Thinking back to 2008, I remember being certain that America had too much sense to elect someone as radical, dangerous, and untested as Barack Obama. But the country did, and that devastating election has proven to be a key inflection point in American history, rapidly accelerating our nation's decline.
Obama's presidency set in motion a cascade of political consequences that continue roiling the country nearly two decades later. His time in office was uniquely destructive compared to all other presidents in American history. Many conservatives argue that Joe Biden was the worst president ever, and while they may have a point, I still say it all comes back to Barack Obama. Without Obama's election, Biden's disastrous administration simply could not have occurred. I wasn’t exactly a fan of John McCain, but could anyone argue our country wouldn’t have been better off if he won instead of that Chicago community organizer?
The media hailed Obama’s election as a historic moment that would usher in a new era of unity and progress, especially on race. But the reality turned out very differently. The economy stagnated for years under his leadership. Obamacare drove up premiums and deductibles, leaving millions of middle-class families worse off. Radical gender ideology, once fringe, became embedded in schools, corporations, and government policy. And instead of bringing Americans together, Obama deepened racial divisions. He could have used his presidency to prove that America had moved beyond its past, but he chose instead to portray the country as irredeemably racist — fueling resentment and mistrust that set race relations back decades.
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Obama turned the federal government into a political weapon, targeting his critics and pushing a brand of socialism that old-school Democrats would have never touched. He treated the Constitution as an obstacle, ruling by decree when Congress wouldn’t bend to his will. He illegally bound the United States to international agreements like the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris Climate Accord without Senate approval, and used his executive pen to create DACA out of thin air. Even the “kids in cages” scandal began under Obama’s watch, but the left didn’t care — because their guy was the one doing it. The hypocrisy was breathtaking, and the media played along, shielding him from criticism and rewriting history to preserve the myth of Obama’s so-called integrity.
Perhaps most damning of all, Obama wasn’t just a passive critic of his successor — he orchestrated deliberate sabotage against the incoming Trump administration. Long before Trump took office, Obama and his allies were already laying the groundwork to cripple his presidency from day one. That same groundwork ultimately paved the way for Joe Biden’s effort to weaponize the justice system and try to put Trump behind bars.
Eighteen years after Obama’s rise to power, America is still dealing with the wreckage he left behind. His presidency unleashed forces that weakened our institutions, divided the country, and legitimized a brand of radical leftism that once lived on the fringes. The damage runs deep, and undoing it is an uphill battle. President Trump has about three years left to steer the nation back on course, but reversing the cultural and political decay Obama set in motion is no small task. Without Obama, figures such as Zohran Mamdani would still be relegated to the political sidelines instead of shaping the future of the Democratic Party, and the Democratic Party wouldn’t be holding the country hostage with this shutdown. Obama normalized extremism and contempt for American values. The nation is still paying the price, and the consequences of that disastrous 2008 election will haunt us for generations.
