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https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2017/01/08/home-and-abroad-obama-trail-
disasters/YOaU1KuAT3hSHaGHkmGCeN/story.html
https://archive.is/V79pt
JEFF JACOBY, JANUARY 08, 2017
At home and abroad, Obama’s trail of disasters
(excerpts)
In almost every respect, Obama leaves behind a trail of failure and disappointment.
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.
“Millions and millions and millions and millions of people look at that pretty picture of America
he painted,” said Bill Clinton after Obama extolled the recovery in his last State of the Union speech, “and they cannot find themselves in it to save their lives.”
The Affordable Care Act should never have been enacted. Survey after survey confirmed that it lacked majority support, and only through hard-knuckled, party-line maneuvering was the wrenching health-care overhaul rammed through Congress.
The 44th president came to office vowing not to repeat the foreign-policy mistakes of his predecessor. His own were exponentially worse. In his rush to pull US troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, he created a power vacuum into which terror networks expanded
The consequences have been stark: a Middle East awash in blood and bombs, US troops re-embroiled in Iraq and Afghanistan, aggressive dictators ascendant, human rights and democracy in retreat, rivers of refugees destabilizing nations across three continents, the rise of neo-fascism in Europe, and the erosion of US credibility to its lowest level since the Carter years.
According to Gallup, Obama became the most polarizing president in modern history.
What followed, alas, was eight long years of disenchantment and incompetence. Our world today is more dangerous, our country more divided, our national mood more toxic.