Obama’s ephemeral legacy anchored in delusion

In the end America went her own way as if the Obamas had never come.

That is a paraphrase of the last sentence, “In the end China went her own way as if the Americans had never come," of Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Barbara W. Tuchman's book "Sand Against the Wind -- Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45."

Like Tuchman’s description of the American experience in China, the policies of Barack Obama failed largely because they “were not indigenous demands of the society and culture to which they were being offered.” 

Obama ended his administration as it began, with a participation trophy. In 2009, he was given the Nobel Peace Prize for what he might do, and now, less than three weeks before he leaves office, Obama awarded himself the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service for what he didn’t do.

Delusional is the only term that I can muster to describe the chasm that has existed between what the Obama administration perceived or wanted us to believe and the actual state of the nation.

Over the course of eight years, Obama’s pronouncements steadily became, not motivational instruments or representations of a desired state of affairs, but feats of political transubstantiation, where, if he utters them, words become reality.

Reflecting upon his time in office, Obama recently noted the “extraordinary progress” the country has made over the last eight years.

Like beauty, progress is in the eye of the beholder.

Obama thinks race relations have gotten better during his administration, while 2016 polls have indicated that Americans believe race relations have gotten worse and their concern about it is at the highest level since 2001, when data were first collected.

In the political equivalent of a “Jedi Mind Trick”, Valarie Jarrett, Obama’s close friend and longtime adviser, as well as much of the main stream media, claimed that his administration “hasn’t had a scandal,” ignoring such outrages as Benghazi, the IRS fiasco, Fast and Furious, Solyndra, ObamaCare, Pigford, the Veterans Administration’s death list and others.

Obama’s “progress” no doubt includes the Democrat Party’s net loss of 1,042 congressional and state legislative seats, governorships and, finally, the presidency.

A week after the election, Obama said that Americans were “indisputably better off” because of him despite a doubling of national debt, Gross Domestic Product growth of less than 3%, a decrease in the work force participation rate, a stagnant median household income and an increase in the number of food stamp recipients by 10.7 million people, 32% higherthan when he took office.

In his weekly address to the nation on Christmas Eve 2016, Barack and Michelle claimed “we made America more respected around the world.” Even college students, their core constituency, don’t believe that, seventy-three percent having said that the United States is less respected by other countries than it was in the past.

I will not mention the threat of radical Islam, because Obama thinks it doesn’t exist.

It was an administration built upon a combination of ideology and incompetence. Ultimately it became an architect of errors rather than a supplier of solutions. Final recognition of which will occur when public awareness exceeds the media’s capacity to varnish the truth.

In the end, Obama’s legacy will be his pursuit of the appearance rather than the substance of accomplishment, an illusion, as enduring as sand against the wind.

Lawrence Sellin, Ph.D. is a retired US Army Reserve colonel, a command and control subject matter expert, trained in Arabic and Kurdish, and a veteran of Afghanistan, northern Iraq and a humanitarian mission to West Africa. He receives email at lawrence.sellin@gmail.com.

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  • Delusional wow Obama acted more like he was king of the world; he said something and expected us all to jump 

    too bad the world does not work that way.   He has stepped on the constitution and the cornerstones of America.  

    he feels the coal and oil are his and the oceans well not more than what he wants done to them.   bah humbug to the UN climate Treaty which he passed w/o SENATE RATIFICATION.........................WHERE IS CLOWN SCHUMER AND HITLER

    REID SCREAMING THAT HE DID THIS..........................NOWHERE.    He has stepped on our individuality and has not

    given a rats ass for what Americans wanted he would just issue an exec order and poooof a new law or he changed an

    existing one W/O ANY AUTHORITY TO DO SO.   NOT MUCH BOTHERS HIM AND WHY B/C HE DOES NOT CARE

    HE WANTS HIS LEGACY TO BE I AM THE PRES THAT DESTROYED AMERICA.   WELL HE CAN KISS MY A** FOR 

    HE NOW IS GOING TO LIVE IN A HUGE HOME W/A DJTRUMP WALL AROUND IT JUST A/O LEFT WIN HYPOCRITE

    • Obama is a TRAITOR and assassination is too good for him, he should be publically executed, by firing squad or hanging by the neck, until he be dead, dead, DEAD.

