A Frustrating Look Back and Ahead
After seven long years under the Obama Administration, I wish I could claim to see light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately, no matter who is elected to succeed the current president, it will take time, real solutions and tough decisions to help the nation recover from the consequences of President Obama’s misguided policies and failed leadership.
Perhaps the most obvious and widely noticed flaw of the president’s leadership was the early push for passage of Obamacare and the failures of its implementation. When he rallied support for overhaul of the healthcare system, President Obama described and promised an America where quality healthcare would be inexpensive, accessible and beneficial for all. However, as we’ve seen throughout implementation of the law, the so-called Affordable Care Act puts a greater financial burden on individuals, families and job creators by imposing billions in new taxes and instituting unnecessary mandates and regulations. Further, despite the president’s promise that Americans could keep their existing coverage, millions of individuals have received termination notices. By now, the country certainly recognizes that the president’s signature “accomplishment” is tainted by broken promises, empty rhetoric and more federal debt.
Along with his expensive and ineffective overhaul of the nation’s healthcare system, the president has consistently missed opportunities to recommend or support serious reforms to balance the budget and pay down the debt. Instead, he’s allowed the debt to climb at an alarming rate, showing that he would rather defer the difficult decisions for changing the debt trajectory to another leader. Considering that the nation’s debt has already surpassed $19 trillion, it is a certainty that the next president will face a budgetary crisis of epic proportions.
As if the president’s destruction of our healthcare system and his mishandling of the country’s broken economy weren’t enough, it is equally clear that his dealings abroad have lacked any real strategy or resolve. Under the Obama Administration, our enemies have gotten stronger and been greatly empowered because of America’s disengagement. While the president likes to claim that the world is safer and America is more secure, it only takes a quick survey of all the threats abroad to realize that his assessment is clearly at odds with reality. For example, because he decided it was inappropriate to deal with ISIS when it was confined to Syria (ignoring the advice of his own military advisors), the president allowed the jihadist regime to dangerously spread. This has endangered not only our allies who are in much closer proximity to this barbaric enemy, but it also continues to threaten the lives of Americans and squanders our hard-fought missions in the region.
Even more shocking, the president has naively chosen to negotiate with longtime enemies of the United States on several occasions. For example, despite concerns from both lawmakers and American citizens, the Obama Administration insisted on moving forward with the controversial nuclear agreement with Iran. The so-called agreement, which benefits Iran far more than other stakeholders, will continue to increase volatility in the Middle East and ultimately pave the way for Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. And Iran has already violated both the letter and spirit of the deal.
In fact, it was discovered late last year that Iran had tested a missile suited for a nuclear warhead. Further, on the same day as the president’s State of the Union address, video surfaced of Iran’s capture, mistreatment and humiliation of 10 U.S. Navy sailors, who accidentally strayed off course into Iranian waters. Despite Iran’s bad behavior and dishonesty, the Obama Administration still chose to lift sanctions, thus infusing the regime with billions of dollars that will unquestionably go to fund terrorism or terrorist groups.
The president’s performance is beyond frustrating. It is outrageous. Instead of confronting the serious challenges that desperately needed his attention, leadership and willingness to work with the legislative branch after he took the oath of office, he has time and again defaulted to ignoring rather than solving some of the most pressing issues facing the American people. Without question, undoing the problems he brought on and compounded is going to be a tall order for whoever ultimately replaces him.