Ten Best, Ten Worst: A Farewell to President Obama

Donald Trump became our nation's 45th President at noon ET today.  It will be years until we can fully analyze President Barack Obama's place in the history books, but on the occasion of his departure, I offer both kind words and criticism, with 10 of the best things he did while in office and 10 of the worst things he did while in office.  You can't quite see him too clearly in the photo here, but this is Obama speaking at Wesleyan University's commencement the year after I graduated from there, when he was a Senator on the campaign trail in 2008...

NUMBER 10:
GOOD: Obama inspired the nation when he was elected as the first African-American President in a nation where a lot of black folks were slaves 150 years ago.  He proved that you can become the President no matter the color of your skin.
BAD: It's probably more perceived than it is real, but the media has portrayed racial tensions as somehow worsening, which is odd considering the most powerful man in the world for eight years was black and, for those of us who grew up in the 90s, where even us little white boys idolized Michael Jordan, Emmitt Smith, and Derek Jeter, racial tension was rarely on our minds.

NUMBER 9:
GOOD: Opening up and normalizing relations with Cuba was a good thing.  This does not mean that we're cool with those in power in Cuba (most of us anyway), but a lot of the sanctions that were lifted seemed entirely unnecessary, and I see no reason why we shouldn't try to at least get along with Cuba where we can and allow travel back-and-forth (and Cuban cigars for those who are into that).
BAD: Refusing to block the anti-Israel UN resolution during the lame duck period was, as I detailed in a recent blog post, disgraceful.  Israel is an important ally that we should stand behind, and the people the U.S. sided with by not blocking this resolution are people who literally want Israel wiped off the map.

NUMBER 8:
GOOD: Obama changed his views on same-sex marriage after being elected, supporting equal rights for them.  I view this as a positive thing because, although I am a Christian and fully agree with the Bible on the topic of gay marriage, I believe the government should stay out of marriage completely, recognizing equally every union as a civil union with the corresponding rights.  But if it does recognize marriage, everyone must be afforded the same rights, regardless of religion or sexual orientation.
BAD: With all of the focus on Russia attempting to help President Trump's candidacy, people may forget how terribly Obama handled Russia.  He allowed Russia and Putin to pretty much do whatever they wanted, at least until after Trump was elected.  Obama told Russia on a hot mic that he would have more flexibility once re-elected, he underestimated Russian threats while debating Mitt Romney, and he basically let Russia do what it wanted with Crimea, while ignoring serious issues in Syria and other places.

NUMBER 7:
GOOD: Obama is an honorable family man who carried himself with class and dignity during his presidency, showing a good sense of humor, strength, and eloquence, and never having any credible scandal regarding infidelity during his eight years in office.  He also seems like an approachable, down-to-earth person, and I would like to sit down and have a beer with the man.
BAD: That being said, he never should have been given the Nobel Peace Prize.  He is the first President who has been at war during his entire eight years in office, we're bombing a lot of places most Americans don't even realize we're bombing, and he teamed up with Hillary Clinton to royally screw up Libya.

NUMBER 6:
GOOD: The rate of Veteran homelessness declined under President Obama, and there are more Veteran college tuition assistance programs available.
BAD: The VA hospitals have been a disaster, with insane wait times and Veterans dying in queue.  While not entirely Obama's fault, more should have been done to prevent and fix these issues.

NUMBER 5:
GOOD: Some of the provisions in Obamacare are great, such as insurance companies having to cover people who have preexisting conditions, as well as allowing folks to stay on their parents' plan until they are 26 if they need to.  When I graduated in May 2007, I was 21 and I was dropped from my health insurance plan the very next day because I was no longer a student.  That should not be a thing that happens.  Also, under Obamacare, even if by brute force, more people are insured.
BAD: Obamacare was only upheld by SCOTUS because it's a tax, which is exactly what Obama said it wasn't.  It's insane that insurance companies aren't allowed to compete across state lines to drive down prices, and this is part of the reason that healthcare costs have skyrocketed, premiums are through the roof, and high-deductible plans are the norm.  My health insurance plan under the Obama presidency has gotten increasingly worse and more expensive, and this is the case for many Americans.  Also, it was a lie that you could keep any doctor that you liked under Obamacare.

