Obama's Legacy

Introduction

So much anticipation filled the air the night of November 4, 2008: Election Night. The daily, even hourly, chant had been "Hope and Change!" This came from a youngish black man who was waging a credible run for president, a run that was hard to fathom in an America that still seemed so focused on race. The country was paying attention, as was the rest of the world, and, indeed, much of the country was being inspired. One might have thought that the gods had anointed Barack Hussein Obama to ascend to the presidency of the world's most powerful nation. How could this even have been possible?

As editor of the Philadelphia Daily News, I had worked with my chief lieutenants to convey the historic nature of the race to our readers. In fact, we may have been the first mainstream paper in the country to declare that Obama would be our next president. Veteran political columnist John Baer wrote the day after the Super Tuesday primaries, nine months before the general election, that Obama would win both the Democratic nomination and the general election because of his ability to attract new voters, his momentum, and his demonstrated ability to galvanize.

Still, he had to get it done. The polls said he would, but they had been wrong before, especially with elections involving African Americans. Polls often overestimated the strength of black candidates' support. It had happened to Harold Washington in his bid to become mayor of Chicago in 1983. He won, but by a much narrower margin than the double-digit lead that polls predicted. Then something similar happened to Jesse Jackson in 1988 when polls overestimated the size of the white vote he would get in the Wisconsin Democratic presidential primary, when he came in second, after Michael Dukakis. Polls were also wrong when David Dinkins ran for mayor of New York City in 1989. Like Washington, Dinkins won, but by a narrow two-point margin after polls had shown him with a double-digit lead a few days before the election. The phenomenon even had a name then—the Bradley Effect, named after former Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley. Back in the early '80s, Bradley ran for governor of California, and polls indicated throughout that he was leading in the race, but when all the votes were counted, he fell short.

It turns out, many whites would tell pollsters that they supported a black candidate but would not actually vote as they had indicated. As the theory goes, the white voters gave pollsters a socially desirable answer but voted their true instincts.

So there was that factor weighing heavily. You could sense history in the air, but it wasn't clear whether the history would be that Obama got really close, closer than any other person of color to the presidency, or that he would win.

Then, the news broke about a couple of hours before midnight. Barack Obama would be the forty-fourth president of the United States, winning with 53.8 percent of the popular vote. We had planned our coverage, our front page, knowing that even with digital outlets' becoming more common as news sources for readers of all stripes, they still sought newspapers as keepsakes on major occasions—and this would certainly be one. As one of the country's premier tabloids, we wanted to produce a signature paper, a signature front page.

My offices then were on Broad Street, one of Philly's main thoroughfares. The week before, the Phillies had beaten the Tampa Bay Rays to take the World Series, and all kinds of folks had arrived from all directions and paraded up and down Broad Street, celebrating the unexpected win. Days later, on this Tuesday night, the joy seemed even more palpable. That same street quickly filled with even more jubilant crowds, mostly college kids embracing and shouting, "O-BA-MA!"—knowing that they were part of history and that they had played a key role in his election.

Sandra Shea, our editorial page editor, emerged from the building heading onto Broad Street with our front page, holding it high so that the throng could see. It was a simple close-up of a smiling Obama with his last name in bold letters. I popped out to check it all out, then dashed back into the newsroom to watch the cable coverage and to make sure that we were, as we say in our business, making deadline, and doing so with spot-on coverage of this amazing night.

Once stories were turned in and edited, reporters and editors pulled up chairs around the television at the city desk to witness history. Among them was Kitty Caparella, a since-retired reporter who had covered the mob for years. She knew that I always kept my cool demeanor and largely kept my personal feelings to myself. I am an old-school journalist who believes the public need not know your personal leanings and they most certainly should not be reflected in the stories that grace the newspaper. Still, Kitty and I had been friends for a very long time, and she knew that, like many, I had not believed that my fellow Americans, given the nation's racial history and our ongoing racial strife, would actually elect an individual of color to the country's highest office.

When I joined my colleagues around the television, Kitty turned to me and asked, "Well, what are you thinking now?"

I really was not thinking. It was one of those few moments in life, like one's graduation or marriage or the arrival of your children or the birth of your grandchildren, that was definitely breathtaking. These are the moments, captured vividly in your memory, that you carry to the grave.

Then the moment of exultation passed.

I don't think that the average citizen who believed in hope and change realized then how difficult Obama's pledge would be to fulfill. Obama acknowledged during his final State of the Union address, on January 12, 2016, that it was "one of the few regrets of my presidency that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better. I have no doubt that a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide."

Dick Polman, a noted national political analyst based in Philadelphia, posted on his personal Facebook page on January 13, 2016, that the president was being hard on himself, as neither Lincoln nor Roosevelt had fared well against their rival parties. Polman wrote, "Lincoln died because of his era's bloody divide; prior to his dying he endured four years of 'baboon' insults, and worse. As for FDR, he was thoroughly hated; his wife was smeared as a 'n––r lover.' And worse… In a 1936 speech he simply said of his right-wing opponents: 'They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.'"

So maybe it's just proof that there is not anything new under the sun.

