December 14, 2016

Whitewashing the Black President’s Legacy

As President Barack Obama’s White House days run out, it’s time for his obsequious courtiers in the liberal media to announce his glorious “legacy.” On Dec. 7, CNN devoted a two-hour prime-time special to the Obama legacy. It was hosted by Fareed Zakaria, a journalist whom Obama had invited to the White House so he could soak in Zakaria’s wisdom and expertise — in other words, so he could flatter a journalist into giving him softball coverage.

As President Barack Obama’s White House days run out, it’s time for his obsequious courtiers in the liberal media to announce his glorious “legacy.” On Dec. 7, CNN devoted a two-hour prime-time special to the Obama legacy. It was hosted by Fareed Zakaria, a journalist whom Obama had invited to the White House so he could soak in Zakaria’s wisdom and expertise — in other words, so he could flatter a journalist into giving him softball coverage.

Mission accomplished.

Just as it began nine years ago, Zakaria started by celebrating the president’s race, the gauzy references to Kenya and Kansas fusing into one glorious body. Forget what Obama did. The first legacy was simply who he represented.

And for that he’d been victimized. In CNN’s eyes, Obama’s central crisis was the “fierce, unrelenting opposition” of Republicans and their latent racism. Obama’s former senior adviser David Axelrod claimed, “It’s indisputable that there was a ferocity to the opposition and a lack of respect to him that was a function of race.” CNN pundit Van Jones agreed, saying, “I can’t name one thing that this Congress supported this president on in eight years!” The left never had the intellectual nuance (or the political decency) to acknowledge that one could oppose Obama because he’s a socialist. Period.

At the show’s end, Zakaria concluded: “Presidential legacies also exist above and beyond laws and policies. We remember John F. Kennedy for energy, vitality, elegance and intelligence that he brought to the White House. And in that sense, Obama has left an indelible mark.

"He and his family occupied the White House with dignity, grace and good humor. He ran an administration that was largely scandal-free … and did it all the while under a microscope because he looked different.”

At a time when liberals are warning about the democracy-gutting potential of fake news, there is no faker news than the declaration that Obama’s time in office was largely scandal-free. In the two-hour special there was no mention of Benghazi or IRS harassment, and no time given to Solyndra or Operation Fast and Furious. Some scandals — the failure of Obamacare, the courting of Islamist Iran — were cast as “signature (achievements).”

How this network still includes the word “news” in the title is beyond us.

Most spectacularly, Zakaria didn’t utter one word about the national debt. It almost doubled from $10 trillion to an inconceivable $19 trillion in just eight years. Obama fans complain that it’s not all Obama’s fault, but CNN and Zakaria didn’t think that’s a legacy, or at least as much of a legacy as, say, Obama holding a “beer summit” with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates.

The dourest note that Zakaria hit in the two hours was — you guessed it — that troublesome President-elect Donald Trump. He may erase much of what Obama thinks is his enormous legacy. Zakaria admitted that Obamacare has problems, but so what? He is so pro-Obama that it doesn’t matter whether it’s actually a complete failure. He said: “I would argue that even if Donald Trump finds a way to repeal and replace it, it remains a historic achievement. Barack Obama did what seven presidents failed to do — he made health care a fundamental right. It’s the signature achievement of a consequential president.”

This is socialist logic. Enshrining a right to health care never guarantees comprehensive health care. Ask the people of Fidel Castro’s Cuba. Hillary Clinton lost in part because working-class people couldn’t afford — and didn’t want — Obamacare. That is his legacy, too.

Conservatives will define Trump’s success by measuring how many of Obama’s failed policies are reversed, and whether untrammeled federal government overreach is slowed in any way. We can count on CNN to oppose that agenda every step of the way.

COPYRIGHT 2016 CREATORS.COM

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.