Preliminary partial balance
In his last State of the Union speech the US President listed the successes of his presidency, starting with economic recovery. However, controversial results in the realm of rights are coupled by a foreign policy that is widely regarded as a failure: the US is growing while the rest of the world is ablaze. The opinion of the professors of two American Catholic universities.
His last speech on “The State of the Union”, he prided himself of “a more solid” nation, marked by strong economic recovery, with policies against discrimination and against the arms lobby. However, to date, – namely, over the past year (presidential elections are scheduled to take place next November) – Obama’s term in office appears similar to a twin-track presidency. In fact, while successes are registered at domestic level – despite questionable achievements in terms of individual and social rights – foreign policy is marked by failures. For the good and for the bad the United States no longer is “the world’s policeman”. Is this truly the case? At a closer glance relevant details and some surprises come to the fore. What are Obama’s merits? And what are his flaws? Some scholars from American Catholic Universities have shared their opinion.
Domestic policy. “When Obama was sworn in as president”, said Professor Michael Genovese, expert in White House Studies and director of the Institute for Leadership Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, “he had a very long list of things to be done, some of which very urgent. He managed to initiate an economic recovery in the US that gradually became a vigorous growth, he saved the auto industry, he secured a healthcare reform that has increased the number of insured Americans, he took some timid but useful decisions in terms of immigration and gun-control measures. ” Evan Gerstmann, Professor of Political Sciences, expert in the American Constitution at Los Angeles’ Loyola Marymount University, added: “We need to look back to the end of 2008, when, every month, as many as 750 thousand people were loosing their jobs. And that was the figure per month! Economic policies for the revival of the economy led to a 50% drop in unemployment in those dark days. The problem is that salaries remained the same”.
In reality, the divide between the rich and the poor has increased during the past eight years, and by paradox, the crisis had a greater impact on Afro-American workers, for whom Obama has become an icon.
The international scenario. As regards his foreign policy, most political analysts agree that more could have been done, and better. In fact, many speak of a “failure” in that field. The Middle East is increasingly unstable, with a handful of States where anarchy reigns; Iran is ambiguous and increasing its hegemony in the region; the Isis threat has become a horrifying reality also in Europe; Russia is increasingly aggressive and abusive. Gerstmann emphasized, however, that the ISIS and Syria are a puzzle to which no one seems to have a solution. Instead, “the killing of Osama Bin Laden, the nuclear deal with Iran and the Paris climate agreement are “clear victories of Obama’s presidency”. For Genovese, the column of spot-on policies includes “openness toward Cuba,” a goal achieved “thanks to the intervention of the Vatican”, while among Obama’s failures figures “a lack of decisions on the Middle East”: “Libya is in shambles, Syria’s situation is even worse.”
“the response to ISIS was incredibly phlegmatic, perhaps motivated by the possibility that it could have been seen as a criticism of Islam”.
“Pivotal Asia”. Moreover, the least mentioned aspect of Obama’s foreign policy is his determined action on the Asian front. “Since his presidential election, Obama has been trying to shift the political focus from the Middle East to Asia”; said Andrew Yeo, associate professor of Political Sciences at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. “Indeed, he initially succeeded. Suffice it to mention the important trans-Pacific Partnership”, a treaty signed by twelve countries in the Pacific and Asian regions. “Then – Prof Yeo went on – the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis and problems in the Middle East have ‘distracted him from Asia.” How would you rate his dialogue with China, Professor Yeo? “The positive signal was the recent climate agreement. But from a geo-political point of view, tensions have increased. Beijing has increased its military capacities and it intends to gain control over maritime waterways. This unnerves those Countries traditionally under US influence such as South Korea, Vietnam and The Philippines”.
Attenuating circumstances of hyper-polarization. Many of Obama’s unfinished projects, such as an authentic reform of migration policies, are delusions that his supporters ascribe to hard-line obstructionism on the part of the Republicans, determined to reject even the most bipartisan proposals. Gerstmann shared an anecdote: “Obama had invited the Republican members of Congress to the White House to a private screening of the film ‘Lincoln’. They turned down the invitation. And the reason was that “voters wouldn’t have understood”. On the other hand, such obstructionist positions, Genovese said, are nothing new. “It could be seen among the Democrats during the second term in office of George W. Bush, and even before”.
In any case,
Washington “used to be the city of dialogue, now it’s called the city of barricades”.
“Mixed bag”. Since then, Obama’s presidency has been a “mixed bag” where can be found positive elements as well as failures. Until now, he has done a better job in America than in the rest of the world, but he didn’t neglect the crucial stage of the century, Asia, and the relations with its ambitious protagonist, China. Today, America is facing frictions with Moscow along with serious problems – at humanitarian, political and environmental level – affecting large areas of the Middle East and Africa. However, Obama will leave these worries on as his legacy to the next occupant of the White House.
