International Desk: I know President Obama has been far from perfect (no president ever is), but I’ve maintained for a while now that history is going to look back upon him as one of our nation’s best presidents.

Well, at least in the modern era of presidential politics. But I also think he’ll go down as one of the least appreciated presidents due to the fact that there are so many people in this country who, no matter what he does, simply want to believe he’s been one of our worst – even if facts don’t remotely support that asinine belief.

With technology being what it is today, now more than ever people wrap themselves up in bubbles of confirmation bias where the only “facts” or “reality” they seem to care about are sources of “information” that do nothing but tell them what they want to hear whether or not it’s true. Meanwhile, any source that doesn’t tell them what they want to believe is real is dismissed, blocked, “unliked” or “unfollowed.” Since I don’t like to make any statement I can’t back up with a logical argument or facts, I thought I’d list 5 things to prove why I believe President Obama will go down as one of our best and least appreciated presidents.

1. He led the country back from the brink of collapse: In this country, our political memories are absurdly short. There are people who literally believe the country is worse off now than when President Obama took office in January 2009. You know, when we were shedding hundreds of thousands of jobs every single month and unemployment was skyrocketing toward 10 percent. Now we’re in the midst of the longest streak of private sector job growth in our nation’s history, creating over 15 million jobs in that span while unemployment hovers around 5 percent (lower than at any time during Reagan’s eight years). People forget just how bad things were (and how they were getting worse). Yet in just a few months he had cut our job losses in half and in just over a year we began this historic streak of private sector job growth. As I’ve said before, if he were white and a Republican they would be worshipping him like they do Reagan.

2. On his watch, we found and killed Osama bin Laden: Did he personally track, find and shoot Osama bin Laden? No, of course not. But then when did presidents suddenly stop getting any credit for something simply because they didn’t physically and personally do something? Abraham Lincoln gets credit for ending slavery when he never fought in the Civil War. Obama dedicated more resources to Afghanistan which ultimately led to our military killing the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks. Not only that, but he still had to order the raid which was somewhat controversial considering it consisted of going into Pakistan without alerting anyone. He did in just over two years what George W. Bush failed to do in nearly eight – he got the monster responsible for the worst terrorist attack in our nation’s history. Again, if he were white and a Republican, this would be another reason why they would worship him like they do Reagan.

3. We’ve made huge strides on social issues, equality and health care reform: While there’s still a long way to go, we’ve seen huge strides reached during Obama’s time in office as it relates to reforming our health care system, how our law enforcement officials behave and gay rights. Just a few years ago people with pre-existing conditions could be discriminated against, body cameras on police officers were not remotely being discussed, same-sex marriage was still illegal in most places and gay Americans couldn’t openly serve in our military.

Gay Americans can finally be open about who they are while defending this country, while all members of the LGBT community are now allowed to legally marry the person they love. People who were born with illnesses can no longer be denied health care and crooked police officers are finally being held accountable. We still have more work to do on each and every one of these issues, but we’ve made unprecedented strides over the last few years to make sure we’re headed down the right path.

4. We’ve laid a solid foundation for moving the United States toward using renewable energy sources to combat climate change: Of course there’s still plenty of work that needs to be done to combat climate change, but President Obama has made a huge part of his presidency a focus on developing new “green” energy sources and moving the country away from fossil fuels. Sure, the recent climate deal that was struck doesn’t go nearly far enough – but it’s a huge step in the right direction. This president has this country on the right path toward a much “greener” energy future that could very well help save this planet. Unfortunately, because far too many liberals didn’t show up to help build upon his legacy on November 8th, most of the things he’s accomplished towards green energy are about to be undone. Though that doesn’t negate the successes he accomplished and what he tried to do.

5. He’s done everything while facing unprecedented obstruction: The moment President Obama won in 2008, the GOP essentially decided that, no matter he wanted, they were going to oppose it. We’ve never seen a president face such congressional obstruction as Obama has. Since 2010, our Congress has been mostly worthless. And Republicans have been rather open about the fact that their main goal in Congress has been to block anything this president supports. While what Republicans have done during his time in office has technically been legal – sometimes their behavior has bordered on near treason as many within the GOP blatantly tried to undermine or sabotage this president all for the sake of putting partisan politics ahead of the country. It’s a testament to how great he’s been that he’s managed to accomplish this much based upon the fact that, at every turn, Republicans have done everything they possibly can to block him. But despite everything I just listed, many people in this country have taken him for granted. That’s why I believe his approval rating seems to be going up the more people get a look at the folks who could ultimately replace him. I might put together a “part 2” to this list eventually. Either way, I’m sure the comments section of this article will be filled with Republican trolls spouting off every spoon-fed talking point they’ve heard on Fox News since 2008. Then again, those are the folks who proudly support Donald Trump. So, excuse me if I struggle to take most of their opinions too seriously.

Source: forwardprogressives.com

risingbd/Dhaka/Jan 8, 2017/Nasim