In no special order
- ACA will be seen as the first steps to UHC and having the U.S. join the rest of civilized world.
Well, like I said in the OP, I think he screwed up ACA royally. It's hard to imagine anybody doing a worse job. Evidently, you don't feel the need to rebut my arguments there, but what else is new?
- Managed to recover from the previous administrations economic disaster, despite repeated sabotage attempts by Republicans.
I think the economy would have recovered faster, and be in better shape now, if he had done nothing at all. Sharp recessions should have sharp recoveries. This is particularly so for recessions caused by a liquidity crisis in a fiat currency system. Cut taxes, increase spending, and
voila. Except Obama screwed the stimulus up by turning it into Christmas for Democratic constituencies, which not only blunted the effectiveness of the stimulus but also make it politically untenable to do a larger one. Then he compounded the error by forcing banks to slow the foreclosure process, and turning ACA into a prolonged job killing morass of uncertainty and new taxes.
- Helped more U.S. residents achieve equality regardless of sexual orientation
Seemed like he was actually behind the curve on this, and it would have certainly happened within a couple of years anyway, regardless of what he did.
- Maintained his dignity and focus while his religion was attacked, his citizenship attacked, and being accused of hating America, white people, and being accused of appeasing and being complicit in terrorism against the U.S.
Pfft. Please. All the "right thinking" people in the media and elsewhere were on his side, and he was able to use such stupid talk to undermine and smear his opposition. If you don't think he loved the birther nonsense, or the Muslim nonsense, then your understanding of politics is shallow indeed. If anything, he was stoking the birthers on purpose to keep the controversy going. When Donald Trump waded in, I guess he finally tired of the game.
Compare his so-called dignity with George W. Bush's in the face of slander an order of magnitude worse. And we'll see if Obama manages to keep his trap shut once he's out of office like both Bushes have. Bill Clinton sure didn't, and I'd bet dollars to donuts that neither will Obama.
- Oversaw the killing of OBL after previous president stopped trying.
"Oversaw" is what I write too on my resume when I try to take credit for some success my subordinates have had. Tracking OBL is something that took place at a level far removed from the Presidency. And there is no way that the US stopped looking while Bush was President. That's just idiotic.
- Didn't enter into any wars
Given the mess that Iraq and Syria have become, perhaps that's nothing to be proud of. I think that the Syrian civil war and the rise of ISIS will perhaps be the greatest stain on Obama's Presidency. Comparable to the Rwandan genocide that stained Bill Clinton's (although Bill is largely remembered for a different kind of stain).
- Will be given credit for the implosion of the Republican party (hopefully it returns to normalcy in the future)
Well, that's not a good thing, but I do think that Trumpism is in large part a reaction to many of the depredations and provocations of the Obama administration. In any case, I think the GOP will return to normal after the election, regardless of the results. The Supreme Court won't, however, but that's a fluke of timing.
- Didn't allow the Climate Science deniers to derail progress combating AGW (albeit slower then hoped)
Combating AGW is a crock of ****. Obama accomplished nothing, and that is a good thing actually.
- Continued pushing alternative energy, at the expense of fossil fuels.
Another crock of ****. Subsidizing alternative energy is simply a waste of money. It would have happened anyway, just a little later, when maybe it was more economical. The fracking revolution has totally gutted his investment in alternative energy. Just like the digital revolution gutted Japan's investment in high definition analog TV 20 years ago.
- His keeping reasonable gun control conversation moving will be applauded as future presidents will continue his momentum and make progress to join the res of the civilized world.
Well, luckily he has completely failed on gun control. I'm a little flabbergasted that you would consider his Presidency a success on that issue, because I do, but for a different reason.
