F- It seems to me that Obama was a disaster. As a far lefty (by American standards) who wants less corporatism, a less corrupt government, more respect for basic rights, less foreign intervention, and a stronger social safety net, Obama was a sellout and an enabler of everything I don't want the government doing, and did little I do want to see happen.
Weak on global warming and green energy. Socially liberal mostly when he was pushed into it. Missed a clear opportunity to revitalize our national infrastructure. His signature piece of legislation was Cato Institute health care plan. He aided and abetted the Bush Administration's regime of torture and illegal spying, giving the criminals a free pass and setting a terrible precedent. He did the same for the crooks profiting from the 2007 economic crash. He didn't even try to fix our most pervasive and dangerous problems. He trashed Libya and continued all of the Bush administration's worst offenses. He belongs in jail, in a cell between Bush and Trump.
But even if you don't agree with me, if you want a strong and globally active America, he was a failure. He oversaw the continuing decay of our military, while squandering it's capability to little effect. He failed to counter Russian or Chinese expansionism, and left the nation ill-prepared to do so in the future. Sure, he left our economy better than he found it, but you can say the same about Putin, and I'm not going to sing his praises either.
The most you can really say for him is that the creaky, corrupt, decaying machine that is the American establishment didn't completely break on his watch. He even shined it up really nice. But he certainly didn't do anything revolutionary, or even to change where the US is headed. And he did set the stage for Trump. He seems good to us now only because anyone would look good in comparison to Trump.
I've written before about the metaphor of the nation as a bus, with Trump as the crazed, intoxicated passenger who seized control, waves around his gun (and appears to be wearing a bomb) and is drunkenly accelerating towards a cliff.
Obama, by contrast, was a nice, clear spoken and polite man. He explained that he'd recently gotten his commercial license, and if he could please drive, he'd take us where we want to go. But once in the chair, he was a pleasant driver, but he kept us on the road to the same place Trump is going, just at a slower and more sedate pace.
