If you thought of the last few accomplishments of President Barack Obama, what would come to your mind? It would probably be his visits to Cuba this past March and Japan just last week. The bottom line, though, is Obama’s past accomplishments have not been here in the U.S.
However, no one can really blame Obama for wanting to avoid the riff-raff currently occupying this year’s realm of domestic politics. Most presidents at the end of their terms focus on foreign policy, while America chooses its next leader. But the U.S. presidency stands as arguably the most powerful position in the free world, and one of the two choices to succeed Obama could lead this country into a spiraling plummet away from what some call “progress” and “society.” Americans need Obama now more than ever.
To the joy of some, and the grief of many, Obama will step down on Jan. 20 to pass the baton to our next president. Hillary Clinton does not move the masses with charisma, nor does she have the reputation Americans want in their leaders. However, compared to the alternative, Clinton is America’s best hope. The problem is, according to the latest Wall Street Journal poll, Clinton only leads Donald Trump by 3 percent. Some skeptics may believe media outlets have skewed polls to make the race seem closer than it actually is — if the election was decidedly over months before November, television shows and newspapers would actually have to cover real news. Nevertheless, the fact these latest polls show such a narrow margin between candidates and could possibly be accurate means the race is too close. The U.S. doesn’t want to leave the fate of this country to a 3 percent chance. This is where Obama comes in.
In a time when the approval of most governmental leaders is dwindling, Obama’s ratings are higher than ever. Obama’s current rating of 51 percent is two points higher than Ronald Reagan’s presidency at this phase. According to Bloomberg, “The surge in Obama’s popularity is ‘critically important’ to the election campaign ‘particularly when you’re talking about an official in the Obama administration being the nominee.’” If Democrats don’t want Trump in the White House, they should be pointing to all the accomplishments of the past seven years when looking into the future. If Republicans really want Clinton to lose, they should still be going after Obama, not Clinton. Basically, Obama is being cast into the past too early by both sides of the aisle.
The chapter on Obama is coming to a close. Presidents recalled from history are not remembered because of the policies they enacted in office. No one really remembers the success of George Washington’s economic policies or Abraham Lincoln’s stance on education. We don’t remember these presidents as men; we remember them as symbols. They led the U.S. at one point in time and are remembered for the fact that the country is now better or worse off because of them. Political scientists are already discussing how Obama’s legacy will measure in units of presidents before him, but that proves difficult when considering his second term is months from over. Even though Obama will soon no longer be our president, his influence in these next few months will be one of the most defining moments of his legacy. America will need him until his very last day as president, and even after.
Joshua Udvardy is a UF mechanical engineering sophomore. His column appears on Thursdays.
