As more and more people are talking about the upcoming 2016 election, not many people are talking about Obama and what he has accomplished in his six years in office so far. In this post I am going to reflect on the good, the bad, and the ugly of Barack Obama's presidency.
The good:
A bright light on Obama's time in office is his repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell." DADT, enacted by Bill Clinton in 1994, was the official policy towards gays in the armed forces. Although the policy prohibited gays to be discriminated against, it barred gays, lesbians, and bisexuals from openly disclosing their sexual orientation. This policy remained acceptable in the military until 2011, when Obama repealed it, allowing for openly gay and lesbian Americans to serve in the military. This was a huge plus for the LGBT community which were severely set back because of DADT.
Another positive thing Obama has done in office is enacting the expansion of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. The PRIMNM, enacted by George Bush, protected remote islands captured by the U.S. during WW2, in the Pacific Ocean. The waters around these islands, although worthless in terms of an economic standpoint, are host to the most diverse species of marine life in the largest area, owned by one country, in the world. Obama expanded the PRIMNM, tripling its size from around 80,000 square miles to 490,343 miles. In this massive zone, he declared sport fishing illegal, protecting and preserving the largest marine reserve in the world.
The bad:
A failure in the Obama administration was its continuation from Bush's presidency of drilling off-shore in critical Polar Bear habitats off Alaska's Arctic coast. To provide justification for drilling in Polar Bear territory, the administration continued the label of Polar Bears as "threatened" when they should be labeled as "endangered." This opening of areas in the Chukchi Sea to offshore drilling came as surprise to many considering that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill had occurred that same year, 2010. The lack of oil-cleanup technology in case of a spill would wipe out the Polar Bears in the area, just like it wiped out wildlife throughout the Gulf of Mexico in the BP Oil spill.
The ugly:
One of the worst failures in Obama's presidency came during his first term in 2009 when he signed into action the Car Allowance Rebate System or CARS for short. This program was aimed to provide incentives to buy a more fuel efficient car when trading in a less fuel efficient car. This 3 billion dollar program was supposed to increase the sale of automobiles while also increasing the use of fuel efficient vehicles. This program turned out to be a complete failure. For each vehicle traded in, the government lost 2,000 dollars. In the end, the totals outweighed the benefits and the government lost 1.4 billion dollars.
Works Cited:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_Allowance_Rebate_System
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_ask,_don%27t_tell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Remote_Islands_Marine_National_Monument
http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/no-break-for-polar-bears-on-christmas-habitat-sacrificed-by-new-offshore-oil-plan.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_Allowance_Rebate_System
Thank you for an interesting post, Johnny! With your summary of his successes and failures, I started to wonder what kind of a president Obama has been. What will be his legacy once he leaves office? Will he go down in the books as a great president, like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln? Or a poor one, like Warren G. Harding? Turns out, it's actually fairly hard to tell, since a huge part of a president's legacy is their policy record, which is difficult to evaluate before a president reaches the end of his term. His Obamacare initiative has had questionable success, but at the same time, Obama did push through several economic stimulus packages that helped pull America out of the Great Recession. But judgment day is still a ways off. So I'm truly curious--what kind of a president do people feel Obama has been?
ReplyDeleteSource: http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/20/opinion/zelizer-obama-successful-president/
Great information Johnny! I think it's really important to highlight the things our current president has done in his two terms, instead of allowing him to fade away during this jam-packed election season. I think Obama has done many great things during his terms such as ObamaCare and as you mentioned before, encouraging the support of LGBT groups. I hope our next president can do even greater things during their term(s) as chief executive!
ReplyDeleteVery insightful! I think you should also mention Obama's attempt at the DREAM Act, which was to allow undocumented immigrants to stay in the U.S. Although it's at an impasse in Congress, we should at least give a mention to Obama for trying to tackle such a controversial issue as immigration, whether he is right or not.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, I had not heard about most of the things on the list. May I ask what the difference between bad and ugly is, in terms of your list? Also, I personally would have included something on the Iraq War and his health care reforms, though I suppose they are more controversial.
ReplyDeleteGood information Johnny! It's cool to see some of the varying successes Obama has had in his term We should also not forget the failure of Solyndra, a solar company that was centered in Fremont, which received 536 million dollars from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. I remember driving by the factories on my way to go skiing, but Solyndra went bankrupt only two years after receiving the money from the government.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post Johnny. I think it is important to point out the achievements than President Obama has had over the course of his 2 terms so far, considering that everybody always seems to point out the negative in him. It is really great how Obama has been constantly striving for equal treatment for all citizens.
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