There was talk about Obama’s legacy which, for some reason includes the Affordable Care Act, something that is neither affordable nor about care. Obama’s legacy is limited. His successful efforts to end an economic disaster should be remembered even if his recovery program was too small and the recovery took too long. The Obama cheering squad seems to think the ACA is part of his legacy, but if that is so, it is a very weak legacy.
Obama is a smart guy and a smart politician. He understands how things get done, but his ideas are small. Health insurance isn’t healthcare. Too many people have insurance that they cannot afford to use. The Obama administration made no attempt to lower costs and there lies much of the failure.
We need to adopt a single payer tax-based system, perhaps something akin to Germany or France. Instead we got RomneyCare, but at the wrong time. If this was 1990, it might have worked, the economy was good enough, but prices in the medical field have increased so much that nothing but a total revamp will work for those who don’t have healthcare provided by an employers.
Obama was timid in his approach to the Middle East wars, given what we’ve achieved, we could have gotten the same results by leaving on day one. Our alliances in the region make no sense at all. We cannot both support the Saudi, which we do, and attack Sunni rebels in Syria, which we also do.
So after 8 years, what do we have? Not much.
