I have been a supporter of Obama from Day One. However, I do realize there are many who have not been … and are quick to point out his faults and failures (including the fact he is black!). Most of the time, because I wanted to see him as a “Good President,” I just assumed they were nay-sayers and, most recently, tRump supporters.
Then I read an article by Cornel West of The Guardian. And this comment caught my eye:
The reign of Obama did not produce the nightmare of Donald Trump – but it did contribute to it. And those Obama cheerleaders who refused to make him accountable bear some responsibility.
After reading the entire article, it’s been a bit of a sad awakening to discover that many of the criticisms others have leveled against him may actually have some merit.
Nevertheless, the way I see it is this … no, Obama wasn’t perfect (what leader is?). But I do feel he accomplished some good things and overall, was a good POTUS. If nothing else, he conducted himself with dignity and poise and there was never even a hint of scandal during his term in office.
It will be interesting to see what kind of legacy the newly-elected Leader will leave …
Nan's Notebook 
Wow. Good article by Cornell West, Nan. Thank you for sharing it.
In light of what we face, I will miss Obama terribly. And I agree about how he conducted himself. We haven’t had a leader with his character in decades.
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Obama was not perfect. I truly like and respect him, but, I do not worship him. It is VERY true that Obama contributed in a big way to the coming of the orange beast we call tRump: He’s black. He’s black and spent 8 years in the White House, the WHITE House, a house that, via its name, implies only one thing: Whites are the only ones entitled to reside in it. Sorry, but this fact is severely downplayed in the media. Though I live in Chicago, I’m surrounded by tRump supporters in the area where I live. Police and firemen “friends” of mine, and I mean several dozen, drop the “n” word in regards to Obama regularly, as they have for the past 8 years. And they do it with rage, hatred, and extreme vehemence. They also LOVE tRump. He’s emboldened the racist bigoted white male who feels entitled to America because it was founded by 4 white dudes and the Anglican version of Christ in 1950. This is what put tRump in office. No, not EVERYONE who voted for tRump is a white, male bigot, but that is still the voting demographic that put this spoiled rotten orange brat into office. Period. IMO, orange is the new black, and we, as progressives, need to give this orange brat all the resistance and disrespect that Obama was given by conservatives over the last 8 years. F**k tRump. And f**k every single thing he and his worshipers support.
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Because Cornell west is Cornell west I think today we give too much credence to his views, 20 years ago maybe, not so much now. For any person to imply that the Obama or any presidency set a precedent for the likes of Mr. Trump is fallacious at best. No one can re-write history to do that.
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I feel that much of what people try to blame President Obama for doing or not being able to do, is because of the obstructionist congress he had to deal with. It was well proven many times that even if it was something everyone agreed would help the country the republicans in congress did all they could to defeat it. They stopped even things they wanted if he gave into them and made it better for them, they just kept saying “No, we want more, we want it all”. Well now they got it all. The first goal they have is to undo anything that gives President Obama credit. It seems to me that Jeff was correct. Hugs
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$Amen$
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I suppose what distresses me on a worldwide level is what seems to be a loss of civility in politics, a loss of the preparedness to compromise. I ponder why this might be and conclude that the rise of 24 hour media and more lately social media seems to be a factor.
I endorse Scotties comment above, whatever one thinks of Obama, for the last six years he has been hampered by the Tea Party influence on the Republican Congress majority. The Tea Party, with their simplistic (and in my view erroneous) view of the world showed no capacity to compromise. The Republican speaker was so speak he had to indulge these folk even though many of the Republican congress individually would have been willing to compromise, but to the Tea Party destruction of the system was better than compromise.
Well the Tea Party have their wish now with Donald Trump, might be that they will find governing is a lot more challenging that criticizing from the sidelines.
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Well said Peter. Well said. Hugs
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Nan, thank you for your words. Obama was not perfect, and to expect him to be perfect is to expect a president to be non-human. But there have been few presidents who had as much grace as he did. Same can be said about Michelle Obama. West supported Jill Stein. IMO, Jill was/is not presidential material. Tonight, I had dinner with my parents. We watched ABC news and they did a segment about the upcoming documentary by National Geographic. I thought I’d post a clip.
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Like any President, he did some good things and some bad. He is a terrific speaker.
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He was practical, pragmatic, powerfully intelligent, moral, and dignified. The “Party of No” takes all blame for more not being done.
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Couldn’t have said it any better. 😀
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I have nothing but admiration and respect for President Obama and his family. Did he accomplish everithing I had hoped he would? No, but I think that he truly wanted to. He faced too much obstruction, both from the Republican party, but also from the wealthy individuals and businesses that he was indebted to for helping fund his campaign. Greed and polution iscwhat will destroy our nation!
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I agree with John’s sentiment. It is difficult to pay attention to the job Obama is doing with so much blatant obstructionism in congress. Truly their unwillingness to work with the president unless on the terms of their regressive party platform is a far greater crime during these past 8 years than any of Obama’s mistakes. At least in my opinion. I honestly think the progress he could have made, not only with a non-obstructionist congress, but a Republican party that actually wanted to govern, could have been enormous.
