영어속독--President Barack Obama’s Legacy and Unresolved Issues

President Barack Obama’s Legacy and Unresolved Issues

 

Takashi Yoshino
Professor, Waseda University Faculty of Political Science and Economics

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In his address to the U.N. General Assembly on September 28, 2015, U.S. President Barack Obama highlighted his administration’s diplomatic achievements reached through dialogue and cooperation. These achievements included the nuclear agreement with Iran and the restoration of diplomatic relations with Cuba. It has already been six years and nine months since President Obama was sworn into office in January 2009 and presidential primaries for the next US president begin in a few months. In this article, I would like to discuss the legacy of the Obama administration and the unresolved issues it will leave behind.

Domestic policy

We can evaluate President Obama’s domestic policies from two perspectives. one is from the idea of “One America,” a talking point President Obama emphasized during his 2008 bid for the presidency. At that time, policy conflicts between the two major parties (Democratic and Republican) had intensified since the mid-1990s, and critics commented that American politics were divided based on policy that differed greatly, particularly in the state government level, depending on which party was in power. Many Americans hoped President Obama’s campaign to realize a united “One America” would succeed. However, the political divide deepened further when the conservative Tea Party movement that opposed big government gained traction following the Lehman shock and the introduction of President Obama’s healthcare reform. Finding it difficult to find bipartisan-led solutions, President Obama searched for solutions within the Democratic Party. As a result, conflicts concerning the raising of the federal government’s debt ceiling continued. The Obama Administration has not realized its vision for “One America”, nor has it even put forward the roadmap to achieving it.(264 words)

 

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