As the junior senator from Illinois took to the campaign trail across the US seeking its highest office, Barack Obama’s oratorical skills brought a fresh breath of hope to Americans and observers from around the world. And his first act as President of the US, Obama’s signing of an executive order authorising the closure of Guantanamo Bay offered hope that, yes indeed, things would be different and that he would make a difference.
Within weeks of coming to office, Obama was faced with the daunting prospect of turning the American economy around, steering it away from near depression, rewriting the financial rule book on how Wall Street should function. And again he offered hope.
But since then? Nothing. That oratory of hope is now but false words echoing from an Oval Office that rings hollow with dreams unfulfilled and promises unbroken.
This second term is normally when US presidents seek a legacy, hoping to leave their mark on world affairs. When it comes time to assess his second-term legacy, it will be that Obama could, but did not. He could condemn Israel’s murderous acts against the people of Palestine — but he did not. He could seek to forge a lasting agreement in the Middle East — but he did not. He could stand by the Ukrainian people against the military and subversive intrusions of Russia — but he did not. That he could seek an end to the crisis in Syria, the regime of President Bashar Al Assad, and the atrocities of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) — but he did not. Or that he could influence the course of events in Libya in creating a stable government — but he did not.
Instead, Obama has adopted the position of not doing anything stupid. His administration is in sleep mode, determined that doing nothing is better than doing anything that might upset the political applecart as the mid-term elections approach.
When it’s time to erect his presidential museum, the bookshelves will be bare. The only thing there will be a Nobel Peace Prize Medal awarded for simply not being George W. Bush.
