The Media Mulls Obama’s ‘Legacy’ – And the Trump Mandate to Undo It

The Left and the Media (please pardon the redundancy) are obsessed – OBSESSED – with outgoing President Barack Obama’s “legacy.”  Not quite as obsessed as Obama his own self – but much closer than any impartial observer would consider…healthy.

Of course, this happens at the end of every presidency.  But rarely – if ever – have you gotten the sense of utter emotional investment this media has in this president.

Obama Defends His Legacy on Twitter – CNN

Obama Defends Legacy in Letter to American People – AFP

Defensive much?

Obama Urges Dems to Defend Obamacare Legacy – CNN

Wow – defensive much?

President Obama Weighs His Economic Legacy – New York Times

53 Historians Weigh In on Barack Obama’s Legacy – New York Magazine

The Obama Policy Legacy: The Nation He Built – Politico

With New Monuments in Nevada, Utah, Obama Adds to his Environmental Legacy – Washington Post

Clinton Asks Black Leaders to Protect Obama’s Legacy – NBC News

Asian-American Leaders Reflect on Obama’s Legacy for the Community – NBC News

Despite the press’ full court press – any impartial observer would find Obama’s legacy…lacking.

Obamacare is well on the way to destroying the private sector health insurance market.  As well as the idea of full-time private sector employment.

And it is a large contributor to Obama’s awful economic legacy – he will be the first president in our nation’s history to never have a year of even 3% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth.

The 2016 election to succeed Obama – was run in large part on his legacy.

How President Obama’s Legacy Will Define the 2016 Election – NBC News

Obama’s Legacy Depends on the 2016 Election – Los Angeles Times

Threat to Legacy Gives Obama Powerful Motive to Stump for Hillary Clinton – New York Times

Obama: ‘My Legacy Is on the Ballot!’ – NBC News

Obama Declares: ‘Progress is on the Ballot’ – The Hill

Oops.  It would appear We the People aren’t nearly the fans of Obama’s legacy as is the media.  So the obvious follows:

Donald Trump Victory Leaves Obama Legacy Hanging in the Balance – ABC News

Obama’s Legacy is On the Line with Trump’s Win – Washington Post

Obama Faces Sharp Repudiation and a Legacy Nightmare – CNN

Donald Trump’s Election Spells Doom for Barack Obama’s Legacy – Quartz

‘He’ll Take a Chainsaw to It’: Is Obama’s Legacy Strong Enough to Survive Trump? – The Guardian

Trump absolutely should.  Obama’s legacy – no president’s – should in our Constitutional republic be so entrenched and embedded that it can’t be undone by the next election.

If We the People don’t like what a president has done – our next vote should be able to render it all undone.

So too when it comes to a particularly pernicious aspect of the Obama legacy:

Once Skeptical of Executive Power, Obama Has Come to Embrace It (New York Times): “Mr. Obama will leave the White House as one of the most prolific authors of major regulations in presidential history.”

Obama Rushes Out Rules to Guarantee Legacy (Politico): “The rush is designed to prevent a President Trump from undoing his actions.”

Obama Races to Protect His Achievements From Trump – NBC News

Get that?  The media – and Obama his own self – frames the election as a referendum on Obama’s legacy.  The legacy loses.  And Obama rushes to try to prevent Trump from undoing what We the People elected Trump to undo.  And the media is just fine with it.

We the People shouldn’t be.  Without question, Obama’s Congress-free regulatory fiats need to go.  Yes, their results are nigh universally terrible.  But they should (also) go because they are utterly unConstitutional.  This is bad policy – and bad process.  To wit:

Can Obama’s Tech Legacy Survive President Trump? – Fast Company

It shouldn’t.  The Tech Sector is now about 1/6th of the entire economy – roughly as big as the Health Care Sector assaulted by Obamacare.  And Obama absolutely refused to leave it alone.

The entirety of Obama’s “tech legacy” exists as a result of these Congress-free regulatory fiats – almost all of them executed by the no-longer-necessary Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This FCC had more partisan votes than the last five FCCs combined.  Let’s look at but a few:

FCC Enacts Title II Net Neutrality Rules With Partisan Vote – U.S. News & World Report

In Partisan Vote, FCC Passes a Modified E-Rate Proposal – Broadband Illinois

FCC Votes To Propose New Privacy Rules For Internet Service Providers (National Public Radio): “Under this new proposal – formally approved by a 3-2 Democratic majority of FCC commissioners….”

FCC Votes to Open Set-Top Cable Boxes (Philadelphia Inquirer): “The Federal Communications Commission voted along partisan lines, with three Democrats voting for the proposal and two Republicans voting against it.”

FCC Votes to Pre-empt State Broadband Laws (MultiChannel News): “Republicans strongly dissent from decision.”

And on, and on, and….

As the Tech portion of the Obama legacy lives entirely by the executive action – it can die by the Trump executive action.  And it absolutely should.  Trump’s FCC should begin its term by eradicating all of these power grabs.  As we noted – and have others:

FCC: Live by the 3-2 Vote . . . – Beyond Telecom

How Donald Trump Could Dismantle Net Neutrality and the Rest of Obama’s Internet Legacy – Washington Post

The media as one proclaimed the Obama legacy was on the ballot in 2016.  Included in that is  Obama’s legacy of historic numbers of unilateral power grab fiats.

Then the Obama-legacy-undoing-Trump won.  At which point the media went into full-court Obama-legacy-defense-mode – and forgot all about what they said about the election.

The media were right the first time.  Our representative republic is more important than any one man.  Even one the media thinks is as important as Barack Obama.

Our Constitution is the only legacy that matters.

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