After being elected president of the United States of America in 1908, the first words that Barack Obama uttered, as he stepped to the podium to address the crowd of adoring followers below, many with tears in their eyes, were, “The American dream is still alive.” That utterance prompted an uproar of approval from that crowd of devotees, who understood what he was saying. A glass ceiling had been broken. A black man had been elected our president. Many of us thought that goal was far off in the future, but now it seemed to have already happened. He seemed everything you could ask for in those of us who knew the sooner we could embrace diversity in our society, the sooner we could get to a peaceful world . Not only was he black, but he embodied those other qualities we craved in our president: intelligence, compassion, thoughtfulness, charisma, eloquence and a commanding presence. We looked forward to a presidency of great accomplishments. Much of that promise was achieved; he was a mostly ethical president; but there were major flaws along the way. He proved himself human.
I was among those who mistakenly believed that this was the start of a milestone in our societal behavior, where black and minority citizens would finally achieve equal status with privileged and wealthy whites, where there would be universal education and health care, where there would be cooperation with all other nations, because we were now one world, with accepted racial diversity, one planet tied together with internet satellite communications. I expressed that opinion in one of my books, Morals, Ethics and Religions, saying that I no longer saw any great emphasis on black/white racism problems in the news. Well, was I terribly wrong. After the Obama presidency, we thought we were going to break another glass ceiling by electing a woman president. Actually, we did. Hilary Clinton won the popular vote, but the next presidency was given to Donald Trump by the Electoral College. The result of that disaster was to see our central government disintegrate into chaos, through an egotistical sociopath, who lied constantly, promoted white supremacy, called immigrants rapists and murderers, withdrew from the international community, denigrated women and minorities and loved dictators. In response to his support, the backlash from white supremacists and racists was intense.
While Obama was in office, however, there were major achievements. During his first 100 days in office, he significantly reduced the influence of lobbyists on the presidency, signed the CHIP act, creating health care for four million previously unserved American children, and reduced the number of troops in Iraq. He supported the UN resolution recognizing the need for each individual to choose their own sexual orientation and identity. He tried to close Guantanamo Bay, but was thwarted by congress, which did not approve the funds necessary to close that affront to international law. He signed a major international climate agreement. He got the Affordable Care Act passed, although narrowly, greatly expanding Medicare and Medicaid for millions of Americans. It was not universal health care, but a great start toward that goal. He normalized relations with Cuba, opening their embassies. He appointed two women to the Supreme Court, one of them an Hispanic American. He bolstered the auto industry, providing loans to ailing GM and Chrysler, and got the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed, bringing us out of the 2008 depression. He created 25 new national monuments. He participated, with other members of the UN, in military action which removed the suppressive dictator, Ghaddafi, from office in Libya. For his efforts to provide a more peaceable world, both at home and internationally, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.
We all have our strengths and weaknesses, however. Obama soon showed his feet of clay. He apparently understood that human society sometimes requires tough action, in order to progress to a more peaceful state. He sent 170,000 troops back into Afghanistan and 3100 troops back into Iraq when the situation deteriorated in those states. He did not, however, hasten to remove those troops toward the end of his presidency. He left 8400 troops in Afghanistan, 5200 troops in Iraq and 500 troops in Syria when he left office.
In 2013, Assad of Syria used chemical weapons to attack a community of his own people, controlled by the rebel faction. More than 1500 people, mostly civilians, mostly children, suffered a horrible suffocating death. Obama, in response, stated that if the use of chemical weapons was substantiated, that action constituted a “red line in the sand,” which would result in the attack by U.S. forces on military sites in Syria. Obama then became timid, and eventually accepted an agreement brokered by Russia, by which Syria agreed to destroy their stockpile of chemical weapons. Assad, a true psychopath, played Obama’s weakness skillfully. He hid some of his chemical weapons, then used those weapons again on his own people at later dates, on multiple occasions, without ever paying a significant price. Barak Obama did not understand that psychopaths are incapable of feeling compassion, and respond only to force which is greater than they possess. He made a huge mistake by not responding immediately and directly to Assad’s evil act. Had he shown an immediate forceful response, there would have been the avenue to end that conflict with negotiations. Instead, that conflict is ongoing, with more civilians massacred, and 14 million Syrians forced out of their homes, the country in chaos as various factions fight each other and destroy their civilization, the civilian population unemployed and in dense poverty.
Obama participated in developing, along with other nations, an agreement with Iran to halt their development of fissionable uranium to the degree and amount that could be used to manufacture a nuclear bomb. During that same year, 2015, he started a 348 billion program to build up the nuclear arsenal for the United States, an act of narrow –minded purpose, if not an act of pure hypocrisy.
Barack Obama is an eloquent speaker. He knows when to pause, how to draw the crowd in, when to drive that point home. Yet, he is sometimes too thoughtful, too political. When posed with a tough question, his responses often are so full of ifs, buts and howevers, that it all becomes gibberish. You have no idea what was said. All you know is that it was an evasive reply, one in which Barak Obama has spoken indirectly, and entirely avoided answering the question asked. That political correctness bothers me immensely. Always being a team player and wanting to not offend anyone does not sit well when decisive action is needed.
Mr. President, we are grateful to you for those things you were able to accomplish while in office. You served our country with grace and high morality. We only ask that you reach an understanding about dealing with psychopaths that you did not possess when you were in that position to deal with them directly: psychopaths are incapable of feeling empathy. They respond only to power greater than they possess, and cooperate only when forced to do so. You did so many things domestically and internationally so well. You failed us miserably in dealing with Assad and Putin.