President Obama’s legacy: A new center-right coalition

President Barack Obama’s decision to unilaterally ban oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean and parts of the Atlantic—a decision that can and likely will be revoked by the next Administration—just further cements his legacy as the most ineffectual President in decades. Yet, in his failure to elevate progressive policies into the mainstream, he is leaving behind quite possibly the greatest political irony: a revival of the Republican Party through a new, center-right coalition that fuses together the Reagan, Rust Belt Democrats of the 1980’s with the Tea Party movement of today.

For all intents and purposes, President Obama’s administration will be defined by a healthcare reform law that fell miles short of the single-payer model championed by progressives, yet he insisted on using extraordinary measures for its unilateral, partisan passage.

{mosads}From there, the President pursued a nearly entirely progressive agenda that was consistently rebuked by voters and a vast majority of their representatives in Congress. He infamously said, “I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone,” and so he engaged in an unprecedented use of regulatory executive action, galvanizing conservatives, largely represented by the Tea Party, while alienating the Reagan Democrats.

But even in doing so, he disappointed the fringe elements in his base, like the environmentalists who have already criticized this drilling ban as not doing enough.

Today, as the president packs his bags and maybe hastily signs a few more executive orders, we are left with a nation far removed from its potential.

Foremost, we are left with a failed economic recovery, buoyed only by a deceptive unemployment rate, which conveniently ignores the fact that we have the lowest labor participation rate in over four decades. And even then, nearly 20 percent of those who do have jobs are only working part time.

However, that feat wasn’t reached cheaply. Under President Obama, America’s poor spending habits were accelerated to the tune of $19.5 trillion. In just eight-years, the national debt was doubled – left for the next administration and future generations to reconcile. 

We are also left with a failed healthcare law and drastically increasing premiums. We found out that the 2013 Lie of the Year was President Obama’s promise that if we liked our doctor, we could keep him or her. But one thing is certain: ObamaCare is on its deathbed.

And while Osama Bin Laden has been killed, our vacillating, sophomoric foreign policy has allowed for a new threat to arise in ISIS. Their frightening brand of extremism has penetrated every corner of the globe, proving to have the network and means to reach our homeland with deadly consequences.

But this list is not merely an indictment of the current administration. It’s the reality, which awakened Reagan Democrats and allowed for the Tea Party movement to reach its final stage of maturation with the election of Donald J. Trump.

While this election solidifies the Tea Party as one of the most successful political movements in American history, the electoral victories go far beyond Washington. On the surface, Republicans now hold both chambers of Congress and the White House, with a 60-seat Senate majority in sight for 2018.

At the state level, progressives have faced downright devastation. Republican governors are now serving in 33 states, with control of both legislative chambers in 32. Additionally, during Obama’s presidency, Democrats have lost a historic 919 seats in state legislatures nationwide.

Due to President Obama’s autocratic pursuit of progressive policies that were far out of the mainstream, he leaves a legacy void of lasting accomplishments. Instead, President-elect Donald J. Trump seized on the zeitgeist established by President Obama’s tenure and in turn, created a new center-right coalition.

Taylor Budowich is executive director of the Tea Party Express.