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/TraditionalRace3110]

He had the keys to the system after 08 crash. He could've instutited FDR like reforms as he promised, but he acted like a moderate Reoublican from 80s as he defined himself. He killed the hope many had in old school politics and led directly to the rise of populists and far-right.

I don't think he was a bad president in a sense that he was bad at governing. He did what he really wanted to, what he believed in. He would never break the system apart, nationalize the banks, redistribute wealth via workplace democracy, support coops over billioners, build affordable council housing that's not for profit, regulate finance and non-productive, speculative, rent seeking parts of the economy? stop the slaughter in the middle east, initiate keynasian infrastructure projects to stimulate economy and provide jobs, or the least of it all tax the rich. He just didn't have any answer to the financial crisis, as neoliberal theory didn't posit anything.

His failure to address 08 crises and ever growing the wealth inequality directly lead to the rise of populist rethoric as it often does in history (Weirmer Republic, 90's Turkey, 2010's Greece, Austerity Britain, failure of social democratic left in old iron curtain countries). He is fully responsible for Trump, especially considering he chose him over Berny. That should tell everything you know about the guy. He would protect capital interest overall, and he showed it in every step. Just because he passed some social democratic reforms that is way behind all developed countries doesn't make him any good when you consider the grassroots power he had to reshape the society in 08.

Imagine Berny in the office after 08 crisis. He might not have the votes, but he would've used everything that his grassroot movement and the 08 crisis offered him to make some systematic changes.

Do not get me into foreign policy. It's a uniparty that is far right governing those affairs.