Honestly Assessing Obama’s Legacy

In the last several weeks, we’ve had discussions about race, not heard since the ‘60’s. One court case, which involved a half-Hispanic man shooting an African American young man, caused some—mostly recycled Occupy Wall Street types who put their bongs down long enough to join the cause—to protest. In some (admittedly rare) cases, stores were looted.

The current discussion of race, tragically, has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with resuscitating Obama. He has confirmed that America, while no doubt still home to pockets of racism here and there, is capable of electing an African American, not once, but twice.

There is abundant comfort in that; a generation ago, it wouldn’t have been possible. And if Hillary Clinton should run and win (heaven forbid), we’ll all be able to pat ourselves on the back for breaking the presidential glass ceiling. And it’s highly likely that she’ll be 2016’s Democratic nominee, and, by extension, the next President of the United States, assuming the Republican Party’s nominee has no vision, and assuming that megalomaniacal libertarians continue to think that their vote is the only vote that matters anymore.

In a word (or two,) it isn’t. More importantly though, between now and next year’s mid-term elections, it is essential that conservatives don’t allow the Left to control the conversation, which seems to be trending toward a discussion of race relations, with a dash of admonishment for the persistent talk of phony scandals, topped off with the vague resolution to get the economy going, finally, five years into Obama’s presidency.

If you’re President Obama, this is your best hope. The scandals are far from phony, encompassing the death of four Americans in Libya, and the targeting of conservative groups who were censored in their efforts to point that out during the last election. That the AP and Fox News’ James Rosen was singled out for attempting to accurately assess the administration’s arrogance is Nixonian icing on the cake.

So what better way to change the subject, if one is an administration strategist, than to focus on a murder trial which makes race, and not the economy, or a miserably incompetent foreign policy, the issue? Sadly, liberals like Al Sharpton are exploiting the case, and far too many conservatives are taking the bait, spending too much time focused on race as opposed to, for instance, an economy and a foreign policy that resembles Jimmy Carter’s. Carter after all, was a one-termer, at least. We’re stuck with this guy for several more years.

The point, though, is serious: the current occupant of the White House isn’t capable. And rather than acknowledge that, there are those who suggest that a serious critique of his performance is tantamount to racism. I would suggest that not illuminating his flaws as our nation’s leader is racist in reverse, or, at the very least, a reflection of very bad judgment.
By: Will Anderson