Anyone doesn’t know the genesis of Social Security or Medicare is just not politically aware, and probably doesn’t know much about any of the presidents. HUD is not even close the same level of notability.
Really? Are you kidding? No clue about HUD, but knowing that FDR did Social Security and LBJ did Medicare is basic stuff.
This. When grade-school kids remember their one line about a president it will be:
[ul]
[li]Washington - “Father of our country”[/li][li]Lincoln - “Freed the slaves”[/li][li]Obama - “First black president”[/li][/ul]
I don’t think the ACA will be remembered because I don’t think it will last that long (like prohibition…)
I’m a little dizzy from trying to work out the math in your OP. Over 100 years ago it was 1916. I can deal with that, but are we comparing to what 1916 people thought of presidents over 100 years before that, which would have been 1816? That leaves only the first 4 presidents, so ranking them would have been easy for 1916 people.
That’s obviously not what you meant, but if we’re framing presidents from 1916 to 2016, that leaves Lincoln out, and T. Roosevelt. No matter, here we go.
FDR is memorable for many reasons; he was loved by many people. He was also hated, by perhaps at many. He came to power in a big crisis, and he made some daring moves to fight the crisis. Some of them worked, some didn’t, and some are still with us.
Social Security is significant. Some still hate it, but it is here to stay.
Many of the things he did to and for the banks are still here.
What we now call welfare, etc. got a big boost from FDR.
World War II is the hub of some good things he did, and also some blunders.
I’m going to pause here to let somebody say which century this is about.
If historians regard the arms agreement with Iran to be more significant than Bush’s arms agreements with the Soviet Union, there’s something wrong. If they regard Obama’s decision to open up relations with Cuba equivalent to Nixon and China, there’s something wrong. Especially since all it took to open relations with Cuba was to, um, open relations with Cuba. China was a lot harder because there was ideological resistance on both sides, whereas Cuba had no problem having relations with democracies. We just didn’t want to deal with them.
The history books will read: Barack Obama became our first black President. As promised, he didn’t do any dumb shit. Which means that in the rankings, he will be ranked above every President that did dumb shit, which is about half of them.
He will go down as a solid B or B+ President. What I think a lot of conservatives are conveniently forgetting or deluding themselves about is just how harshly their behavior over the last 8 years is likely to be judged in a historical context.
The GOP over the last 8 years has basically been dog whistling every crypto and not so crypto racist they can into their camp while suckling plutocrat penis in a bid to stay in power. Their behavior by an measure has been execrable personally and politically. Republicans have really been just a gigantic bag of shits over the past 8 years. Even some of the more thoughtful Republicans are regretting their tactics at this point given what it has delivered in the way of Trump and company.
The current Republican Party is going to be considered akin to the Klan historically. People with relatives who were members of the Circa 2000s GOP will keep it on the down low 50 years from now.
Total, total horse shit.
Bringing up the tired old Republicans = The KKK nonsense is a classic example of jingoistic ignorance. Before LBJ the racist south was overwhelmingly Democrat (since the Civil War). Obama supporters and Obama himself have played the race card at every opportunity because they know, to their supporters, it is a guaranteed win. No one, no one who is a Republican today feels the slightest bit of shame for opposing Obama on the issues, regardless of the left’s response always just being, “You’re a racist!” The Democrats have been overwhelmingly opportunist (and outright racist) in this sense, not the Republicans. And they will be the ones remembered as such (considering that all Obama will be remembered for is his race).
And the reason for Trump’s success is 8 years of Obama. An elitist, race-baiting, America-shaming, academic liberal has seeded the playing field for the success of a populist candidate like Trump. And even though I was never a big supporter of him, if he wins it will be a refreshing change from over two decades of politically correct bullshit.
“You’re the racist for pointing out my racism!”
Not more significant, just bolder, more direction-changing, and more bucking of the conventional wisdom. If it pans out well, then it will be regarded as a huge deal because of how much of a sea-change it was, and it will have massive ramifications because of how much it will be emulated.
Same with the Cuba deal – not that hard to do on paper, but no President had done it. It took political courage to commit and go forward with both deals. Not as big as the China policy in terms of significance, but just as big (or even bigger) in boldness.
And in the decades after LBJ and Civil Rights, the racist south became overwhelmingly Republican. Is it just coincidence that half of Mississippi Republicans still believe interracial marriage should be illegal?
The rest of the post is just nonsense right-wing radio pablum, and should be ignored as such.
He was the first black President. You could look it up, he got a Nobel prize for it.
Of course, in a hundred years there will be other firsts as tribal identity becomes (hopefully) less and less important, and even the signifcance of that will recede. His doubling of the national debt will probably be remembered, God help us.
Regards,
Shodan
Like Reagan (who more than doubled our debt), right? Though unlike Reagan, the deficit under Obama has actually gone down significantly.
First black POTUS (and perhaps more significantly, first minority POTUS) is what he’ll be remembered as. We tend to lose context as current events turn into history, and I can’t think of any period in history where a period of congressional obstructionism is well-remembered. So while I think the GOP Congress he’s mostly had to deal with is responsible for most of the polarized atmosphere of the past seven years, we won’t remember that.
I do think the ACA is just a stopgap, and probably won’t last beyond 20 years (by when we’ll hopefully have a single-payer system). If his presidency is remembered, it will be for the expansion of LGBT rights, though he didn’t have a great deal of direct involvement beyond ending DADT.
That’s certainly the first thing I think of when I hear Reagan’s name. Wait, no, it’s not.
ETA: ninja’d.
No, not very much like Reagan.
Cite.
Well, we were talking about the debt, not the deficit, but since Obama enormously increased the deficit, he was able - or more properly, once the GOP regained control of Congress, they were able to reduce the deficit, from the unsustainably high levels that Obama created.
Regards,
Shodan
Let’s ask this a different way:
- Will Obama be a President pointed to by later Democrats as a touchstone of their political identity?
I believe the answer will be a strong Yes - as an example of individual opportunity, and as someone who forwarded a Progressive agenda in the face of obstructionist Republicans.
If he makes the cut as a Touchstone, then his accomplishments and approach to Leadership will be remembered. If he is not a key part of the Democratic Brand, then he will only be “the first Black President.”
I would be very surprised if the Democratic Party doesn’t keep his statue burnished and in a place of honor internal to the Party.
You said Obama doubled the debt – you’re talking about dollars, right? Do you deny that Reagan doubled the debt?
In what universe did Obama increase the deficit? How would that even be possible, considering how colossal it was when he was elected?
It’s Shodan. Do you actually expect honesty, objectivity, or the ability to think for himself to be part of his response? He’s like the stereotypical black-and-white movie monsters from the 30’s, only instead of “fire bad,” we get “Obama bad!”
Read the cite - I quoted the relevant part.
This one.
:shrugs:
If you won’t read cites, cites aren’t going to help.
Regards,
Shodan
Personal insults aren’t allowed in IMHO. Knock it off.
Your quote didn’t say anything about doubling the debt – it talked in portions of the GDP, not absolute dollars.
Again, do you deny that Reagan doubled the debt? If you don’t think doubling or absolute measures are meaningful, then why did you frame your criticism of Obama in this way that also applies to Reagan?
I looked – Obama inherited a colossal deficit from Bush’s last budget, and then it went down every year (except for a miniscule jump from '10 to '11) under Obama’s budgets. So you are factually incorrect – Obama decreased the deficit every year except for one, and the last few years the decrease has been very large.
Your cite doesn’t seem to support your point.