Obama’s legacy is far more than being first black president

Am I better off today than I was eight years ago before President Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States?

Yes, for the most part.

Before you think that I am about to transmogrify into prominent black Obama critics like Dr. Cornel West or Tavis Smiley on this topic, please know that such is not the case. It is just that when I look back on the past eight years, in true Dickensian form, they were “the best of times … [and] the worst of times” for me as a black man who practices law for a living and writes for a side hustle.

Over the past month, as Americans have taken to both traditional and social media to air their thoughts about the Obama legacy, I have become increasingly frustrated with those Republicans and conservatives who state that his legacy is that he was the first black president.

The ones who say such on television do so with an almost constipated look on their faces, as if acknowledging that this bit of history is the sum total of Obama’s effect on national and international affairs.

{mosads}That is wrong, dead wrong, and has to be countered by facts, and not feelings.

Now, I recognize that to a extent, such limited praise is fueled by partisan politics — if not hyper-partisanship — where Republicans are as reticent to praise the opposition leadership just as Democrats are similarly reticent when coming into power either in the White House or Congress after Republican rule.

I understand that, but the truth of the matter is that Obama is far more than just his black skin and the patriarch of his beautiful black family; rather, Obama accomplished some extraordinarily great deeds while in office.

Indeed, perhaps my favorite part of his farewell address to the nation was as follows:

“If I had told you eight years ago that America would reverse a great recession, reboot our auto industry, and unleash the longest stretch of job creation in our history — if I had told you that we would open up a new chapter with the Cuban people, shut down Iran’s nuclear weapons program without firing a shot, and take out the mastermind of 9/11 — if I had told you that we would win marriage equality, and secure the right to health insurance for another 20 million of our fellow citizens — you might have said our sights were set a little too high.”

Amen.

A great number of Obama detractors have forgotten how the American economy was in dire straits when Obama took office eight years ago. They have forgotten how many Republicans and even some Democrats were willing to let those major corporations in Detroit and on Wall Street fail instead of bailing them out to protect jobs and the finances of millions of Americans.

Things were bad, very bad, and looking back, as one whose livelihood is within a service industry, I, too, felt the economic downturn. You see, when folks have to decide between paying their mortgage or light bill or their private lawyer, many chose to go with the local public defender’s office instead.

So yes, I can look back on a personal level and see where my gross income dipped but has come roaring back over the past eight years. And while I will forever respect the efforts of Obama and a Democratic Congress to stabilize the economy eight years ago, I also can’t forget how the economic downturn occurred on President George W. Bush’s watch.

That downturn was one that his Republican brethren was willing to see get worse because of their blind trust that the economy would somehow right itself — a possibility, yes, but a serious gamble that they were willing to wager based on purely partisan principles of tax cuts and deficit gains and praying that it all works out and trickles down to the masses.

Ditto for the Affordable Care Act, one that in addition to insuring millions of uninsured Americans directly impacted me by eliminating those preexisting injury or illness clauses that prevented me from obtaining private insurance at times, or ran my premiums up sky-high at others.

Understanding these and other accomplishments that Obama recounted last night, I contend that anyone who concludes that the Obama legacy is merely another Black History Month trivia fact is not worth the effort of engaging in debate.

But where the Obama era was the worst of times for me is not as a professional, but as a black man. I say this because I knew eight years ago that the “post-racial era” was pure fiction, and that in some ways, race and racism was (and is) worse than ever.

I cannot un-see what I saw at those Donald Trump rallies as crowds were worked into a frenzy with overt race-baiting by the now-president-elect.

I cannot look past the rebel flags on trucks with “Trump-Pence” signs and not know that those “deplorables” (in Clinton’s words) among us are emboldened by Trump’s election, almost as if they are wishing for some type of confrontation.

I know full well that while some Republicans were opposed to Obama’s policies, there are many millions of others who despised him because of the color of his skin and invariably, they despise me and other professional blacks, too, because we are “uppity” types who do not “know our place.”

I see it, I sense it and I forever remain vigilant in hopes of avoiding a fate of being the next black man shot and killed due to unfounded white fears of black folks. Indeed, Obama was right in 2012 when he said that Trayvon Martin could have been his son — just as Martin could have been my son. But Obama’s Trayvon declaration upset many racists who now suggest that when black people point out racial injustices, we somehow are being “reverse racists.”

These are also the worst of times because there is a cynicism that has descended across the land that is primarily fueled by the anti-intellectualism movement on the right.

On any given day over the past 25 years, right-wing pundits and “experts” have denigrated scientists, dismissed science and battled facts by purveying fiction (such as global warming being a hoax) while generally making being ignorance cool again.

Similarly, when I was a kid, there was the “news” and whether you watched anchors Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw or Peter Jennings, you trusted what these men and other journalists said as the truth. Today, there is “their” news and “our” news to a great extent, and with the incoming Trump administration, we will soon have a perfidious president who will make a statement today and challenge you the very next day by saying he never said what he was quoted as saying.

It would be comical if it was not so damned frightening.

But for all of what was right and wrong about the Obama era, there is no question that not only did he accomplish great deeds despite bitter opposition for the last six years of his administration — much of it race-based — but that he did so with great class and free from personal scandal.

I am proud of this president and view him as a man worthy of great respect.

Let’s not forget this legacy, and may we work hard for the day in which we once again have a president who carries himself or herself in the same intelligent, confident, humble and dignified manner in which the 44th president of the United States did.

Chuck Hobbs is a lawyer and award-winning freelance writer who is a regular contributor to The Hill. Hobbs has been featured in The New York Times and theGrio in addition to numerous regional newspapers. Follow him on Twitter @RealChuckHobbs.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.