Transcription
Shortly before Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States, he told an enthusiastic crowd of supporters that he wanted to fundamentally transform America. Over the next 8 years, America found out what he meant. Three issues epitomized the transformation Obama had in mind: race relations, health care, and foreign policy. Let's take each one in turn.
Race relations. Could it be that when Obama said he wanted to fundamentally transform America, he was talking about a post-racial society where skin color didn't matter? Indeed, as a biracial American, half white, half black, he seemed the perfect figure to make this a reality. But it was not to be. Instead, Obama's actions fueled racial division in America. In July 2009, when a white police officer briefly arrested a black Harvard professor as a suspected burglar, Obama accused the police officer, a man with no history of bigotry, of racism. In July 2013, after a Hispanic volunteer security guard was acquitted of the murder of a young black man in Florida, Obama attributed the verdict to racism. And then in August 2014, when a black teenager who had just robbed a convenience store was shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, Obama again charged racism. His own justice department later acquitted the officer of racial animus. Whereas in the decade leading up to Obama's presidency, racial tensions had sharply declined, they were now inflamed by the man who so many Americans hoped would extinguish them.
Health care, where Bill Clinton had failed, Barack Obama would succeed. He would bring the United States closer to the enlightened nations of Europe, all of which had socialized their health care systems. Obama marshaled his rhetorical skills to achieve this goal. If he had to engage in outright falsehoods to get what he wanted, that was okay. "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor" was one of his constant refrains. But it wasn't true. Neither was his assertion that the program would save Americans thousands of dollars in health care costs. Despite his best efforts, Obama couldn't sell his plan to a majority of the American people. It turned out that most of them liked the health care coverage they had. On Christmas Eve 2009, in the middle of the night, the Democrats rammed the 2,500-page Affordable Care Act through the Senate. Asked what was in the legislation, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously responded, "We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it." Within a few years, 2,500 pages turned into 11,000 pages of new regulations. Health care costs ballooned, and many people were forced to give up the doctor they trusted. But for Obama, it was all worth it. He had transformed the nation's health care system.
Foreign policy. Since the Iranian revolution in 1979, American presidents have viewed Iran as a dangerous enemy. Obama believed he could transform this adversarial relationship. The centerpiece of Obama's new policy would be the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, popularly known as the Iran nuclear deal. The key feature of the plan was to limit Iran's ability to make a nuclear weapon for 15 years. In exchange, Obama would lift sanctions and release $150 billion of Iranian assets frozen in US banks. The deal deeply unsettled many Americans, including some Democrats, and especially Israel and its supporters. First, a short-term infusion of billions of dollars, almost certainly to be used to fund Israel's enemies Hamas and Hezbollah, posed immediate danger. Second, a nuclear-armed Iran, even 15 years in the future, threatened the existence of Israel. When Israel's leader strongly objected to the agreement, Obama ignored them. Knowing he couldn't get a treaty through the Senate, Obama issued an executive order to carry out his plan. A giant military plane soon landed in Tehran with $400 million in cash. The Iran nuclear deal turned US foreign policy on its head. America would now trust Iran to behave like a good global citizen, ignoring opposition from US allies Israel and Saudi Arabia. No matter. Obama knew best. But when he left office in 2017, the region, as many had predicted, was in chaos. Syria was racked by civil war. Iraq was essentially an Iranian puppet government, and Hamas and Hezbollah were stronger than ever.
Race relations, health care, foreign policy. Obama had indeed achieved his goal. He had fundamentally transformed America. But he had done more than that. He had fundamentally transformed the world. I'm Carol Swain for Prager University. Thank you for watching this video. To keep PragerU videos free, please consider making a tax-deductible donation.