The legacy of Obama, America's first 'second generation African' President

Jan 23, 2017

He spurred a fast turnaround of the economy with some unpopular decisions like bailing out of auto companies and banks

By Bruce Tumwine Rwabasonga

On January 20, President Barack Obama handed over to the President elect, Donald Trump. The two men couldn't be any more different both in character and their vision for the country even if they tried to.

While one is cerebral, calculated, and had a forward-thinking vision for his country, the other is self-indulgent, extemporaneous and his vision for country is taking it back to the past-to an age where it was ‘great'.

As the curtain closed on an era, many will wonder what will the legacy of America's first ‘second generation African' president be?

Obama's meteoric rise from a law professor with a ‘funny name' to the US presidency has been well documented. He from his first day in office, carried the burden of the nation's hopes for a more accountable government that would transform ordinary people' lives.

The country was in dire need for it after being duped in to a never-ending war in Iraq and having witnessed a once in a lifetime financial collapse. From drawing crowds on his foreign trips during the presidential campaigns that even rock stars would be envious of to winning of the Nobel peace prize in his first year in office, not since John Kennedy had a US president generated as much enthusiasm and hope for the country as he did.

He was always going to have a hard time living up to his ‘yes, we can' campaign majorly due to how fragmented DC Washington was and the sheer scale of the work he had to do.

The three key things that any American presidency is assessed by are; foreign policy, performance of the economy and the legislature passed. Ronald Reagan was remembered for his foreign policy prowess in ending the cold war, Abraham Lincoln for passing the emancipation proclamation and work on 13th amendment to end slavery and Franklin Delano Roosevelt for launching the new deal that helped reverse the impact of the Great Depression on the economy.

So how did the Obama presidency rank on these three? In terms of foreign policy, he effectively ended the Iraq war, captured and killed the perceived architect of 9/11 terrorist attack-Osama Bin Laden but will always be blamed to some extent for leading during the rise of the ISIS. Legislation wise, he will be most notably remembered for passage of the now controversial Affordable Care Act (ACA) popularly referred to as Obamacare and for legalization of same sex marriage.

His most stellar performance on the three metrics however, was on the economy where he ranks higher than most modern day American presidents. He spurred a fast turnaround of the economy with some unpopular decisions like bailing out of auto companies and banks with the financial stimulus package that fortunately paid off. He leaves office with unemployment at a record low and with a steadily expanding economy.

Obama most important action arguably is his signature ACA legislation that Republicans will continue to try to repeal. They will find it a Herculean task to do so though they might be able to amend parts of it. It is probably the most impactful health policy enactment since President Lyndon B Johnson signed in to law the bill that resulted in to creation of Medicare and Medicaid.

ACA has provided insurance to over 20 million more Americas, removed the pre-existing conditions insurance clause and made health delivery system more accountable by basing payments on patient outcomes rather than volume of work done.

However, there are parts of it that weren't palatable including individual mandate and the high insurance premiums. It will take nothing short of a miracle for the Republicans to overhaul the ACA, retain the two much needed defining attributes (20 million more insured lives and removal of pre-existing clause that had made healthcare unattainable for those that need it the most) while reversing the healthcare spending curve.

As America's first African American president (and second generation African) in its 240 years' existence, a lot of expected of him particularly by Africans and African Americans who hoped that one of their own would do a lot to improve their plight. He surprisingly did discouragingly little. In regards to Africa, no American president in recent past has done as little as he did.

Apart from the Mandela Washington fellowship, free trade was never improved and health commitment like seen with PEPFAR under President Bush never materialized. For African Americans, his silence more than occasional action on key issues like police brutality, incarceration and income inequality will be remembered.

As the president of the entire nation, he probably made a conscious decision not to focus any resources on the two groups so as not to be perceived as biased by the majority. One hopes that with the shackles of the presidency removed, he will be able to do more for these two communities that based on his memoirs are close to his heart.

As one prominent researcher put it, the impact of America landing on the moon in the 1960s was not the achievement of being the first country to put its flag on it (literally colonize it), nor was it all the discoveries made about life on the moon, but the generation of scientific minds that grew up with passion for sciences because of living in the time of that major human milestone.

Likewise, President Obama's impact won't be his achievements in office but the millions of black, brown and white kids all over the world that learnt that one's background and not even belonging to a disenfranchised group would limit their place in the world. 

This will particularly be true for minority groups that more than ever need role models that look like them to believe that they ‘yes, they can' be all they set their mind to.

The writer is a physician based in the United States

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});