A host of hosts – commentators, TV newsmen, talk show operators, comedians, bloggers – have argued, especially in light of the Nobel Peace Prize, that Obama has had no accomplishments; that there is nothing that can be said to have been done in his nearly nine months in office.
I agree that Obama’s campaign set up bloated expectations. It was a political campaign. But I am amazed that more people do not remember the circumstances of O’s election and inauguration, particularly the fact that the country was at the very epicenter (we hope) of the largest financial collapse since 1929. In addition, Obama inherited two long-standing and intractable wars, a bruised and devalued national reputation, and an overextended military.
Some have argued (probably with accuracy) that the financial problems were a long time coming and should have been foreseen. Yes. However, if the financial collapse was so clearly foreseeable, it is unlikely that so many people and institutions would have lost the huge amount of “value” (I hesitate to call it cash) that was lost. It is certain that, during his campaign, Obama did not anticipate that so much of his early presidency, and so many of the country’s resources, would be spent on giving CPR to a gasping and nearly brain-dead U.S. financial system.
One of the fundamental precepts taught to emergency medical service providers is primum non nocere – “first do no harm.” (I always thought this was part of the Hippocratic Oath, but apparently the phrase there is “abstain from doing harm.”) Given the emergency state existing when Obama came into office, I’m going to stick to the EMS version.
So in response to all the many people harping on O.’s lack of accomplishments, I’d like to point out, first, all the harm he hasn’t done. (Given the potential for disaster at the time of his assumption of office, this alone is pretty amazing.) Some specifics:
1. Obama has not allowed a collapse of the U.S. banking system.
2. He has not presided over the complete collapse of the U.S. financial markets. (In fact, the stock market has been recovered remarkably well over the last few months.)
3. He has not entangled the country in an additional war. (Some may think I’m setting the bar low here, but, given the fact that one of our current wars was begun during the first nine months of his predecessor’s administration, I think it’s a point worth making.)
4. He has not presided over a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. (Frankly, I don’t believe that any president can completely safeguard the U.S. against such attacks. However, it’s interesting that O. has received virtually no credit for the lack of attack, thus far, while the absence of a post-9/11 attack during Bush’s presidency was continually cited as proof of his keeping us safe.)
5. He has not turned the U.S. into a communist or fascist country, or even tried to. Civil liberties remain in force.
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