In our View: Farewell, Obama

It has been historic. It has been transformative. It has been controversial.

And while there is room for both praise and criticism regarding the presidency of Barack Hussein Obama II, one of its most notable traits is that it has been dignified. Even in the wake of withering criticism that inevitably comes with the office of the president, Obama has maintained the decorum and the grace that Americans should expect from their president.

Of course, decorum does not a president make. And while the most partisan of those among us are loathe to acknowledge Obama’s successes or his failures — depending upon the predilection of the pundit — there have been plenty of both. A presidency is neither perfect nor a perfect failure, and while a true legacy cannot be cemented until years or decades after that presidency has ended, it is a worthy exercise to examine Obama’s record as he prepares to leave office.

While Donald Trump succeeded during the election in portraying the United States as a bubbling cauldron of strife and despair, it is instructive to remember where this country was when Obama took office eight years ago. At the time, the national and global economies were sliding toward the worst conditions in some 70 years, a downturn so severe that it would become enshrined as the Great Recession.

Since the end of the recession, the United States has experienced 75 consecutive months of private-sector job growth — the longest streak on record. U.S. employers have added more than 15 million jobs since the economy bottomed out in 2010, and wages have been increasing over the past two years after a decade of stagnation. No president deserves all the credit or blame for the economy under their watch, but a majority of economists surveyed by the University of Chicago agreed that the Recovery Act that Obama pushed through Congress after taking office helped cushion the blow from the recession.

Domestically, the Affordable Care Act, Obama’s signature policy, has become a favorite punching bag for Republicans. Congressional leaders, along with Trump, have vowed to repeal the legislation, but after six years they have yet to come up with a cogent idea for replacing it. Obamacare is flawed, but 20 million Americans have gained health coverage thanks to the law, and that, we believe, helps make this nation stronger.

Obama’s foreign policy record is marked more by failures, although it should be remembered that the president inherited two wars that had no source of funding and that Osama bin Laden was assassinated during Obama’s first term. Obama failed to enforce the “red line” he had declared if Syria used chemical weapons, and the conflict in that country has raged out of control. Meanwhile, global terrorism has continued to be a scourge, and Obama’s Russian “reset” failed to improve relations with a nation that is increasingly reaching its tentacles into conflicts around the world.

Neither his successes nor his failures, however, are as extreme as Obama’s supporters and critics like to claim. And regardless of how his record eventually is remembered by history, he should long be lauded for the grace he demonstrated. Before he even took office, Republicans in Congress vowed to not cooperate with him, declaring a goal of making him a one-term president. And his status as the first black president of the United States was met with an absurd “birther” movement designed to delegitimize his presidency.

Through it all, Obama remained above the fray. The dignity he brought to the office will be missed.