I argue that, especially given the Republican establishment's aggressive push to see him fail, Obama's legacy and his historic accomplishments have been all the more remarkable. Obama's accomplishments have come against a backdrop of criticism or open defiance from conservatives, lack of cooperation in Congress, and racially tinged commentary—really, have we ever had another president who has repeatedly had his citizenship questioned? I believe the answer is no.

Paul Krugman, an economist of significant note, wrote for Rolling Stone that he believed Obama was one of the most successful presidents in the country's history. "Obama has done more to limit inequality than he gets credit for… The financial aid in Obamacare—expanded Medicaid, subsidies to help lower-income households pay insurance premiums—goes disproportionately to less-well-off Americans," Krugman wrote.

The economic indicators, that the stock market is stronger, that the unemployment rate is down significantly, that Obama led us safely out of the Great Recession, can't be refuted. History will view him as a transformational president largely because of his signature achievements: the passage of the Affordable Care Act and the Supreme Court's upholding of it, the legalization of same-sex marriage, and, dare I say, ridding the planet of one Osama bin Laden. He should get credit for those accomplishments, especially considering the financial crisis that was ongoing when he assumed the presidency in 2008.

He also should get credit for keeping his swagger, his cool. At the 2015 White House Correspondents' Dinner, Obama smartly employed Keegan-Michael Key, the comedian who has come to be known for his character Luther, Obama's "anger translator." Obama spoke deftly and calmly about climate control, Ebola, and immigration, as well as about how happy he was to be at yet another correspondents' dinner. Luther ranted, in turn, about what a chore the dinner is, what he deemed to be FOX's out-of-control biased coverage of everything, and CNN making the Ebola challenge seem like it would be the end of the world. Ultimately, they seemed to become one at the dais as the president's own tone became angrier, prompting Luther to recoil and spurt, "You don't need an anger translator; you need counseling." It was all definitely laugh-out-loud hilarious, but the moment seriously crystallized the many challenges that the forty-fourth president has had in the now 24/7 news cycle.

This book will examine Obama's accomplishments in spite of all those challenges in a straightforward, factual manner. It is not about what his ideas, plans, or promises were; it is about what he actually got done. As he entered his final months in office, the evidence indicated he had been tremendously successful and effective by objective measures in his two terms in office. On economic indicators alone, his achievements are impressive. He is credited with the longest streak of job growth in U.S. history, a two-thirds reduction in the federal budget deficit (from 9.8 percent of gross domestic product in fiscal year 2009 to 2.5 percent in October 2015, according to the Treasury Department and the Office of Management and Budget). The stock market continued to be a tad temperamental, but it continued to outperform the record lows that Obama found when he assumed office, and it rebounded to record highs.

Still, for a great many Americans the data is just that: data. It doesn't capture how they feel about Obama.

I attended a 2016 Martin Luther King Jr. Day gathering that included about five hundred folks, mostly black, nearly all college-educated, who, no doubt, had benefited from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream. Even the location of the event, the Westin in Princeton, New Jersey, a fashionable hotel in one of the nation's most elite suburbs, perfectly captured the hope and change that Obama represents in spite of the withering challenges.

The Reverend Doctor Cory L. Jones, senior pastor of the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Burlington, New Jersey, reminded those gathered of how much they loved the president, how much they had rejoiced in his election in 2008 and his reelection in 2012. It was, Jones said, "the something that seemed impossible" for a black man in America. Jones, relatively new in his pastorate at Tabernacle Baptist, recalled that he had received an email from a parishioner at a neighboring church shortly after his arrival in New Jersey. The gentleman was particularly perturbed that this African American church prominently displayed a portrait of the country's first African American president, and he urged the pastor to remove it. Jones said the man believed that no Christian church should support Obama given his enthusiastic support and legislative success in the legalization of same-sex marriage and his ongoing support of legalized abortion.

No doubt, these are two significant issues that have been taboo, theologically, in many Christian churches. Yet you will not find a poll that has support for Obama within the black community anywhere below 90 percent, regardless of ideology. Reverend Jones got nothing but applause and nodded agreement from those gathered that day to celebrate King's birthday.

The fact that Obama is the first and only person of color thus far elected to be the most powerful person on our planet makes his accomplishments all the more noteworthy. Elizabeth Alexander captured it well when she read her poem, "Praise Song for the Day," at Barack Obama's first inauguration on January 20, 2009. In part, she proclaimed:

Obama had already set the theme earlier in his inaugural address, calling for resolve amid an "uncertain destiny." That resolve despite the many obstructions has been a hallmark of his presidency. That resolve will serve his legacy well. I have no doubt that history will view him as one of America's most effective presidents.

In one role in particular, he has no peer—as our counselor-in-chief, our pastor-in-chief. Who will ever forget how Obama, surprisingly, belted out "Amazing Grace" at the funeral for Clementa C. Pinckney, a senior pastor and South Carolina state senator? Pinckney and eight of his parishioners had been slaughtered during a prayer service by a "guest" who said he had hoped to ignite a race war. (See chapter 3.) President Obama has been remarkable, passionate, and even visibly angry after each of the mass shootings during his tenure, which are too numerous to mention. He has helped to heal us with words and with song, and with resolve.

It is that same resolve that has helped him push through an agenda of change and to power through a wall of opposition, ignoring slights and staying the course to make "hope and change" more than a slogan.