Mexicans, South Americans and Middle Easterners running across our border undocumented, we are in trouble.
-Radical Islam. Obama refuses to link radical Islam to jihadists and has purged any language of it from federal documents. Not only is this the type of denial and nonsense that got Trump elected, it is dangerous.
-Middle East. Obama, along with Secretary Clinton, have helped destabilize the Middle East, with ISIS terrorists filling in the vacuums left behind. In Egypt, Obama removed President Mubarak, a strategic Israeli and U.S. ally. What he forgot to mention was that the radical Muslim Brotherhood was the only other force, which gladly filled the vacuum. In Libya, Obama removed Qaddafi, and supported the "rebels" who took over, which eventually became ISIS. Currently, ISIS and radical Islamists are spreading through the Middle East like wildfire. Awesome.
-The Iran Deal. I have never seen anything like this. Against U.S. law, we sent $450Million of cash to Iran, in the dead of night, in an unmarked cargo plane...and then gave the largest state sponsor of terror access to $1.7Billion dollars. Syria anyone?
-Benghazi. This was a moment that changed American policy forever. We leave no man behind, or at least we used to. Obama and Sec. Clinton were running guns to the "rebels" in Syria who became ISIS. They were doing this through Libya. On the night of September 11, 2012, Obama went to bed at 5:00 and Sec. Clinton refused contact as our military and CIA men were fighting for lives at our embassy in Benghazi. They begged for help, but their screams fell on deaf ears. Four service men, including Ambassador Stevens, were killed that night. Obama and Clinton turned their back on our military men because they did not want to expose their gun running scandal. They then blamed it on a video. It was an unprecedented and tragic moment in history.

-Israel. "Under Clinton's leadership at the State Department, it was revealed that the Obama Administration went so far as to seek to literally undermine Israel's governmental position by strengthening the Palestinian Arabs."
-Obamacare. One-sixth of the U.S. economy was taken over by the federal government with the passage of Obamacare. Never mind the fact that it was shoved through Congress on Christmas Eve, or that it was vigorously argued that it was not a tax to get it passed, then argued it was a tax as the only way to get it past the U.S. Supreme Court. The really shocking thing is what Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber got caught saying. Obamacare was designed to fail in order for single-payer, universal socialized medicine to take over. It was progressive-a step towards the end-goal. As we speak, Obamacare is failing, premiums are up in some places 70% and insurance companies are bowing out.
-Russia. Well, it appears Mitt Romney was right. Russia is our greatest Geo-political foe. Between their intervention in our elections, hacking our government communications and Wikileaks releases we sure have played a weak hand. Not to mention the fact that Vladimir Putin walked right into the Crimea and the Ukraine and took over. Obama sat back and watched.
China. China continues to "saber-rattle" in the South China Sea, expanding its control and expanding with man-made islands. Do we even have time to mention its cyber attack on the U.S. and currency manipulation?

Cuba. Obama overturned decades of U.S. policy against the Communist regime of the Castro brothers and "culminated in Obama and Raul Castro sharing a hot dog at a Cuban baseball game." Nothing like strengthening an anti-American, Communist regime less than 100 miles from Florida.
TPP. The Trans Pacific Partnership is the most egregious power grab in American history. This agreement makes an international government superior to the U.S. Constitution and laws there under. Say goodbye to sovereignty.
Let us summarize a few other policies instituted over the last eight years. The following is directly from "Liars" pp. 170-71:
"Just like FDR, Obama purported to help struggling Americans with these policies, but what the primarily accomplished was growing government and executive power. Consider some of the other progressive wins Obama has racked up:

-Using recess appointment power when the Senate was not in recess--thwarting constitutional checks and balances.
-Seeking to force public schools to use racial quotas to determine how and when to punish students for misbehaving--thwarting the federalist structure in an attempt to socially engineer based on progressive notions of 'fairness' and 'justice.'
-Forcing universities nationwide to strip protections from college students accused of sexual misconduct--violating due process rights.
-Ignoring the law requiring the president to give thirty days' notice to Congress before releasing jihadists from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba--thwarting the system of checks and balances.
-Attempting to impose an unconstitutional nationwide speech code on college campuses--thwarting the First Amendment.
-Arguing several property rights cases rejected unanimously by the Supreme Court, under which Obama's Environmental Protection Agency showed sever contempt for such rights through coercion--thwarting constitutionally protected private property rights."

This is where we are folks. Until we are willing to admit the mistakes of those on our own side, we can never truly introduce solutions. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Obama did not "fix" everything. In fact, in many ways America is weaker than ever. Some would say, by design. That's the reality of Obama's legacy.