Obama Legacy and the United States of America

Ziauddin Choudhury

The first African American President of the United States (and probably the only one
for next few decades) will leave office in just about ten months. He will have served
eight full years as President by the time he hands over to his successor. It does not
matter whether his successor will be a Republican or a fellow Democrat, as far he is
concerned he will hand over the reins to a person other than his own color, the color
that the US has known in all its two hundred and forty years of history.
For Obama color was not an issue when he sought US peoples vote to elect him as
President, twice as a matter of fact. Not that he was unaware of his difference from
the people who had sought this office before him, but he believed in a country that
had overcome its prejudices and finally was prepared to accept people from a
diverse background and ethnicity. Obama was not a typical African American from a
plantation background; his father was a Kenyan expatriate, and mother a white
Anglo Saxon. Yet, he made history as he was the first person of color to win the US
Presidency twice. To Americans, black or white, he was their first African American
President. And there is the rub.
Obama inherited three things from his immediate predecessor, George Bush. A war
that had gone awry in the Middle East draining the treasury, an economy that was
spiraling down like a plane shot down, and a double digit unemployment level that
showed no sign of recovery any time soon. Large Banks and Insurance companies
were on the verge of collapse, and a great despondency prevailed in the populace
over the future of the country.
Obama was elected against this backdrop because he gave people hope, drew
millions to his cause and promised that the future of America will change under his
leadership. He promised changes in the financial and tax systems, assured millions
of people healthcare insurance at affordable costs, and bring about reforms in
immigration. Above all he promised to bring an end to the blood-letting in Iraq by
bringing back US troops home. He also made it known that he would refurbish US
image abroad pursuing a foreign policy that brought about equality of nations, and
promoted greater understanding with Islamic countries.
Obama was elected not once but twice. He devoted his first term in fighting an
uphill battle with a Republican dominated Congress to pass his historic affordable
health care bill that aimed to provide thirty million uninsured people affordable
insurance and make it mandatory for all to carry health insurance. The bill passed
narrowly with help of a Senate that was until 2012 had Democratic majority to the
dismay of the Republicans. But things would change from 2012 making it difficult
for Obama to move with other legislations such as immigration reforms when the

thin Democratic majority in the Senate disappeared after mid- term elections and
the Republicans took full control of both houses. The confrontation between the
Executive and Legislature hardened, and Obama faced relentless opposition for all
his moves, domestic and international.
Internationally Obama had raised great hopes for bringing an end to the hostilities
in the Middle East and Afghanistan, in improving relations with Muslim countries,
and with Iran and Cuba in particular- countries with which US had a continuing
antagonistic relationship. In his first term Obama had made a momentous visit to
Cairo where he had signaled a new effort to mitigate the tension in the Middle East
over Palestine. He had also indicated a renewed effort to bring about peace in the
region through negotiation, not war.
Despite his good intentions no progress could be made in changing the conflict in
the Middle East. The Middle East would soon see a melt down with outbreak of mass
upsurges and civil disturbances in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Syria. Iraq would split
apart with the rise of a new menace in the shape of ISIS that would seize territories
from a faltering Syria and a feckless Iraq army that dwindled into nothingness after
US withdrawal. Afghanistan, where Obama had directed his attention, would also
continue to be threatened by a resurgent Taliban as US followed its plan to draw
down forces from there.
But even in the backdrop of these dire developments Obama pursued a cherished
foreign policy objective of easing tension with adversaries, Iran and Cuba, even
though these were despised by his Republican opponents. In easing relationship
with Iran he was able to marshal his European allies to negotiate a nuclear deal that
would effectively stop Iran from developing a nuclear arsenal, and open its nuclear
facilities to UN inspection. With Cuba he opened up trade and investment
opportunities with lifting of fifty-five year old embargo with that country. He later
cemented that new relationship with a historic visit to Cuba, the first ever visit to
Cuba by a US President in last sixty years.
Not unsurprisingly none of these achievements by Obama including his signature
affordable health care that rescued millions of uninsured citizens from disease and
death was welcome to his Republican opponents, and sad to say many others who
did not exactly want to see him in that high office. In fact one of the prime reasons
that drove millions to the beyond belief successful rallies of the Republican
Presidential hopeful Donald Trump has to do more with animosity to Obama than
with the economic condition of the United States.
For, economically the US has not been in a more favorable state than in the time of
President Bush. When Obama took over the US economy was in doldrums, the
growth rate had plummeted to less than one percent, unemployment was at an alltime high of nearly eleven percent, and big Banks were collapsing. Now,
unemployment is at an all-time low of less than five percent, the GDP is growing at

more than two percent, and the big Banks are performing at a rate that has led to
one of the Democratic Presidential hopefuls (Bernie Sanders) to declare that they
would need to be harnessed and broken (because he is a socialist).
As Obama nears the end of his Presidency he will be remembered as not only the
first African-American President, but also as the first President who gave his people
right to healthcare, and along with it reform of the student loan program that gave
relief to millions of college students. He forced changes in employment in defense
services eliminating discrimination on the basis sex, gender, and sexual orientation.
He unilaterally issued executive order enabling undocumented immigrants to seek
ways to seek legal immigration in the US. Last of all we opened ways to reestablish
normal relations to erstwhile adversaries, Iran and Cuba.
Obama legacy may be overturned should a Republican President be elected this
year to replace him. But it will be unfair, it will be unfair not only to him but to the
United States as a whole should it turn out to be so. For what Obama has done, it
was for the better of its citizens, and for the World as a whole.