Obama's legacy same as Carter's?

[rockhound]

Nice man that got nothing done?

His administration's signature legislation, the ACA, will likely be dismantled leaving him with no effective legislation passed, as with Carter.

Like the hostage situation that Carter left the country, Obama leaves a country overrun with illegal immigrants and a racial situation (police shootings, BLM, etc) worse than it's been in 30 years.   Like Carter, Obama is seen as impotent to deal with those issues that create a feeling of a country that is flailing aimlessly with no power to do anything.

Though Obama didn't get beat personally in the election like Carter did, his appointed surrogate lost to a celebrity that the left railed against and laughed at, while middle America embraced the promise of a better America.

Only time will tell of course, but if Trump has anywhere near the same success that Reagan did, it's more likely to be the case that's Obama's legacy will building homes somewhere for Habitat for Humanity.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

No. The National Review said this in 2011 (when Mitt Romney or sexgod Mitch Daniels were waiting in the wings to be Reagan 2.0) and even when they're right they somehow manage to be wrong.

Obama and Carter both have this in common: my party dramatically overlooks some of the good they did in office.

[Redban]

Obama's approval ratings are stronger though. Carter was pushing 28% approval in the summer of 79' (Gallup).

[Storebought]

Not at all, and it's ridiculous to the point of absurdity to even attempt a comparison.

[Vega]

I mean, Obama is a two-term President with approval ratings that were regularly North of 50%.

[rockhound]

I mean, Obama is a two-term President with approval ratings that were regularly North of 50%.

Is that the same pollsters that had Hillary winning?

[Nyvin]

No, and it's an absurd comparison.

[elcorazon]

the better question is will Trump's legacy be the same as Hitler's?

[AGA]

I mean, Obama is a two-term President with approval ratings that were regularly North of 50%.

Is that the same pollsters that had Hillary winning?

Gallup's latest poll had Obama's approval rating at 57%, and I don't think they conducted any polls for the election, so no.

[Arbitrage1980]

As a conservative Republican, I personally like Carter more than Obama since the former was a moderate southern democrat who got some good stuff done, such as deregulations, tax cuts, and Camp David accords. Obama has been a disaster in terms of policy and has tried to move the country too far to the left. He's personally likable, but the American people don't like his policies. The Democratic Party has been decimated during his presidency.

I cannot wait for Trump to reverse Obama's executive orders and undo his legacy.

[Orser67]

Obama leaves a country overrun with illegal immigrants

You know that the number of illegal immigrants in the country has gone down while he's been in office, right?

[Beet]

They both failed to move the needle on the Court (while Obama did appoint two justices, he had no effect on the ideological balance, and in theory Souter and Stevens could still be on the Court since they're both still alive).

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

I mean, Obama is a two-term President with approval ratings that were regularly North of 50%.

Is that the same pollsters that had Hillary winning?

Gallup's latest poll had Obama's approval rating at 57%, and I don't think they conducted any polls for the election, so no.

Corroborating this, exit polls showed that quite a lot of people who viewed Obama favorably, voted for Trump.  The high Obama approval was real.

Clinton suffered from the same problem Gore did:

1. Associated with the negatives of the previous eight years,
2. Failed to tie him/herself with the successes of the previous eight years,
3. Was tone-deaf to voters he/she took for granted, and
4. Failed until too late to realize his/her support had evaporated among the poor white southerners / middle-class white Midwesterners that were a key part of Clinton's/Obama's coalition.

[Nym90]

It's far more likely that Trump will prove to be the Carter of the Republican party; inexperienced outsider who wins narrowly (with a coalition of states unusual for his party in recent elections),  who while having large congressional majorities, has different priorities that leads to not much getting done, and then gets trounced four years later, whose election is then regarded in the history books as a circumstantial aberration during a period of White House control for the opposite party.

[Person Man]

Yeah. I understand it might feel like Obama got nothing done and that we are heading for perpetual one-party rule, but they actually have to govern first and actually make the changes they said they would. It is very unlikely they will actually do Obamacare in because if they just send something through reconciliation, it will make all hell break loose. If the filibuster is abolished, then the legacy will be that Democrats were ram through a hard-left agenda in 2021 or 2025. Single-payer and everything. It will be no more disruptive that Ryan's plan.