      • Lee, you are dead on correct. Too bad no one in government cares about that little piece of paper called the Constitution. If they had cared 8 years ago, he would not have been allowed to run, but since they ignored the Constitution with no consequences, he spent his entire tenure as an unlawful POTUS ignoring the Constitution just like congress did. As for executing him, well, while I completely agree, we all know the cowards, traitors, and leeches in the government are not about to do anything that might kill their golden goose. So hang them all, then we can start over with a new bunch who knows what will happen if they betray us again.

      • Along with Valerie Jarrett, who is also a Muslim adviser.

  • By far Obama's biggest legacy will be the story when people find out who he really is!. They have dumbed down America over a number of years and were almost on the point of take-over when America finally woke up and said "enough". Through their Marxist / Alinsky tactics, they almost gained control as they played on the sensibilities of the public who, generally hate ridicule.
    I maintain to this day that we still do not know who he really is!. Can you imagine how we elected a President who even lies about the most basic thing, his identity!. Yet they made us feel it was the wrong thing to do, to dare to question the President became like some major, earth-shaking criminal act of stupidity.
    Clever, but we do need to learn from this and make sure it can never happen again. If they are not fully exposed for what and who they are, rest assured, it WILL !'

    They MUST be brought to justice!
    • See my reply above to Bonnie Somer.

    • Sorry I posted my before reading yours. At least I am glad that I am not the only one who would like to see the answers to all those questions.

    • All so true!  I'm hoping that after he leaves office (if he actually does) that somebody will come forward with a complete expose' of whoever he is, his true background and heritage.  There is so much that is known, but none of it has come from the MSM.  When somebody proves he occupied the office illegally, it will nullify all of the laws, orders, bills, etc. that he signed.

      In January, 2010, Obama told Egyptian Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit in confidence that he is Muslim.  Mr. Gheit did not honor the confidentiality of their conversation, and subsequently made some significant relevations on Egyptian television.  He told viewers that he had a one-on-one meeting with Obama, where the US President told him that he was still a Muslim, the son of a Muslim father, the step son of Muslim stepfather, that his half brothers in Kenya are Muslims, and that he was sympathetic towards the Muslim agenda.  Aboul Gheit claimed Obama told the Arabs to show patience, and Obama promised that once he overcame some domestic issues, like the Health care reform, he would show the Muslim World how to deal with Israel.  (This obviously explains Obama's relationship and actions toward Israel and Netanyahu.)

      This information is available on the internet, in several different places (e.g., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcnVALuar_w, http://pamelageller.com/2010/06/obama-tells-egyptian-foreign-minist..., and http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/07/flashback-barack-hussein-obama-ad...)  Mr. Gheit later broke his confidence and shared this information on Nile TV, and these revelations were published in the May, 2010, issue of Israel Today in an article on page 3 entitled a "Strategic Catastrophe," by Aviel Schneider.  For unknown reasons, the American media have totally ignored this news event in Egypt.

      It is extremely disturbing to me that our American media, INCLUDING Fox News (unfortunately), are concealing critical information about Obama's past: the medical, educational and other records that Obama ordered to be sealed in his very first act after taking office in 2009; his forged birth certificate; stolen security number; and forged draft registration, among others.  There is plenty of proof of all of this, and yet the one television network that most conservatives thought they could trust has obviously forbidden their news anchors and contributors from revealing information which not only would be grounds for impeachment, but crimes of treason for which he should be arrested and tried.

      As disturbing as it is that Obama has sufficiently destroyed this country to the extent I do not believe it will be able to quickly recover, it is equally disturbing to me that Congress was totally aware of all of this, and yet has refused to use the constitutional tools given to them to remove him from office.  They were aware of most of the facts that rendered Obama constitutionally unqualified to be President even before the 2008 election, and refused to take any action to stop it.  And since then, they have refused to impeach him or have him arrested.  So our U.S. Congress is every bit as guilty as Obama by being complicit and failing to act to prevent the destruction Obama has perpetrated on the U.S.  My own Representative told me in person that he was not aware of any "high crimes" that Obama committed.  I sent him a list of about 50 (at that time), along with a definition of "high crimes and misdemeanors."  Never heard any more from him - and haven't voted for him since.

    • I wish they had a way to force him to show the records he had sealed prior to taking office. Be that would answer a LOT of unanswered questions.

    • Besides all that He is also a Homosexual "married" to a Transvestite and his kids are loaners from a friend. The biggest farce ever played on America.

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