In the campaign of 2008 it was the battle cry of the new found optimism of the political cycle: "Yes We Can!"
It was everywhere.
The presidency of Barack Obama had been sold, like a product to a nation that was war weary, financially disturbed, and hopeful that breaking an historic racial barrier might also bring about a better psychology to a nation that had been convinced through an effective campaign that traditional American values were the problem.
Because there had been a financial downturn, and because the war on terror had dragged on and bogged down the nation honestly believed that a purveyor of "hope and change" would bring both to life.
By the end of his first term and with his only achievement being his late night, smoke & mirrors passage of the Affordable Care Act, it became clear that for whatever the pitch had been in the campaign he wasn't going to do what he had promised--either literally or by implication.
Hence my best seller in 2010, "No He Can't."
Meticulous inventory of his pledges, paralleled with his lack of action. To date, the only additional thing he succeeded with (from the time of publication) was the eventual kill of Osama Bin Laden.
Historically and categorically it is easy to say he has been a failed two-term president. Campaigned largely on dreams, and following through in as ineffective a way has been seen in the modern era – and that's compared with Jimmy Carter, previously esteemed as the worst president ever.
Now we know that he allowed his secretary of state to do largely illegal things. He ignored the threat his predecessor warned of by emptying Iraq of strength that gave birth to the rise of ISIS. He demanded an agreement with Iran that gives them nuclear weapons a
on a fast track. And he's turned the nation's bathrooms into a judgment free-gender neutral assault zone that literally no one in the nation wished for.
All of that, however, was just up until the election in November.
I am convinced that President Obama will have done more to injure his legacy – and America's standing in the world – in his final eight weeks in office than in the previous eight years.
He has attempted to throttle our own ability to find and use energy supplies that are by every right – our own.
He has pardoned and shortened the sentences of more felons than the previous presidents of my lifetime combined.
He has stabbed one of our most precious allies in the back labeling them murderers, criminals, and occupiers.
He has consistently refused to respond to terror threats while making a show of supposed Russian hacks during the election – no worse than they have conducted for most presidential elections in recent memory.
He has also added the equivalent of 18 new regulations per law for every federal legal statute on the books. (In short, he added 97,000 pages to the legal federal code.)
He's emboldened our enemies, he's trounced our small businesses, he's grabbed millions of miles for environmental whackos unproven theories, and he's kicked our allies in the teeth at every turn.
"Yes we can," was his election commitment.
"No He Can't" was my best selling analysis.
"No He Didn't" will be his enduring legacy.
Happy New Year America, a new leader has arrived and he's already accomplished more as president-elect than his predecessor did in his entire term.
It's time to Make America TRULY Great Again!
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