[‼realJohnEwards‼]

It's far more likely that Trump will prove to be the Carter of the Republican party; inexperienced outsider who wins narrowly (with a coalition of states unusual for his party in recent elections),  who while having large congressional majorities, has different priorities that leads to not much getting done, and then gets trounced four years later, whose election is then regarded in the history books as a circumstantial aberration during a period of White House control for the opposite party.

Actually, extending the metaphor...

Trump = Carter
Obama = Nixon/Ford
Bush = LBJ/Kennedy (Iraq = Vietnam, 9/11 = Cuba)
Clinton = Eisenhower
Bush = Truman
Reagan = FDR (cringe, but they were both radicals at their respective times, so...)


So we don't need to worry. If history holds true, after Trump, we get our own new FDR!

[/#analysis]

[m4567]

The comparison is weird.

Obama:

Furthered LGBT rights.

Obamacare

The Iran deal

The Paris deal

The Cuba deal

Two-term president

Decent to solid approval rating

[ApatheticAustrian]

Is that the same pollsters that had Hillary winning?

since those national pollsters have been correct....seems legit.

[Mr. Smith]

The comparison is weird.

Obama:

Furthered LGBT rights.

Obamacare

The Iran deal

The Paris deal

The Cuba deal

Two-term president

Decent to solid approval rating

Nixon:

Furthered integration (if in a self-serving and seedy way)

Universal Healthcare (which Ted Kennedy and other liberals turned down for not being liberal enough...how's that different from Republicans turning on their own system again?)

The China deal

SALT

Two-term president (in theory)

Decent to solid approval (until Watergate)

...You were saying?

[Nyvin]

The comparison is weird.

Obama:

Furthered LGBT rights.

Obamacare

The Iran deal

The Paris deal

The Cuba deal

Two-term president

Decent to solid approval rating

Nixon:

Furthered integration (if in a self-serving and seedy way)

Universal Healthcare (which Ted Kennedy and other liberals turned down for not being liberal enough...how's that different from Republicans turning on their own system again?)

The China deal

SALT

Two-term president (in theory)

Decent to solid approval (until Watergate)

...You were saying?

Uhh, yeah, they're completely different, not remotely comparable.   You're just going to write off the fact that he had to resign before the end of his second term?

I will give Nixon credit for creating the EPA though.

[Phony Moderate]

Obama will go down as a Democratic Eisenhower.

[m4567]

The comparison is weird.

Obama:

Furthered LGBT rights.

Obamacare

The Iran deal

The Paris deal

The Cuba deal

Two-term president

Decent to solid approval rating

Nixon:

Furthered integration (if in a self-serving and seedy way)

Universal Healthcare (which Ted Kennedy and other liberals turned down for not being liberal enough...how's that different from Republicans turning on their own system again?)

The China deal

SALT

Two-term president (in theory)

Decent to solid approval (until Watergate)

...You were saying?

I was talking about the Carter comparison.

[rockhound]

It's far more likely that Trump will prove to be the Carter of the Republican party;

Not a chance.  No one will ever accuse Trump of being a nice guy.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

If people are looking for parallels to other presidents, Obama is the new Clinton.  Took over during a major economic crisis (or with one looming) and presided over a period of recovery and growth that never really benefited the working class.  Inherited a Democratic Congress which was thrown out on its ear early on.  And withstood an effort by Republicans to completely tear him down.

Clinton and the GOP Congress helped blaze the trail for Trump.  Obama and the GOP Congress paved it into a six-lane highway.

[Mr. Smith]

It's far more likely that Trump will prove to be the Carter of the Republican party;

Not a chance.  No one will ever accuse Trump of being a nice guy.

Well let's see:

Won the unwinnable Wisconsin.

Created a YUGE establishment and ideological backlash during the primaries that cost the Western States, but won on The East and especially The South

Mo Udall and Ted Cruz were BOTH ideological puritans that did best in The West.

Faced an opponent that lost 45% of their primary electorate to a purer ideological candidate that wasn't even supposed to have a chance

YUGE Sex scandal [Let's face it, Playboy was yuge for the considerably more moral '70's] that still overwent an opponent with heavy baggage.

Not hawkish.

Uneasy Congress relations during the campaign, but suspiciously overcompensatingly nice after the win...but already at odds policy wise.

Won The South,...except for Virginia.


That's an absurd number of comparables already.