Thanks to Barack Obama's ignorance, the world is full of hatred, anger, intolerance and violence these days, which made the far right gain popularity not only in the U.S. but in Europe as well
Thousands of protesters took to the streets across the U.S. after Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election. "Not my president" protesters argue that Trump is too incompetent to lead the country and have serious concerns about the president-elect's sexist, racist, xenophobic comments and much more. They say they do not accept the result but who is to blame? Trump himself? Hillary Clinton, the loser of the presidential race? Or the people who voted for Trump?
For me, a Muslim who lives thousands miles away from the U.S., Former President Barack Obama was once hope for a better, peaceful world. He came to the White House with anti-Bush discourse, an anti-war stance and huge criticism of Washington. But he became Washington itself. Not only me but also most of the people whose lives were affected by U.S. foreign policy felt disappointed and betrayed by what he turned into. Looking at the election results, the Americans share the same view. His failure to make the change he promised made people angry and they lost their hope and became impatient. Maybe, he was sincere when he said he wanted to do a good job, but he failed. He also wanted Clinton to become his successor, but he paved the way for Trump with his policies.
First of all, anyone who thinks that Obama was an "anti-war president" is wrong. If he is so, he is the worst anti-war president in history. Perhaps he did not invade another country like many former U.S. presidents, but he brought the world to the brink of a World War. Before him, it was laughable to think that there might be a world war soon, even during the term of George W. Bush. But today, the world is terrified of this possibility, thanks to his "slow progressive" policies.
He got American troops out of Iraq but the war-torn country ended up in another sectarian war, a seemingly never-ending one. That may be good for American soldiers and their families, but there is no hope for Iraq after years of negligence. He appeared to put effort into Palestinian-Israeli peace talks during his first term, but he turned the whole Middle East into a hotbed of civil wars within civil wars. One of his biggest failures was Syria, of course. He was the first to say that Bashar Assad had to go and forced all U.S. allies to say so, but after millions of displaced Syrians, maybe he thought he was in over his head; he decided to change his mind and started to say that Assad was not his problem.
In 2012, he said that the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime would cross his "red line," triggering an American military response. Not only did he not prevent a chemical attack, he failed to even intimidate Damascus. Assad crossed the red line and he chose to make a bargain with Iran for its nuclear activities in return for leaving Assad alone. Although his move to start nuclear talks with Iran seems like a success, in reality it was major support from Washington to Tehran to continue its sectarian violence, a green light for Iran's goal to increase its dominance in the Middle East. His threats against Russia over Ukraine and against China over the South China Sea were too weak; neither Russia nor China were scared and it made things worse. He wanted to control China and Russia with partnerships but it was the U.S. that was to be controlled. Supposedly, during his term the U.S. was going to leave the Middle East and its next stop was going to be the Asia Pacific under the "pivot to Asia" strategy. Neither happened. He was also very successful in losing the trust of the U.S.›s long-time allies, like Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and even Israel.
Even though his one and only achievement in terms of fighting terror, specifically al-Qaida, was the killing of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida-affiliated groups like Daesh and Boko Haram, which later became stronger, independent and more dangerous than the central al-Qaida, emerged and gained strength and became a huge threat to the world during his term. He also failed to keep his promise over closing the notorious U.S.
detention camp in Guantanamo Bay. We were not shocked.During his term, Islamophobia and xenophobia increased more than ever, even in the post 9/11 era. Thanks to his ignorance, the world is full of hatred, anger, intolerance and violence these days, which made the far right gain popularity not only in the U.S. but in Europe as well.He was speaking as if he was the ruler of the free world, yet we will connect his name with NSA wiretapping scandals, extreme cybersecurity measures and his control over the media. And yes, he was too concerned about climate change but now he has a successor who thinks that the concept of global warming is a Chinese hoax, again because of his big words and slow action.
I can continue to write about his failures regarding U.S. foreign policy. But at least the experts argue that he was successful when it came to domestic affairs. Well, apparently his domestic achievements were a myth as well seeing as Trump won the presidential election and the Republicans retained control of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Donald Trump founded his campaign on a huge critique of Washington and Obama's policies. He defeated Hillary but he also made it clear that the pollsters were as wrong about Obama's domestic approval as they were about the results of the election.
Before the elections, Obama said, "My name may not be on the ballot, but our progress is on the ballot." He also said, he would consider it "a personal insult, an insult to his legacy" if Trump won. It looks like the Americans chose to insult him, his legacy saying, "Take your progress and go away."
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