One of the great mysteries of our times is why Barack Obama is still so popular. His presidency achieved nothing, not even for his own core constituencies, and now, on his way out the door, he is doing everything in his power to make life miserable for Donald Trump, his voters, the American people at large actually, the state of Israel, naturally, and even the world.
And Obama has already made clear that he does not intend to go quietly after January 20. He will make his views known loud and clear.
Please, no.
What Barack needs to do first in his post-presidency is enroll in anger-management training. And not a short course, a real one, because this is one angry man.
In the last few weeks, after his Democrats took their across-the-board drubbing and with a new administration looming, he has suddenly acted as if Vladimir Putin — the man he once presented with a reset button, then chummily contacted via a friendly whisper to Medvedev — is the second coming of Pol Pot (or Benjamin Netanyahu) and that Netanyahu is the second coming of Putin (or Pol Pot). At least with Netanyahu this does not constitute a reversal in attitude, only an increase of an existing one.
Meanwhile, on the domestic front, as The Hill details: “Obama has also permanently banned oil and gas drilling across large swaths of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, closed off 1.6 million acres of Western land to development and scrapped the last vestiges of a registration system used largely on Muslim immigrants.”
And that’s just for starters. His myriad bureaucrats are working overtime in their cubbies putting in place so many regulations that no one will be able to count them, let alone figure out what they are.
Essentially, while presumably making nice with Trump on the phone, in reality he is giving the president-elect the finger.
And The Donald was supposed to be rude!
If you thought Jimmy Carter’s post-presidency was bad, look out. Obama is younger and far more vigorous and he has already leased himself a big house in D.C., which they are busy remodeling. Furthermore, as is well known, the Democrats don’t have much of a bench. He is the bench. And he doesn’t intend to sit down on it much.
Oh, yes, there’s Elizabeth Warren and all those other people but they don’t have nearly the megaphone that Obama has. Maybe someone should teach him how to paint like George W. Bush, who, whatever you think of his presidency, has had an exemplary post-presidency.
If Barack is so angry at Trump, Netanyahu, and Putin (I don’t believe the latter, by the way), he could draw them. It’s good therapy.
Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen. We are going to be stuck with Obama through the Trump presidency, whether four or eight years, and most probably two or even three more presidencies after that.
Fore!
Roger L. Simon’s most recent book is I Know Best: How Moral Narcissism Is Destroying Our Republic, If It Hasn’t Already.
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