Barack Obama rejected Donald Trump’s description of America and the world at the Republican Convention as not matching most American’s experiences. Really?
Iran Agreement
Trump said the Iran deal negotiated by the Obama administration put Iran on a path to nuclear weapons. The Associated Press reported in August 2015 that Iran will be allowed to use its own inspectors to investigate a military site under the terms of the Iran agreement negotiated by the Obama administration. Additionally, there were at least two secret agreements the Obama administration negotiated and approved that were not delivered to Congress.
Although the Obama administration claims the Iran agreement will deny Iran a nuclear bomb for at least 10 to 15 years, the side deals effectively negate the thrust of the weak main agreement. The side deals effectively remove the sanctions on Iran negotiated by seven nations and the European Union, Iran and the International Atomic Energy Commission.
The Birth of ISIS
The Obama administration’s abandonment of Iraq directly led to the birth and rise of ISIS. Obama attempted to denigrate the so-called “jayvee” team in 2014 but his administration has been unwilling or unable to contain ISIS. ISIS is now in Pakistan and the Philippines. ISIS has spread through the Middle East.
Iraq
Like it or not, the Bush administration won the war in Iraq. In December 2011, Obama and Biden declared “we’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self reliant Iraq,” just before Obama’s abandonment of Iraq lost the war to ISIS.
Libya
The debacle in Benghazi, the loss of an American ambassador and three other Americans, and the collapse of Libya into a failed nation-state, all behind the cover story of a false video narrative . . . enough said. According to the New York Times, “the violence threatens to turn Libya into a pocket of chaos destabilizing North Africa for years to come.”
Deterioration of Race Relations in the United States
Obama’s biggest failure is worsening race relations. Obama, as America’s first black president, had a singular opportunity to improve race relations but he squandered it. (see Requiem for a Legacy and Racial and Ethnic Inequity Tools and Are Racial and Ethnic Classifications Illegal and Harmful?, Arizona Independent Daily). A July 2016 New York Times/CBS poll found that, now, fully 69% of Americans day race relations are generally bad. Obama’s legacy on race relations, affected by his own racial animus, is a dismal failure.
Obamacare
President Obama promised that if like your health care plan you can keep it. Obama lied. Over 1.5 million people have already lost the health care plan they liked. President Obama promised that if you like your doctor, you can keep him or her. Obama lied. Millions of people will be turned away from the doctor they like effective January 1, 2014.
Added to these combined catastrophic events is the real Achilles heel of Obamacare. The healthy young (ages 18 to 30) must enroll in Obamacare in order to pay for those older folks who are sick. If private health plans do not see the tsunami of young enrollees, Obamacare goes into a death spiral, as there will be more sickly and costlier older people than young, healthy ones.
The rub: the majority of young people age 18- 26 is primarily on their parents plan. There is no new revenue realized. The rest of the young people are actually moving to Medicaid. Why? Medicaid is essentially free in comparison to Obamacare. States are already seeing this phenomenon. Why pay for Obamacare when you can claim free Medicaid as your health care coverage?
Crime in U.S. Cities
In 2015, homicides increased in over 70% of America’s 50 largest cities. Homicides increased by 17 % as Trump declared and the Washington Post verified. Homicide rates were up 54% in Washington and 59% in Baltimore. Trump declared that the number of police officers killed in the line of duty has risen by almost 50% year to year, with the Washington Post admitting the increase is closer to 78% including the Dallas and Baton Rouge shootings.
Illegal Immigration
Deportations are significantly down in Obama’s second term versus first term, from 409,000 in 2012 to 235,000 in fiscal 2015: the fewest deportations since 2006.
“It’s a way to reduce your immigration enforcement without going through the legislative process of changing the law,” said Claude Arnold, former Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in charge of Southern California, referring to those policies. “It’s a way of doing a pseudo-amnesty without legislatively doing an amnesty.”
Criminal and Interior Deportations are down significantly. Deportations shrunk 27%, from 86,923 to 63,127 in 2015. Of the Interior Enforcement data, of the 11-15 million illegal immigrants living in the United States fewer than one half of one percent were deported in 2015.
America’s perception of what is wrong with America is more sharply focused than Barack Obama’s or he is living in an alternate universe. Rasmussen polls found that only 21% of Americans think the country is on the right track, 79% do not believe American is on the right track.
Real Clear Politics polling averages show 69% of Americans believe American in on the wrong track. HuffPost Pollster, a left wing operation, also shows 68% of Americans believe America is on the wrong track. McClatchy DC polling of registered voters showed 71% of Americans sour on America’s current path.
A CBS/New York Times poll, both left wing operations, shows 81% of Americans think the country is on the wrong track.
So the question has to be asked: is America better off than we were four years or eight years ago? The obvious answer is “no.”