In the last two weeks, three items in the news reminded Americans just how bad President Obama was. A growing GDP rate reminds conservatives of his failed economic leadership. Evangelical Christians have new reasons to feel his antipathy toward them. And libertarians grow increasingly suspicious of his partisan deep state and 2016 election meddling. It is not a good look for a former president.
On Friday, the Commerce Department reported 2019 First Quarter GDP growth of 3.2%, topping all estimates. The Trump economy is undeniably strong, proving just how badly President Obama managed the economy. In fact, no president ever delivered such consistently low GDP growth – not even FDR during the Great Depression. Obama’s outdated stimulus package flopped, and he never addressed a fixable housing crisis. Rather than re-ignite credit markets, he allowed Elizabeth Warren to declare jihad on America’s largest lenders; thereby prolonging the recession.
If Obama had just been incompetent (like Jimmy Carter), I’d feel sorry for him. But no – the more his economic policies failed, the more he blamed President Bush for leaving him the “worst economy ever.” He even tried to blame American businesses: falsely telling voters that routine deductible expenses were “special tax breaks” for off-shoring corporations – – until Romney told the debate audience Obama didn’t know what he was “talking about.” And how dumb were his Trump-mocking “magic wand” comments now that US factory jobs are rebounding?
Last Sunday in Sri Lanka, 253 Christians were murdered by ISIS because of their faith, and Obama failed to get his condolences correct or kind. ISIS specifically targeted Christian churches, but Obama tweeted condolences to “Easter worshippers” (drunken frat boys on spring break are Easter worshippers). Obama’s tweet outraged evangelical Christians, who know 245 million Christians suffer persecution every year. In the first three months of 2019, the Worldwide Watch List reported 1,266 Christian churches attacked, 2,625 Christians imprisoned without trial, and 4,136 Christians killed for faith-based reasons.
Remember, Obama got off on the wrong foot with Christians in 2008, when he accused small-town voters of “clinging to their bibles” and “having antipathy for people who are not like them” just because they rejected his vision that would “fundamentally transform” America after he was elected. Obama’s fundamental transformation was to attack conservative Christians for civil rights violations, while Islamic terror attacks repeatedly hit the homeland on his watch.
Obama appointed Martin Castro to chair the US Commission on Civil Rights, and Castro issued a 2016 report alleging “religious freedom” and “religious liberty” were code words for Christian supremacy – and “discrimination, intolerance, racism, sexism, homophobia, [and] Islamophobia.” 250 million Christians believe all religions are protected by the US Constitution and were rightly outraged when Castro’s report tarred Christianity as immoral. It is no wonder evangelicals and Catholics consider Obama anti-Christian.
Two weeks ago, the attorney general told senators he was investigating Obama’s intelligence and law enforcement agencies for spying on the Trump campaign. At best, Obama will be guilty of not preventing Russian meddling in 2016. Probably, his intelligence and law enforcement apparatchiks did illegally spy on the Trump campaign, unmask the names of surveillance targets, and leak secrets to the press. At worst, Obama knew what was going on when it was going on.
I have no proof Obama committed a crime, but I suspect he was in the loop. Asked if Obama spied on Trump, spokesman Kevin Lewis gave a non-answer: “A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with an independent investigation led by the Department of Justice” when a simple “no” would have sufficed. With each “correction” of the public record by Brennan, Clapper, Comey, Lynch, McCabe, Powers, Rice and Yeatts, it looks worse for the ex-president.
It is not a good look for an es-president to pooh-pooh a subsequent economic recovery. It is foolish to diminish Christianity when ISIS is the clear-and-present counterpoint. It is criminal if Obama abused executive power for political purposes. As far as ex-presidents go, Obama is no Jimmy Carter.