NUMBER 4:
GOOD: Obama has protected a lot of land.  In 2009, he designated more than two million acres as wilderness, creating trails, and protecting rivers.  He cares about the environment and the treasured outdoor wilderness that God has blessed our nation with.
BAD: Obama freed five terrorists in exchange for the release and return of captured American traitor Bowe Bergdahl.  This is beyond shameful.

NUMBER 3:
GOOD: Obama reversed policies on torture, agreeing with Senator John McCain agreed on the subject, and you would be hard-pressed to find someone more credible on the topic of torture than a former POW war hero like McCain.
BAD: The Iran deal is not a good deal, as it increases Iran's chances of getting nukes, and we basically paid Iran a ransom to get back hostages.  I understand the money was from an old settlement, but forking it over at the same time we got hostages back sends a very wrong message.

NUMBER 2:
GOOD: Obama presided over and assisted in economic recovery to some extent.  Although many are still underemployed and workforce participation is down, a lot of people have at least found jobs again, bringing the unemployment rate down.  The stock market is also very high, having nearly tripled during his Presidency, after the huge crash in 2008 cut the Dow Jones by more than half.
BAD: The U.S. Government's credit rating went down in 2011 because we are spending so much money.  It's not just the stock markets that are up.  When Obama became President, our National Debt was roughly 11 trillion.  It has increased nearly 9 trillion, to 20 trillion.  That is, by far, the biggest increase in National Debt for any President.  And you thought George W. Bush racked up a debt?  (He did, but this blew that record out of the water.)

NUMBER 1:
GOOD: Obama did the job that Bush left him to complete and, under his leadership, the United States found and killed Osama bin Laden.
BAD: Also under Obama came the underestimation and rise of ISIS/ISIL and radical Islamic terrorism.  Poor decisions included withdrawing from Iraq at the wrong time and not providing extra security in Benghazi.  ISIS has become a huge threat throughout the world, and there have been too many extremist Islamic terrorists killing people in the United States as well, often doing so in the name of Allah after pledging allegiance to ISIS.  ISIS is a huge threat that must be obliterated.

Inconsistency is a Payne

Full disclosure: I do not like Carrier because I have a bone to pick with them.  Recently, my nine-year-old Payne Furnace stopped working because of a cracked heat exchanger (basically the main part of the furnace--if it's cracked, you should just get a new furnace).  The heat exchanger is under warranty for 20 years, but only for the original owner.  I purchased my house less than three years ago.  So I called Payne and the person I talked to said I was not covered because I was not the original owner.  I asked to speak to a manager, and they transferred me to a manager at Carrier (Payne is owned by Carrier, which is owned by United Technologies).  The manager told me that Carrier would stand by its product and cover the cost of a new furnace.  Then when the company that was set to install it called Carrier to arrange payment, Carrier decided not to pay.  The manager called me back and said she made a mistake.  They would have covered it if I had the 90% efficiency unit, because the failure rate on that heat exchanger was higher than expected, but I had the 80% efficiency unit.  The conversation from there went something like this...
"Well, mine had a 100% failure rate, and it's not even ten years old yet, so aren't you going to stand behind your product?" I asked.
"Sorry sir, the warranty is only good if you are the original owner.  It's non-transferable."
"I'm aware of that, but you had said you would stand behind it anyway.  Now you won't?  Why would I ever buy a Carrier furnace again in my life?  What difference does it make if I'm the first owner or not?  It should have lasted 20 or 30 years!"
"Sorry for the mistake sir, but there's nothing we can do."
"Well, I can tell you that I'm very dissatisfied with your company, and I certainly will be purchasing a new furnace from someone else.  Regardless of whether or not I'm the original owner, there's no reason that the unit should fail after nine years."
I at least got them to agree to pay my diagnostic fee when I had someone come out to check why my furnace wasn't working, but several months later, I'm still waiting on that check...
What does that have to do with anything?  Well other than me just venting (no furnace pun intended), I wanted to make the point that because of this, I ended up buying a furnace from another company (Lennox).  In fact, I had a Lennox Central Air Conditioning unit installed at the same time.  Carrier lost my business because their product sucked and they did nothing to stand behind it.  This is what happens in a free market: choice.

