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It’s all right now. It’s
quite all right to step back and take a deep breath now. You
can exhale. Life isn’t always going to be spent in the
whirlwind of political activity we’ve seen in the past
several weeks, particularly last week, as the Supreme Court
of the United States handed down several rulings that will
deeply impact every American long into the future.
Not only did SCOTUS use
its clout to help shape the nation’s future, as is its
constitutional duty and much to the consternation of those
on the right who are denouncing those rulings, but the
justices also lent credence to the notion that this
president, Barack Obama, has cemented a claim to be
recognized as having guided one of the most significant and
consequential administrations in history.
President Obama benefited
from more than just the rulings from the high court. At the
start of last week, at the start of perhaps as great a week
as any president has probably ever had, he managed to pass
through Congress, largely because of his new Republican
friends, a major trade pact that will presumably bolster his
efforts to significantly enhance the nation’s economic
involvement with Asia.
“I view smart trade agreements as a vital piece of
middle-class economics. Not a contradiction to middle-class
economics, it’s a part and parcel of it.”
He used the “N” word in a
garage pod cast at the start of the week to underline the
impact racism has had.
"Racism, we are not cured of it, and it's not just a matter
of it not being polite to say nigger in public. That's not
the measure of whether racism still exists or not.”
Then, in reaction to the
horrific massacre in a Charleston African-American church,
the president wrapped up his week with a eulogy for the ages
– an address of such power and scope that will be remembered
as one of his great moments on stage.
“Maybe we now realize the way racial bias can infect us even
when we don't realize it, so that we're guarding against not
just racial slurs, but we're also guarding against the
subtle impulse to call Johnny back for a job interview but
not Jamal.”
In the course of the week,
Obama clearly shed his first-term reluctance to speak out on
race and let it be known that, for the remainder of his
term, the world will see a bolder, more outspoken, more
self-assured leader.
As for the high court,
this is what the justices did over the course of a
spellbinding 24 hours: reaffirmed the fact that the
Affordable Care Act – Obamacare – is the law of the land;
held that state bans against gay marriage are
unconstitutional and, in a little noted but critical case,
upheld the Fair Housing Act.
Back in October of 2014,
Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize laureate for Economics, wrote a
column extolling the Obama presidency for his achievements
in a number of areas – the economy, the environment, health
care, financial reform, immigration and social change.
Krugman, a New York Times columnist and Princeton University
professor, had been no Obama admirer during the early days
of his presidency, criticizing chief executive on numerous
occasions for the slowness of the economic recovery.
Now Krugman acknowledges
that the recovery worked. The stimulus package the
administration put together in 2009, he says, has enabled
this nation’s economy to recover from a crippling recession
more quickly than such recoveries occur historically. And
when we compare the U.S. recovery to Europe’s during this
same period, Krugman notes, we also see much more progress
in this country than in the EU.
Obama’s impact, projected
at this point in his presidency, would now seem to be just a
notch below a Washington, a Jefferson, a Lincoln or an FDR.
One could assume, if nothing calamitous happens over the
next year and a half, that President Obama could well be in
a class with a Theodore Roosevelt or a James Polk (who in
four years absorbed Texas and California into the Union).
That would place him a rung above Eisenhower and Reagan, to
name a few recent, well-respected chief executives.
Take a look at the scope
of Obama’s accomplishments … thus far. Along with the
economic recovery, under his administration we have had
financial reform in the manner of the Dodd Frank
legislation. That bill does three important things – places
significant financial institutions under special scrutiny to
prevent crises should they fail; gives the government the
right to seize complex financial institutions in such a
crisis and creates an agency to protect Americans against
predatory lending.
The bill does not go far
enough in the eyes of many reformers but it is a significant
start.
On the environment and
immigration, in his second term and facing a hostile
Congress, the president has used executive action to
implement regulations to curb greenhouse gases and to
prevent the deportation of approximately six million
undocumented immigrants, respectively.
And beyond our borders,
while the record is still far from complete, such as in
Iraq, in Afghanistan and with ISIS, there are several
initiatives that will enhance the Obama legacy. His move to
normalize relations with Cuba changes the landscape of
Western Hemisphere politics and there is a tentative
agreement with Iran regarding that country’s development of
nuclear weapons that could prove to be historic as well.
Obamacare, however, is the
signature piece of the Obama legacy. More than a century
ago, in 1910, Teddy Roosevelt and his Progressive Party
allies proposed the notion of a universal health section.
FDR couldn’t get it done, nor could Richard Nixon, whose
proposed health care plan, faced with Watergate problems and
the intransigent Sen. Teddy Kennedy, also couldn’t get off
the ground.
Again, it is far from a
perfect law but it is already a success, having enrolled
more than 10 million while keeping costs in line and holding
the promise of better health care, and better financial
security, for millions more.
“For all the misinformation campaigns, all the doomsday
predictions, all the talk of death panels and job
destruction, for all the repeal attempts — this law is now
helping tens of millions of Americans.”
Years from now, Americans
will still be using the term “Obamacare” rather than the
formal, bland “Affordable Care Act.” As Vice President Joe
Biden so eloquently put it – “this is a big f*****g deal.”
While Obama did not enter
office supporting the notion of gay marriage, he came out in
favor of the idea just before the 2012 elections. That was
at a very risky point in his presidency leading many
Americans to evolve themselves.
However, throughout his
presidency Obama has made a number of decisions that would
at least reflect Americans’ changing ideas about gay rights,
if not help to guide that change. He ended the military’s
“don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and instructed the Justice
Department not to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act
enacted under the previous Democratic president, Bill
Clinton.
"Today is a big step in our march toward equality. Gay and
lesbian couples now have the right to marry, just like
anyone else. #LoveWins,"
With a year and a half to
go, Obama’s legacy certainly can and will be affected by any
number of events to come. Foreign policy events will play a
huge part in shaping history’s view. Most importantly of
all, the result of the next presidential election is
critical from an historical perspective. The election of
Hillary Clinton will, in effect, give the Obama presidency a
third term.
The president’s week ended
on a high note … or a note befitting his baritone singing
voice. After delivering a sermon on the power of grace that
included calls to end racism and place a check on rampant
gun ownership, Obama broke into a verse of “Amazing Grace”
a cappella and brought the audience to its feet
cheering, applauding and singling along.
“Amazing Grace, how sweet
the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but
now am found…”
He was never lost during
the first three quarters of his presidency, but, of late, he
has most certainly been found.
“Through the example of their lives, they've now passed it
on to us. May we find ourselves worthy of that precious and
extraordinary gift, as long as our lives endure. May grace
now lead them home. May God continue to shed His grace on
the United States of America.”
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