Obama legacy

Obama’s Legacy Is Finally Coming Into Focus

by Jonathan Chait

Thanks to Donald Trump's attack on his legacy.

What Makes a President Great? Clipping? Sipping? Slashing?

What criteria should we use when ranking presidents? 

Lincoln, Washington and Roosevelts remain history’s best presidents in survey

Dwight Eisenhower moved into the top five for the first time, moving up from No. 8 in 2009 and No. 9 in 2000.

Gallup: Obama approval ratings most polarized in US history

Barack Obama averaged 83% job approval among Democrats and 13% among Republicans.

Obama victories at Supreme Court were lowest since Zachary Taylor

Every president since Reagan has won fewer cases than their predecessor.

10 Historians on What Will Be Said About President Obama's Legacy

H.W. Brands, James Grossman, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Julian Zelizer et al.

Where It All Went Wrong

by Max Boot

Wary of repeating what he perceived to be Bush’s mistake of over-interventionism, Obama instead veered toward extreme non-interventionism, with the exception of Libya and Afghanistan, where he imposed such severe limitations on American action that it made success impossible to achieve.

From Start to Finish Obama Was Always Consistent

by Walter G. Moss

But that wasn't always a virtue. 

Obama’s Legacy as a Historian

There’s one aspect of his record that has received less attention: his legacy as a historian.

How Will Obama Be Graded By History?

While the public’s rankings may be fickle, it turns out that presidential approval ratings do a reasonably good job of suggesting where presidents rank in the longer term.

Obama leaves office with popularity, but little political strength

by Elaine C. Kamarck

A presidential legacy is not simply what a person accomplishes in office but whether or not he leaves behind a political party strong enough to nurture and protect the legacy.

Barack Obama’s Legacy Is More Secure Than You, or the GOP, Think

by Jonathan Chait

A glacier cannot easily be unmelted.

Bacevich and Mearsheimer on Obama’s Legacy

"My position is that the United States is much worse off today than it was in 2009, when Obama became the president.” – John Mearsheimer

Trump's election has changed Obama's post-presidency plans

Instead of building on his legacy, he'll be defending it.

Presidential historian Allan Lichtman says Obama’s worst legacy is the collapse of the Democratic Party (Interview)

“He has forgotten what the great iconic Democratic president Franklin Roosevelt always taught, and that is, you not only have to be an innovator of policy, have you to be a party-builder."

Obama never understood how history works

by David Greenberg

Obama's Syria legacy won't be the only factor shaping how posterity regards his foreign policy. The uneven efforts to wind down the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the still-controversial Iran nuclear deal, the opening to Cuba, the weakening of al-Qaida and other terrorist groups, the struggles to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians - these add up to a mixed and complicated recor.

Obama's Foreign Policy Was an Utter Failure

by Victor Davis Hanson

Nations are collections of human beings, and human nature has not changed, despite Obama’s pleadings.

Obama's failed foreign policy

by Gil Troy

''The outgoing US president has spawned a callow, cowardly series of leadership miscarriages that bullied friends and empowered enemies.''

Obama Administration Report Card: Domestic Policy

by Jeremy Kuzmarov

Grade C+

Partisan Divide Colors Obama's Place In History

As President Obama prepares to leave office, 45 percent of Americans think he'll be remembered as an outstanding or above-average president, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center.