[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s the Obama administration draws to a close, this is a good time to reflect on the accomplishments and failures of our outgoing president. In my eyes, he has been both a wonderful president and a terrible one at the same time. His accomplishments have been magnificent, but his failures have been disastrous. In this article, I would like to offer what I regard as his three greatest achievements among many. You can of course make your own list. In my next article, I would like to point out what I see as his three greatest failures.
His single greatest achievement as president is one for which he gets very little credit. When President Obama took office, the economy was in free fall, thanks to the subprime mortgage rip-off, which rocked the markets in October of 2008. By the time Obama was inaugurated in January of 2009, our national economy was losing nearly a million jobs a month. Major investment firms had tanked. The Dow-Jones index had fallen dramatically, and would eventually shed a full 50% of its value. There was widespread suffering. Millions of Americans were losing their homes, their jobs, and their dreams. Fox News was certain that Obama’s “socialist” policies would only make matters worse. They had a daily show called the Scenario Room (or something like that), predicting doom and gloom. They forecast that the Dow would fall to 2800, and tried their best to exploit the fears they were stoking, by selling us gold. But in March of 2009, the Dow bottomed at around 6600, and began an upward trek that continues to this day.
A year or two later, a joint study by Moody’s Institute and Princeton University concluded that it was the actions and policies of the Obama administration that had not only turned America’s economy around, but had narrowly prevented a global financial meltdown.
Not just a national meltdown. Global. So his single greatest achievement lay in the nearly unimaginable horrors you didn’t see happen. In short, Obama saved the world. Every one of us owes him a huge debt of thanks for that.
His second great achievement, as I see it, is the recovery. His stewardship of the economy has resulted in 78 consecutive months of net job growth, an achievement no other President can claim. The Dow has more than tripled from its low of 6600, reached all-time highs, and is now flirting with the 20,000 mark. When he took office, he was faced with a choice of the Devil or the Deep Blue Sea. He could either focus on getting people employed again, or he could focus on balancing the budget, which his predecessor had left about $1.2 trillion in the hole. To his everlasting credit, he chose to save the people, not the money, so the deficit in his first year spiked to an all-time high. But since then, unemployment has steadily fallen every year of the Obama administration. After his first year in office, so has the deficit, down by about a trillion dollars over the last six years. Although the fruits of the recovery have not been broadly shared, the sustained and ongoing Obama recovery is a truly remarkable fiscal feat.
His third great achievement is simply his integrity and grace. In the face of the most vicious villification and vituperation I have ever seen directed at a President of the United States – a slander that began even before he took office – and in the face of obstinate, politically-motivated obstruction from the opposition – not to mention quite a bit of overt racism – he remained unflappable and composed. Alone among all American presidents of my now-lengthy lifetime, Barack Obama’s administration has been remarkably free of scandal. No sexual intrigue, just a faithful family man who loves his wife. No financial scandals connected to himself or any of his cabinet. If you want to see what class and integrity look like, look at a picture of Barack Obama.
Phil Jones is a local columnist who makes his living teaching math to kids with “learning disabilities”, especially dyslexia and ADHD. He writes original songs through the nonprofit Sunrise Ministries.
djones2032@austin.rr.com
