For a week or two after the election, it actually seemed as though President Barack Obama was going to finally live up to the dignity of the office he’s tarnished for eight long years. Faced with what was surely an unimaginable, horrifying situation in Donald Trump’s victory, Obama was temporarily shocked out of his arrogance. Left in its place was a man who was forced – perhaps for the first time in his life – to show some humility.
In those days, we got a glimpse of what this presidency could have been. Many conservatives probably missed it, seeing as how everyone was excited about the extraordinary election victory. Who gave a damn about Obama? He was officially on borrowed time. We were looking to the future, and it was a much brighter future than the one most of us expected. There were too many things to pay attention to for us to worry about the lame duck.
But if you were paying attention, you got to see a different Obama than you were used to. No, that Obama would not have been any better for the country in terms of policy or agenda. But there’s a difference between a liberal Democrat and a liberal Democrat who believes he should be King of the United States. A humble Obama, respectful of his constitutional limits and concerned about the will of the people, could have earned the grudging respect of conservative America.
Unfortunately, it was only a matter of weeks before the old Barack Obama re-emerged. And Donald Trump, who has had nothing but praise for Obama since November 8th, is getting annoyed.
“Doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory President O statements and roadblocks,” the president-elect wrote on Twitter Wednesday. “Thought it was going to be a smooth transition – NOT!”
Over the last few weeks, President Obama has made a number of statements and decisions that do not further his supposed goal of a peaceful transfer of power. The worst of them: Publicly and loudly banning a federal registry of Muslim immigrants that hadn’t been used in years, abstaining from the UN resolution vote against Israel, and telling CNN’s David Axelrod that he could have beaten Trump if he’d been allowed to run again. These actions are not helping the country move forward; these actions are creating instability and confusion for the sake of boosting Barack Obama’s fragile ego.
Even after his disastrous presidency, Obama had a chance to go out on a high note.
We probably shouldn’t be surprised that he’s passing it up.
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