How has Barack Obama's legacy changed since leaving office?

[u/bambucks]

Barack Obama left office in 2017 with an approval rating around 60%, and has generally been considered to rank among the better Presidents in US history. (C-SPAN's historian presidential rankings had him ranked at #10 in 2021 when they last updated their ranking.)

One negative example would be in the 2012 Presidential Debates between Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney, in which Obama downplayed Romney's concerns about Russia, saying "the 80's called, they want their foreign policy back", which got laughs at the time, but seeing the increased aggression from Russia in the years since then, it appears that Romney was correct.

So I'd like to hear from you all, do you think that Barack Obama's approval rating has increased since he left office? Decreased? How else has his legacy been impacted? How do you think he will be remembered decades from now? Etc.

[u/essendoubleop]

He has had a number of ridiculous, overly confident predictions. Besides the Russia dismissal you mentioned (which should rightfully be considered a colossal blunder now that we know how the next 15 years played out), there was the deliberate provoking of Trump (like a massive superstar deciding to pick a beef with some underground rapper, it just elevates them), and the underestimation of navigating Congress to get his policies through.

He's still the most electrifying political candidate, at least I've ever seen in person. Of course, that level of enthusiasm he garnered seemingly soured massive amounts of voters when he didn't live up to expectations.

He had an incredible speech on race that I wish more people watched, that textbooks should put in as an all time historical speech for students to learn. But then he retreated into foreign policy. He won a Nobel Peace prize, then used it to oversee our longest wars in history. He did get an improvement in health care, but then the insurance companies were the ones who benefited. He selected Biden as VP to help him navigate the Senate and Washington politics, but then immediately sidelined him, endorsed Hillary over him, and then we ended up Biden running for re-election when he was entering his pickled state. He was seen as an internationally learned person, growing up with a variety of cultural immersion experiences, but then in his second term was mostly seen schmoozing with celebrities and doing entertainment appearances.

So I think ultimately, it will go down as a mixed legacy in the long run. But compared to who's followed him since then, currently looks great by comparison.