Obama’s domestic policy legacy Guest column

Admittedly, President Barack Obama's domestic policy record is severely limited. The Republican Congress was committed to saying "no, no, no" to Obama's proposals on the minimum wage, immigration reform, trade expansion, climate change abatement, infrastructure redevelopment, job retaining, and filling a Supreme Court vacancy, among other issues. The president is also opposed by a Republican court system on immigration, voting rights and campaign financing. Nevertheless his record, although limited, is amazingly good.

Obama's first two years, with a Democratic Congress, allowed him to pass the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), which brought insurance to over 20 million Americans, eliminated the roadblock to coverage for those with pre-existing conditions and kept children on their parent's plans until age 26.

Thereafter, with first the House and then also the Senate coming under GOP control, Obama was mainly left to act through his own thoughtful, tempered initiatives. As a result, unemployment decreased from a peak of 10 percent in October 2009 to the current 4.6 percent. And in most years the federal deficit dropped.

Obama also succeeded in fostering domestic stability - at least until the long-lasting, rabble-rousing presidential campaign. We now have an African-American president who has performed well, as his positive poll numbers show. That is a historically important break in the racial ceiling.

I could also add Obama's patronage of the arts and the first lady's support of education and the well-being of children, both highly civilized endeavors. And the president remained civil even when his Republican enemies failed to do so. Dignity is his strong suit.

We are likely in for a rougher ride with a President Donald Trump. He and his Republican Congress are now big advocates of bipartisan deal-making, which is hugely hypocritical after eight years of virulent partisanship. This bogus position will not cow Democrats and the mainstream media into falling in line with the autocratic supreme leader.

It's anticipated that the White House and the GOP Congress will call for tax cuts mainly for the wealthy and corporations, reductions and eliminations of federal medical care programs, a return to coal, restrictions on Muslims, education vouchers, a loosening of environmental rules and financial regulations on Wall Street, huge military spending and even the erosion of Social Security. This will not be received quietly.

Any action on a prominent issue for Trump's voters, keeping out nonwhite immigrants, will create a huge outcry. Partisanship will continue to flare more intensely, with the shoe on the other foot. It may even escalate to the point of paralysis or the blossoming of executive power verging on semi-dictatorship, with the likely blessing of a soon-to-be-Republican Supreme Court.

This may be too pessimistic, but it can happen here. Does anyone expect Trump to become a moderate? Surprisingly, he represents both the super-rich and the white working class, both expecting a powerful president to make things right for them. Even though Trump lied about his bizarre intentions during his campaign, he is still obliged to be a powerful leader, one who will smite his political enemies.

You think I'm kidding? We're in for quite an exciting ride. Never before in American history have we had a president so singularly in command, so confident of his righteousness or so skillful in mastering and manipulating the masses. Make no mistake - he will be formidable.

Intellectuals, the mainstream media and Democrats have consistently underestimated Trump's political gifts, perhaps thinking that as an inexperienced politician he would be swayed by the mainstream Republican leaders in his administration. But so far his Cabinet and White House picks have been anything but mainstream. His civilian appointees are policy loyalists and the many military men he wants to elevate are trained to take orders.

George W. Bush said he was "the decider." But we now have the real thing.

Nick Berry can be reached at [email protected].

Credit: Nick Berry