The Obama presidency that never was

"Hope" and "change."

Those were the words that propelled Barack Obama—a first-term, backbench United States senator from Illinois whose only name recognition came from a speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

In the end, however, Obama may go down in the annals of presidential history as an asterisk—the country’s first black president. Nothing more.

That’s because much of Obama’s record will be erased.

Obama’s poll numbers according to the latest Real Clear Politics average of polls—have recovered from the low point of his presidency following the enactment of Obamacare, when Lucifer probably had a better approval rating.

Nevertheless, his fall from grace is remarkable. Especially when you consider this was the president who was viewed by many on the political left as their messiah.

Yet it wasn’t just the Democratic base that had lofty expectations.

Obama appealed to many Republicans and GOP-inclined voters who thought he could heal divisions and bring Americans together. These were the Obamacons.

Flashing forward to the present-day, the allure of candidate Obama never came to fruition.

America is more divided than ever. Obama has split the country in ways not seen since the Civil War.

And those divisions aren’t limited to partisanship or even the identity politics of race, ethnicity, sex (who would have thought what bathroom you use would ever become an issue!) and religion.

Obama moved Democrats so far to the left that the two major parties no longer believe in the same creed.

If there is an Obama legacy this will surely be it.

Pre-Obama you could find Democrats, the so-called Blue Dog Democrats, who dissented from the party whip on abortion, the Second Amendment, morality, national defense and so forth. Today, those Democrats are relegated to the ash heap of history.

As a result, Obama’s Democratic Party has been decimated as the party of J.F.K. openly embraces the far-left and socialism embodied by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Keith Ellison, the Minnesota congressman who will likely be the next Democratic National Committee chairman.

Obama resurrected Republicans, who were electorally finished in the wake of his 2008 landslide.

Obama failed because he was either disinterested or incompetent in the sausage making that was required to bring about the expectations he and he alone set with his soaring rhetoric and lofty promises.

Just think how things may have been different had President Obama actually governed like candidate Obama and unified the country in the process.

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http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-administration/314454-the-obama-presidency-that-never-was