Donald Trump "saved 1,000 jobs" at Carrier from leaving the United States for Mexico.  On the surface, it sounds like he did a great thing, right?  But if you take a look at how he did it, I think you'll see that it was NOT a great thing.  Quite the opposite.  The jobs basically stayed here because Trump threatened Carrier, and Carrier was promised special tax incentives to stay.  I've been listening to Ben Shapiro a lot lately, and he is completely correct in his analysis on this, calling it "economic fascism" (which is different than full out fascism by the way, but it's not cool for the government to play favorites).  Sure, 1,000 jobs were saved at Carrier, but maybe 1,000 jobs were lost at other places that could have stepped in and done a better job than Carrier (based on my experience, that doesn't seem very hard to do).  Why should more money from us, the taxpayers, flow to Carrier as basically a bribe to keep jobs here?  If Carrier is given tax breaks, why not give others the same tax breaks, and create a climate with less regulations where businesses want to stay and grow?

Shapiro points out that Obama basically did this same things eight years ago with Caterpillar.  Republicans (rightly) complained about it then.  Why is it alright with a lot of Republicans now because Trump is the one doing it with Carrier?  Either it's right in both cases, or it's wrong in both cases.  Consistency is key.  Let's be honest here.  Let's be consistent.  If Trump does something good, let's point out that he did something good.  If he does something bad, like this Carrier deal in my estimation, let's point out that he's done something bad.

The idea of consistency extends to other things as well.  Leftists LOVED it when Obama bashed and criticized Fox News throughout his Presidency.  After all, Fox is quite overtly biased to the right, so it makes sense that Obama doesn't like them.  They're basically the only mainstream media news station that's biased to the right, but they are biased to the right nonetheless.  I don't have a problem with Obama criticizing Fox News.  And I don't have a problem with Trump bashing and criticizing CNN either.  CNN is clearly biased to the left.  Throughout the campaign, CNN clearly favored Clinton over Trump, Donna Brazile provided Hillary with debate questions ahead of time during the primaries, Don Lemon and Anderson Cooper are absurd, and while CNN at least didn't publish the unverified dossiers like Buzzfeed did, clearly Trump was not going to be thrilled about the article they did publish.  But instead of Leftists admitting that Trump's distaste for CNN parallels Obama's distaste for Fox News, suddenly they're crying that Trump is trying to stop freedom of the press because of what he said about CNN.  What?  Overreaction much?  Again, either both cases are OK, or neither one is.

What about cheering when people decide not to design clothes for Melania Trump or perform at Trump's inauguration?  I have no problem with that.  But I also have no problem with bakers not wanting to bake cakes for gay weddings if they don't want to.  No one should have the right to demand that someone should bake a cake for their wedding, dress them, or perform for them.

How about free speech?  Who's cool with banning Milo Yiannopoulos from speaking on a campus (or in some cases, Ben Shapiro, like at DePaul)?  Who's alright with violently protesting when he is scheduled to speak, so the event gets shut down, and spitting in the face of one of his cameramen?  Why do we see it so often with speakers on the right of the political spectrum?  Why are people always just cursing, name-calling, and never coming up with a better reason for violently protesting than "because you support Trump"?  Yes, Milo has some pretty controversial views, and he's definitely in the minority on many of his views (and because he's gay and conservative), but since when do college students want to shut up the minority voices instead of listening to what they have to say, engaging them, and presenting counter-arguments if you believe they are wrong?  I don't understand any real problems with Ben Shapiro though, actually.  He's very principled and consistent, and I don't find him terribly controversial.  Ben is conservative, but he presents facts.  I've watched videos of him talking in places where he was shouted down and called a Nazi.  Clearly, those sorts of protests can only come from complete ignorance: he's a devout Jew.  But we're living in America in 2017, where the President-elect is being called the same thing, and he's actually standing up and defending Israel, so there's that.


I can point out plenty of examples of places where people are often not consistent, from criminal laws to what are taxes are used for, and you can take whichever side you want on the issue, but you ought to be consistent.  And if you like Obama, something isn't good just because he does it.  If you dislike Obama, something isn't bad just because he does it.  The same holds true for Donald Trump.  And Ben Shapiro.  And yes, even Milo Yiannopoulos.  OMG, he got a book deal, PROTEST AND BOYCOTT Simon and Schuster!  Anyone want to join me at a book burning later?  I have Huck Finn and To Kill A Mockingbird on my bookshelf.  They're great books, so they probably burn well, especially on pages where the n-word is used.  I'll meet you at the bonfire, but any idea where I can pick up a Quran on the way?

[That list bit was sarcasm, by the way, for those of you who did not recognize it as such--I am fine with Milo publishing a book and not really down with burning any books.]