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Leadership is easy to criticize and very hard to do well… especially when one faces dedicated and empowered obstructionism. Trump is about to find this out, too.
One of the great traps, I think, is to fall into the cult of personality and confuse people with the office or position they hold. For example, showing little respect for Obama – or the party he represented – is showing little respect for the office he held. Showing little respect for policies Obama introduced or not supporting them is a failure of good citizenship in that we elect leaders to lead… and this necessarily entails giving our best efforts to try to make these polices work… not in the name of the person who leads or the party they represent but out of respect for the office to which we have given them our authority to exercise.
I know this sounds disconnected from what we’re used to dealing with on a daily basis when it comes to politics. And we are inundated by media that elevates this cult of personality. It’s rotten citizenship, however, and we are collectively failing to do our civic duty by participating in it, by giving it our power.
Another way to think of what I’m saying is to substitute, say, police or the military rather than a political figure. We empower the people who serve in our name to represent important offices such as law enforcement or defense in the name of the public good. We don’t vilify individual police officers for being police officers or military personnel for being part of our collective defense and we don’t see – or treat – these public institutions they represent as divided houses undergoing revolving partisan representatives of leadership – some of whom we’ll support and some we won’t. We put aside our personal criticisms of some of these particular representatives and commit our support to the institutions themselves… by obeying laws and serving on juries, by volunteering to serve and support the defense of our country regardless of what we might think of some individual leaders who temporarily hold offices of authority in them – in the American system, for example, we don’t withhold support for the military because of who constitutes the Joint Chief of Staff right now or who the particular Secretary of Defense might temporarily be.We continue to obey laws and support those firefighters and judges who serve offices of public good in our name.
What’s being lost over the past few decades (arguably since the 60s but gaining such steam) – well, certainlyeroded – with the Trump/Clinton/Russia debacle is the understanding of where political power resides – in the office and not the individuals who hold them – and so it falls to us – the citizens – to support these public offices regardless of what people like Obama or Trump or obstructionist Congresses try to represent. It is one’s patriotic duty to support the offices one empowers and not let the personalities who occupy YOUR offices divert you from this essential task.
Once sworn in, Trump will be the President and so on that basis alone – as the office holder – the office commands your support to allow him to do this job, to lead. Granted, many will not like what policies he tables and it’s fine to criticize these policies until enacted. And then it’s one’s job as a citizen to try to make them work to the best of your ability, to try to achieve the goals set out by the President It’s your job as a citizen to obey the law, to grant to police officers and firefighters and judges and so on the support they need to do their jobs you asked them to do in your name.
The office itself and the policies that come from it are constrained by law. Specifically, the Constitution. This is why the military swears allegiance to uphold and defend from enemies foreign and domestic the Constitution of the United States. Not the local State. Not a partisan party. Not the President. Those who do so are not fit to serve and deserve every citizen’s withdrawal of support through withering public criticism for failing to do their sworn duty. This is the citizen’s job.
Police officers swear to keep and preserve the peace of the community by defending the peace according to the law. Not serve the interests of some Chief of Police. Not to engage in personal or political malice, Not to serve the interests of the Mayor. Those who do so are not fit to serve.and deserve every citizen’s withdrawal of support through withering public criticism for failing to do their sworn duty. This is the citizen’s job.
Each of us as citizens has this job to do. Not the media. Us. You. Me. Its our job to not confuse the personal with the public are not fall into this trap supporting the cult of personalities. When talking about Obama-as-President, judge Obama by his policies, by his achievements and failures during his time in office. What has been accomplished by an Obama administration in your name and ask yourself how you could have helped him achieve more.
As hard as it may be to swallow, the same is true for Trump and the incoming administration. His successes and/or failures as President is as much your job as his. This job is our fundamental obligation of citizenship. Put aside the personal, uphold the law, support the office, and do one’s duty to protect and preserve it.
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tildeb, you have shared lofty ideals. And your points are well-made. Unfortunately, most of us view life through more personal perspectives, thus making it extremely difficult to separate the “man from the job.”
Of course, when push comes to shove, what else can we do once THE Donald is sworn in? Any power we had was in the voting booth and unfortunately, there were too many who stayed home.
Thus, we are faced with a leader that has so many negatives against him, it will be terribly difficult for most of us to carry out your idealized instructions at the end of your comment.
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I wanted to comment but I’d just be repeating what has already been said, and said well.
I will add that Obama might be the best speaker I have ever seen, president or no.
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As you aptly mentioned Nan, dirt and blemishes can be and will be found on all of our past 44 Presidents, the White House supporting staff, Congress, and the Supreme Court. It will be so in the future as well. When one goes looking for perfection, by default equal IMPERFECTIONS will be found by many various standards. And as history has adequately shown… there is NEVER any shortage of unsolicited political or life standards! Hahaha.
This is why over the last 30-years I’ve become a political Independent. 😉
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