Obama's Legacy

[william kent]

What is it?

 

[william kent]

One product of the polarisation currently seen in the US seems to be an ongoing process of executive orders being signed and reversed by each successive president from Obama onward.

 

[constant escape]

In a demographically reductionist way, it was revolutionary, no?

And, in as far as representation is power, socially speaking, that reductionist conclusion may have much more substance to it. How role models sort of indicate your upper bounds, the limits of your reality.

In terms of policy, I don't even know enough to start speculating.

 

[sus]

My submilieu of the left turned on him. The souring of his legacy bummed me out, this is a guy who quotes TS Eliot and talks in love letters about a certain strain of English letters conservatism he finds noble. As some commentators have pointed out, intelligence is a surprisingly poor predictor of performance and legacy in-office.

 

[IdleRich]

In 2016 my thought was that his legacy was Trump and so ultimately it has to be considered a failure. But all political (maybe just all) careers end in failure right?

 

[constant escape]

Sort of indicates that intelligence isn't correlated to whatever arbitrary fitness currently dominates.

 

[IdleRich]

In a demographically reductionist way, it was revolutionary, no?

I guess so. But one thing you get - which is obviously not his fault - is people making the argument "You've had your black president so stop banging on about racism, that's gone away" - which I suppose is me just acknowledging that arseholes will coopt and twist anything.

 

[constant escape]

Well you take what you can use, no?

But I do tend to think this is a more or less permanent step forward. You can't say every president was white. That surely enables a higher degree of ambition, a lowered sense of systematic exclusion, however remotely and dreamlike.

 

[william kent]

I was just reading a thread on a line on drones from his new book,

'They were dangerous, these young men...I wanted somehow to save them – send them to school, give them a trade, drain them of hate...And yet the world they were a part of, and the machinery I commanded, more often had me killing them instead.' ~ Obama on drones in his new memoir

Even Pakistan's own drone enablers – Musharraf, Kayani, Zardari, a whole galaxy of columnists – made a more convincing case than this. 'I couldn't save them, so I slaughtered them instead,' is something a poorly written Marvel villain would say. What a damning final act.

Leaving the 'angry young Moslem' trope aside, Nabila Rehman's grandmother wasn't dangerous when she was picking vegetables. The Taysi family's wedding party in Yemen wasn't filled with hate. And the innocent children Obama revenge-bombed in Datta Khel weren't his to save.

This isn't to humanise exceptions: Gen. Petraeus advisor David Kilcullen told Congress that 50 Pakistani civilians were killed per senior militant. As it is, Obama is worlds more sensitive when writing about another kind of young people – his own.

*Here's the playlist rollout too. Like the presidency, it's curated to pander to the widest number of people, and sidesteps race altogether (feat. Eminem). Guess it's more relatable if the person bombing your wedding listens to Fleetwood Mac.

 

[constant escape]

Perhaps it'll be worth more than its weight, if it succeeds in inspiring some number of people who would have otherwise bit their tongue, no?

 

[IdleRich]

Well you take what you can use, no?
But I do tend to think this is a more or less permanent step forward. You can't say every president was white. That surely enables a higher degree of ambition, a lowered sense of systematic exclusion, however remotely and dreamlike.

Yeah I wouldn't disagree with that. I'll openly admit that I had unrealistically high expectations though which might colour my responses above.

 

[william kent]

True, I don't think you can overstate the importance of America electing its first black president.

 

[constant escape]

@IdleRich I think a ton of people did, which isn't surprising, considering how the common understanding deviates from the actual complexity.

edit: the common understanding of what the president actually does, that is.

 

[constant escape]

And I still have a pretty common understanding, not meaning to suggest I am privy to the actual complexity.

 

[sus]

I don't trust any condemnation of drone usage that doesn't evaluate it relative to old school troops-on-the-ground involvement, which cost hundreds of thousands of civilian lives in the Middle East in the 2000s.

 

[william kent]

Can anyone clear up whether or not the ACA's ultimately a good thing? There's been so much shit thrown at this point I've no clue. On the face of it, it sounds like a good thing.

 

[beiser]

obama confirmed theorycel

 

[Corpsey.]

My submilieu of the left turned on him.

Its not just the submilleu. I even see your average dems talk about his presidency with reserve. Its because there was so much to admire that part of his legacy will be a generalized disillusionment with the entire political establishment. The post mortem on his presidency was a 'waking up' moment for many in our demographic. If this guy comes up unclean...well, fuck.

 

[Corpsey.]

Just to bring balance to the thread- one of the most ineffectual, embarrassing, maybe even disastrous presidencies of the modern era, yah?
failed to live up to almost all his promises, even when the votes where there, while doing some down right sinister shit on the side

 

[Corpsey.]

Can anyone clear up whether or not the ACA's ultimately a good thing? There's been so much shit thrown at this point I've no clue. On the face of it, it sounds like a good thing.

I know a few people on Obamacare and experiences all very. I think its ultimately a good thing but its also hamfisted by political processes that make it generally unsatisfying.