Blog #11: OBAMA'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS

        

            Although President Obama is known as an inspiring communicator, he has been strangely reluctant to convincingly explain the reasons for his actions or take full credit for his successes.

            But rather than settle for immediately palatable slogans, Obama has quietly played the long game. He has kept his eyes on long-term results which were essential to our country and our world.

            What follows is a list of Obama’s achievements -- hard won from an opposition party which vowed to withhold any success as a matter of party policy. I believe these achievements will place Obama in the list of top ten American presidents.

A. Economic Recovery:

            --He led us out of the near-Depression panic of 2008 – caused by too little regulation of too much speculation on Wall Street.

            --By the time Obama took office, the Bush economy was hemorrhaging 800,000 jobs a month. Since February 2010, there have been 60 straight months of private sector job growth, with 14 million jobs created.

            --Saved US auto industry: Millions of workers, small businesses, parts manufacturers and dealerships depended upon the industry for their livelihoods. The big three automakers have recovered and gained market share.

            --1.45 million jobs saved by government funding and restructuring of GM and Chrysler to avoid liquidation; $96 Billion in personal income losses avoided by Obama saving the auto industry.

            --Unemployment rate reduced from 10% (2009) to 5% (2015)

B. Health Care Reform:

            --Led the fight to pass the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the first successful attempt to reform Health Care in fifty years.

            --ACA reformed insurance so that children could stay on their parents policies until age 26, subsidies toward buying insurance were provided on a sliding scale, and insurance companies were required to disclose how much of the premium went to pay for patient care.

            --Additional provisions of the ACA: lifetime limits and annual benefits were prohibited; women no longer charged higher premiums because of gender; preventive services covered at no additional cost; mental health and drug addiction are covered essential services; customers can’t be denied insurance for pre-existing conditions.

            --Medicaid was expanded to cover those below 133% of the poverty level.

            --About 16 million more people have health insurance coverage under the ACA.

            --By 2016, the number of uninsured Americans had dropped from 16% (2009-14) to 9% (2016).

            --ACA tax breaks allowed 3.5 million small businesses to provide health insurance to their employees, making them more competitive with larger corporations.

C. Passed Wall Street Reform: signed Dodd-Frank (2010) to re-regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great Recession. Dodd-Frank tightens capital requirements on large banks; requires derivatives to be sold on exchanges; requires banks to arrange to cover potential bankruptcies; limits their ability to trade with their customer’s money for their own profit; and creates the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau to crack down on abusive lending products and companies.

D. International Achievements: Through seven years of patient, quiet negotiations, Obama reoriented America’s place in a changing world.

            --Iran: negotiated deal with Iran to renounce nuclear ambitions. First led multi-national imposition of economic sanctions to bring Iran to the table.

            --A decade after 9/11, ordered and oversaw Navy Seals raid in which Osama bin Laden was killed and a trove of al-Qaeda documents was discovered.

            --Pivot to Asia: reoriented America’s focus from the Middle East to the Asian-Pacific region by simultaneously engaging China and crafting new alliances with Asian countries uncomfortable with Chinese expansion; also poised to increase trade with growing middle class populations in Asia. U.S. business investment in Asia doubled 2009-2015.

            --With increased oil production in the United States, decreased dependence on Saudi Arabia and the Middle East region.

            --Negotiated a historic global agreement on climate change, with 190 countries signing on.

            --Negotiated ratification of new SALT Treaty with Russia, limiting each country’s strategic warheads to 1550 (down from 2200) and launches to 700 (down from 1400).

            --Prohibited the use of torture, putting the United States in compliance with the Geneva Convention.

            --Played a lead role in getting the G-20 Summit to commit to a $1.1 Trillion deal to combat the Global financial crisis.

            --10,000 air strikes against ISIS in Syria and Iraq; slowly rolling back their control of territory.

            --Led successful world-wide fight to stop the spread of Ebola virus in West Africa, saving millions of lives.

            --Ended 54 years of ineffective Cold War hostility towards Cuba; increased trade, contacts, and a better life for Cubans and Cuban-Americans will follow.

