# If Obama was assassinated, how would he be remembered? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 22, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-obama-was-assassinated-how-would-he-be-remembered/674515 "2013-11-22T14:34:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-obama-was-assassinated-how-would-he-be-remembered/674515/21 "2013-11-23T01:22:50Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Obama would be remembered as the guy who prevented Hillary Clinton from being President In the Democratic Primary, she wanted folks to pay a fine if they did not have insurance. He did not. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-obama-was-assassinated-how-would-he-be-remembered/674515/22 "2013-11-23T02:06:26Z")
Getting all Americans health insurance. Serious history books will point out loads of qualifications, including that it might not have really happened if he had lived. But I think the average person’s general picture will be that before Obama, Americans often had no where to turn when they became ill. I 100 percent hope he will be fine, and I think he will be fine, and, as a result, his actual health care legacy will be more mixed. However, universal health coverage, once in place in any country, is quite popular, and whomever seems to be the president or prime minister when the biggest hump towards it takes place will get a retrospective glow. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-obama-was-assassinated-how-would-he-be-remembered/674515/23 "2013-11-23T02:55:02Z")
That’s not very nice. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-obama-was-assassinated-how-would-he-be-remembered/674515/24 "2013-11-23T02:59:13Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > That’s not very nice. If you meant my post, I support the President, and it was meant respectfully. If you mean the premise of the whole thread, I’m uncomfortable with it, but that’s free speech for you. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-obama-was-assassinated-how-would-he-be-remembered/674515/25 "2013-11-23T03:14:50Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > That raises another possibility. What if the assassination wasn’t a public spectacle? Let’s say that Air Force One blows up over the ocean. The only visuals we ever get are a map showing the crash location, and stock footage of Obama’s Greatest [del]Hits[/del] er, speeches. Would memory fade quicker without any shocking videos to pass around? Or would the mystery/conspiracy angle help to keep his memory alive? > [@Loach](#): > > Hell yes it would make a big difference. The media now more than ever is geared toward video. A local news story with no national implications becomes national news if there is good video. A historic news story will resonate more if there is video. No one would even know what the Hindenburg was if there was no film. Granted we have a media-intensive culture, but any presidential assassination that _wasn’t_ a public spectacle would be an enormous Big Deal. How could you possibly pull off a presidential assassination without it being an instantly-recorded-and-put-on-the-Internet public spectacle? Air Force One “just blows up”? At the very least, that’s a shocking security lapse; at worst, an inside job. So, OK, yeah, there’s no video to watch on the Internet; but on the other hand…WTF?!? Is this a coup? _Everyone_ would turn into a Conspiracy Theorist at that point. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-obama-was-assassinated-how-would-he-be-remembered/674515/26 "2013-11-23T04:29:57Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Granted we have a media-intensive culture, but any presidential assassination that _wasn’t_ a public spectacle would be an enormous Big Deal. How could you possibly pull off a presidential assassination without it being an instantly-recorded-and-put-on-the-Internet public spectacle? Air Force One “just blows up”? At the very least, that’s a shocking security lapse; at worst, an inside job. So, OK, yeah, there’s no video to watch on the Internet; but on the other hand…WTF?!? Is this a coup? _Everyone_ would turn into a Conspiracy Theorist at that point. Well sure, regardless of the circumstances it would be a big deal. It’s a question of how big. Something on video will be a huge deal for as long as there is a country. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-obama-was-assassinated-how-would-he-be-remembered/674515/27 "2013-11-23T04:33:31Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Depends, how far into the future? Other than symbolically as the first black president I doubt in 50 years any of his individual actions will be remembered except by academics. I doubt government healthcare will look anything like the ACA in 50 years so maybe he’ll be remembered for putting us on the path to that. In 50 years, people who have not yet been born will be saying, “What was the big deal about a black president, anyway?” I voted for Obama both times, mainly because I definitely didn’t want the opposition anywhere near the White House except as tourists, but I wouldn’t was a President Biden either. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-obama-was-assassinated-how-would-he-be-remembered/674515/28 "2013-11-23T04:54:58Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Well sure, regardless of the circumstances it would be a big deal. It’s a question of how big. Something on video will be a huge deal for as long as there is a country. Yeah, but–“Remember that time the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development seized absolute power by planting a bomb in Air Force One as it was headed back to America from the Asia-Pacific summit?” “Of course we all remember that glorious day, Comrade Citizen! The Great Day of Deliverance and the Dawning of the New Patriotic Order–how can anyone forget? Quiet, you fool–are you mad? The National Homeland Security Agency is _always_ listening!” That would certainly also be a huge deal for a long time. The point is, there just isn’t any way to kill off a POTUS (I don’t mean natural causes/him choking to death on a pretzel) without it being a big public spectacle that wouldn’t be unusually earth-shattering, even more so than the standard “nutcase takes a shot at the President while he’s making a public appearance” model of presidential assassinations. Because if the thing doesn’t go down during a public appearance, then how the hell _does_ it go down? (I guess there is still the “First Lady flips out while they’re both at home in the private residence section of the White House” scenario. But that would probably also be sufficiently weird to ensure a prominent place in American history.) ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-obama-was-assassinated-how-would-he-be-remembered/674515/29 "2013-11-23T05:58:47Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > In 50 years, people who have not yet been born will be saying, “What was the big deal about a black president, anyway?” Hopefully, but I imagine there will still be at least some bonus history points there for him. I mean, people still remember Kennedy as the first Catholic Prez, even though anti-Catholic animosity is pretty much dead at this point and was never as big a deal as anti-black feelings. Of course, the aftermath of the assassination matters a lot. I mean, I don’t even know what Arch-Duke Ferdinand was an Arch-Duke _of_ or what an arch-duke even is (like a regular duke, but…archier?), but I still know the guys name, because even though his life might not have made much of an impression, his death sure did. If Obama is killed by Canadian agents, setting off the First Great Northern War, we’ll probably remember him a lot longer. ---
**Author:** ![Diver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@Diver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diver)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-obama-was-assassinated-how-would-he-be-remembered/674515/30 "2013-11-23T06:35:06Z")
A cheap political hack. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-obama-was-assassinated-how-would-he-be-remembered/674515.md?page=1)