Obama – How do I look at his rule?

There is no denying that the US election was the most watched event in 2016. With everyone focusing on the traits of the president-elect Donald Trump, the incumbent is busy completing his exit formalities. Everyone close to the White House will acknowledge that Obama is extremely careful on how history is going to judge him and the legacy he wants to leave. Here is how I feel about his last eight years as the president of the United States.

Barrack Obama, has been able to galvanise the pseudo-leftists of the US in a way comparable to his notorious and wicked democratic predecessor Bill Clinton. The left media has almost made is a sacrilege to criticise him. Something again was done in mid-1990s with Bill Clinton. Overall, Mr. Obama is definitely better than Clinton in almost every aspect,  however, that doesn’t cover up his rather massive flaws. A socialist myself I want to highlight these in a way the mainstream media doesn’t want. Every criticism of him has been swatted with two sticks one of racism and other of pro-right fear mongering. Guess what I am not the one to fall for it. It is paramount for the left to critically analyse every decision otherwise it becomes a faith.

History of civilisation, especially the United States has emerged from abysmal atrocities on human and civil rights. However, the constitution has been a strong bond in ensuring liberty prevails over reactionary decisions taken on fear. George Bush started this by declaring a state of emergency and followed it with Patriot Act, FISA amendments etc. Obama exploited this fear in his own calm way. The NDAA was an example where people’s fears got exploited and ensured there is dictatorial powers for the President of the US. It gives the president the right to suspend Habeus Corpus at will. The clauses are so vague and open that it was almost waiting to fall into wrong hands. Guess what, now it is for Donald Trump to use. The left media which was behind all the atrocities of Bill Clinton is now behind Barrack Obama. The abject hypocrisy of Obama in talking about civil rights while taking the fundamental rights away from people including the right to an attorney is for people to see.

Obama was against Patriot Act in all his campaign speeches before getting elected. He rightfully highlighted the massive erosion of civil liberties. However, when he did get elected he was instrumental in making the United States the biggest Surveillance state in the world. He extended Patriot Act, FISA Amendments act and turned blind eye to all the negative impacts he highlighted during his campaign. Did his donors play a part there?

If entry into Iraq was bad the exit was as poorly handled as possible. When I hear Trump talk about taking oil, I am not sure if he realises that is what has actually happened. The country has been left in utter chaos. Bush waged a war with not much of a goal other than to satisfy his war mongering donors who wanted the defence budgets to go up. Obama promised to exit but you don’t ravage a place and then pull out like that. It is not about troops on the ground. It is about showing genuine interest in rebuilding the economy of the country.

One can go on and on about how self-esteem disappears in front of wealth but it is very easy to show it by example when you see you world leaders with Saudi Royal family. The notorious terror family is respected and revered as friends. There is no need of a Patriot Act or NDAA but for Saudi Arabia’s policies. The rogue government has been responsible for spreading a terror ideology and Obama prostrated in front of them. The US has helped Saudi by providing intelligence support and more importantly arms support.

Obama has spoken a lot about how minorities have to be respected and the history of discrimination. However, when time comes to act on those he has failed miserably.  Cops have been shooting black people more frequently than ever. Hispanics have been targeted for racial attacks. The native Americans continued to be subjugated. As all these happen Obama decided to look the other way.

Obama Care is a significant step in his government. So, why do I have to criticise him for that. There is a failure to recognise that the act was an interim step. Obama stopped trying after the compromise.  He didn’t bother telling people what it is, a milestone not a destination. It was a compromise to handle a republican congress. Instead, he sat in the accolades of the liberal mainstream media.

Obama ended up deporting more Mexicans than his less illustrious predecessor George Bush. For a man who came to power with the support of the minorities, he did not support their cause. The people deported were law abiding and pay taxes. Their only fault is themselves or their parents entered the country without a legal visa to search for a living.

If there is one place where Obama is as bad as Bill Clinton it is in trade deals. Bill Clinton signed Nafta and ensured that the impact starts after he left office. Obama is planning to do the same with TPP. It is not a trade agreement that is going to support American people or jobs. He feels it is a moral obligation to his donors. The free trade activists don’t understand the impact this has on millions.

Mainstream media gave credit to Obama for stopping the digging for the North Dakota access pipeline. However, that is far from the truth. Obama looked the other way as Native Americans were being attacked and went on record requesting everyone to maintain peace. He did not for once tell the actual state actors to stop protecting corporations and instead protect the civilians.  He felt the pipeline is a necessary part of development.

This to me is the biggest foreign policy failure of Barrack Obama. His malicious intent was very clear in most instances. The drone attacks on civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan are the worst attacks on humanity. It is hard to defend the move when the drone strike demolishes a hospital run by MSF.  He subsequently follows it up by sending land troops to clear the evidence. The attacks on Yemen is another example. I sincerely wish Obama along with George Bush and Hillary Clinton get tried for war crimes.

Similar to Saudi Arabia, the US policy on Israel and especially the settlement in the west bank is a question of indifference to the original inhabitants. It irks me when I see Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu joining hands. It has made any diplomatic truce with Palestine impossible. The only exception is when Obama went ahead with Iran deal against the wish of Netanyahu.

When Senator John McCain started the movement to take money out of politics and abolish Citizens United, Obama did not back him up. Obama has stayed on the side of money in politics and has shown enough signs that he has no inclination to take donor interest out of politics. He has not even removed the most corrupt non-democratic setup in modern history. If I retrace everyone’s memory back to his 2008 campaign, he spoke about reducing the corporate lobbying in the US government. Did he do that? No, he just increased it multifold. Why, because his donors want it.

I am sure readers are going to feel my views partisan. The reason is Obama has been glorified enough already. There is no reason to not overlook his achievements as a black president just 4 decades after the civil liberties movement. I support his Affordable Care Act or fondly called as Obama Care as a starting point to guaranteed and free health care. I support the Iran deal or his sanctions against Russia on annexation of Crimea. History is going to look at him kinder than what he deserves and I have to put balance to that perspective by stating the facts.

In summary, Barrack Obama has continuously supported or been passive to injustice against minorities. For a Nobel peace prize winner, he has committed enough war crimes to make the award meaningless. Considering people like Teresa have received the award before, I don’t think the award had any meaning attached to it anymore. Obama administration has been a mixed bag of atrocities, inaction, ineptitude  and some good deals.  In effect,  he has worked for this donors and less for the people of the US. He backed a plan if the donors want him to back it. Some turned out to be good and some atrocious to the people all over but they always turned out to be good for his donors.