E. Various Domestic Achievements:

            

Energy and Environment:

            --Ordered energy plants to prepare to produce at least 15% of all energy through renewable resources, like wind and solar, by 2021.

            --Doubled federal spending on clean energy.

            --Designated more than 2 million acres as wilderness, created thousands of miles of recreational trails, and protected more than 1000 miles of rivers.

            --Presided over an increase in the average fuel economy standards from 27.5 mpg in 2010 to 35.5 mpg starting in 2016.

           

Workers Rights:

            --Made it possible for employees to discuss their salaries without retaliation, and ordered salary data collection.

            --Authorized six weeks paid leave for all federal employees with a new baby.

            --Ordered all federal contractors to pay a minimum wage of $10.10 an hour.

            --Signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which restored basic protections against pay discrimination against women.

Other Domestic Achievements:

            --Ended “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” allowing Gays and Lesbians to serve openly in the military.

            --Put a cap on student loan repayments at 10% of wages. Ended decades-old practice of subsidizing banks to provide student loans, saving $7 billion a year, half of which went back to provide Pell Grants to lower-income students.

            --Released thousands from federal prisons by reducing drug sentencing guidelines, leading to the first drop in federal prison population in 32 years.

            

Federal deficit: -- Oversaw a reduction in the dollar amount of the federal budget deficit by three quarters since taking office. Reduced the federal budget deficit from 9.8 % of GDP in FY 2009 under Bush to 2.4% of GDP in  FY 2016.

            --Immigration reform: instructed Immigration Department efforts be concentrated on those who commit crimes, rather than undocumented working families.

            --Under President Obama, the bottom 95% of taxpayers are paying lower federal income taxes than at any time in the last 50 years.

          I am so proud we have a man of humor, integrity, and decency in the White House.

SOURCES:  Washington Monthly, “Obama’s top Fifty Accomplishments” (2012); “A List of 321 Obama Accomplishments with Citations,” PCTC; Democratic-hub.com.

Blog #10: HIRING A PRESIDENT

     Hiring A President

The other day

I was interviewing
An applicant for President.
Can you steer a boat?
I asked. Straight down
The middle, she said;
Unless there are rocks.
Then what? Then I go
Around them. Ah, I said,
What if the rocks are submerged?
I've been here before,
She said.

                             --EG

Watch for my next blog post, “Obama’s Achievements,” coming soon!

Blog #9: QUESTIONS FOR BERNIE

1)         Putting aside whether he could win a nationwide election and putting aside if he won whether he could pass anything through a sharply divided Congress, what will Bernie replace what he tears down with?

What will replace Wall Street? 

What will happen to the trillions of dollars invested in “corrupt” Wall Street by retirement funds of union members, teachers, and middle class workers?  Will Bernie make reforms to Wall Street or will his “revolution” tear it down?

2)         As part of Bernie’s attempt to link Hillary with “corrupt” Wall Street, he uses her speaking fees from Goldman Sachs as an example of her connection to “Wall Street.”  The implication is that Hillary has been bought out by “corrupt” Wall Street.”

Does Bernie have any – any – evidence that Hillary did any favors for Goldman Sachs because, after she was out of office, she was paid an honorarium for giving speeches about her views of what was happening in the world? 

If he has examples, let’s hear them.  If Bernie has no such evidence that she has ever changed a view or a vote because of a donation, it is simply a clear smear and he ought to stop it. 

3)         Every revolution causes upheaval, chaos, rapid loss, and sometimes widespread death.  When (if) Bernie unleashes his revolution, how will he avoid the most destructive results of his revolution?

                                                                                                           

4)         Bernie is clearly bringing out new voters who yearn for a different, better world.  But will not Bernie also mobilize even more millions of mid-level working people to defend what they have?  For instance, though one may hate (the abstraction) “pharmaceutical companies," the hundreds of thousands who work for them stand to lose their jobs and homes if Bernie undermines them.  Will they vote for him?  Or workers in the insurance industry, defense industries, automotive industry, or oil and gas industry…  All of whom depend on Wall Street.  Will they risk their livelihoods by voting for him?

5)         Is Bernie a Democrat, a Socialist, a Progressive or a Revolutionary?  Are they all the same thing?