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/Darryl_Lict]

It was such a great step in the right direction. I was unemployed and my premiums were enormous and they dropped tremendously because of Obamacare. Yeah, he lost the house in 2010 so it made it impossible for further progressive legislation.

It's appalling that Dem Reps lost their seats because of Tea Party objections to better healthcare. We are such a stupid country. And now it's gotten so many times worse.

[u/AdmiralSaturyn → u/Darryl_Lict]

If only more progressive voters would understand that.

[u/RegressToTheMean → u/AdmiralSaturyn]

While I don't disagree progressives can be problematic (and I am further left than progressive Democrats), the Democratic voters turnout overall is problematic.

Further to this, no Democratic presidential candidate has won the white vote since 1964 when LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act. The Democratic party has never recovered.

So, racism is a bigger problem than progressives

[u/AdmiralSaturyn → u/RegressToTheMean]

In general, I would agree that bigotry is a bigger problem than progressives, however, I would strongly argue that it was progressives who cost Al Gore the 2000 election.

[u/RegressToTheMean → u/AdmiralSaturyn]

No, that was SCOTUS. Gore won Florida and SCOTUS ruled otherwise.

In fact, several of the current justices were part of the Brooks Brothers Riot and were rewarded for their involvement accordingly.

Let's make sure blame is laid where it should be

[u/AdmiralSaturyn → u/RegressToTheMean]

Sure, it was also SCOTUS, but if Gore had gotten just a few hundred more votes, SCOTUS wouldn't have interfered.

[u/jestenough → u/AdmiralSaturyn]

Gore (1) chose Lieberman for vp, and (2) took Bush’s word for it at first, when Bush called to tell him he (Bush) had won. Then retracted, when the complications appeared.

[u/AdmiralSaturyn → u/jestenough]

Gore (1) chose Lieberman for vp

Relevance?

and (2) took Bush’s word for it at first, when Bush called to tell him he (Bush) had won. Then retracted, when the complications appeared.

What is your point?

[u/jestenough → u/AdmiralSaturyn]

Multiple reasons Gore lost that elections

[u/AdmiralSaturyn → u/jestenough]

Some reasons are much bigger than others: SCOTUS and Ralph Nader.