In his first three years in office, Barack Obama has gotten more done
-- ending the Iraq War, turning around Detroit, repealing Don't Ask,
Don't Tell, averting another Great Depression -- than any president in
decades. Yet polls show that most Americans think he's achieved very
little. That gap between perception and reality, which could make all
the difference in this November's election, is the subject of the
cover story in the March/April issue of the Washington Monthly, by
Editor in Chief Paul Glastris.
The problem for Obama, Glastris explains, is that while liberals
measure him against their hopes, and conservatives against their
fears, few have evaluated him by the more relevant yardstick: how his
deeds compare to those of other presidents. By this measure, Obama
does extraordinarily well, and not just in terms of quantity. True,
his biggest and most controversial accomplishments, like health care
reform and the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, have been widely
criticized as crimped, compromised, slow to take effect, and
vulnerable to being overturned. But so too, notes Glastris, were many
of history's most important and lasting presidential achievements,
from Social Security to the GI Bill.
Taking a deep dive into the full range of this administration's
policies, Glastris concludes that historians in the future will likely
consider Obama as one of America's great presidents -- if he gets
re-elected and can protect his legacy from Republicans who would
dismantle it. But Obama's striking inability to speak up for his own
record has put him in an unenviable spot: in order to win that crucial
second term, he must first convince voters that he has a substantial
record of achievement to defend in the first place.
Read "The Incomplete Greatness of Barack Obama."
Plus: "Obama's Top 50 Accomplishments"
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
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