Why Obama is one of the most consequential presidents in American history

0:00 Let’s be clear about something: Barack Obama has been one of the most

0:04 consequential presidents in recent American history.

0:06 "You can't say it, but you know it's true." In the past eight years,

0:10 he has completely transformed the American healthcare system.

0:12 He got tough reforms to Wall Street

0:14 passed after the biggest financial crisis in decades.

0:16 He appointed two of the 4 women to ever serve on the supreme court,

0:19 both of whom were part of the historic decision legalizing same sex marriage.

0:21 He put in place the toughest climate regulations in American history.

0:24 He opened the US to Cuba for the first time in half a century.

0:27 And he reached a peaceful settlement to the nuclear standoff

0:29 with Iran that lasted for a decade before he took office.

0:32 You can celebrate or bemoan these accomplishments.

0:34 Liberals will think they’re great, conservatives will think they’re awful.

0:37 But it’s hard to deny that they’re big deals.

0:40 So….

0:40 where do we start?

0:41 Obamacare is a big fucking deal.

0:43 For at least 100 years, the big goal of American liberals on domestic policy

0:49 was to get a national health insurance program done.

0:53 A lot of countries implemented universal health

0:55 care in the 20th century— the UK,

0:57 Canada, France— but the US always lagged behind.

0:59 There were attempt after attempt after attempt by American progressives of both

1:05 parties to try to get the US to where everyone else was going.

1:09 And each of those attempts failed.

1:11 Teddy Roosevelt failed, FDR failed, Truman failed, Nixon failed,

1:15 Carter failed, Clinton failed… and then Obama succeeded.

1:19 And he established for the first time

1:21 in American history that healthcare is a right.

1:23 The plan still leaves millions uninsured,

1:25 but it laid a foundation for universal health care.

1:29 To understand what Obama did for foreign policy,

1:32 you have to go back to a moment in 2007, this moment in particular:

1:38 “Would you be willing to meet separately without preconditions,

1:42 in Washington or anywhere else,

1:45 with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba,

1:49 and North Korea, in order to bridge

1:52 the gap that divides our countries?” Obama: “I would.

1:55 And the reason is this, that the notion

1:59 that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them,

2:03 which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration,

2:09 is ridiculous.” So, this was considered a gaffe.

2:13 The safe thing that you’re supposed to say is “yeah, diplomacy’s great,

2:17 we’ll talk to some people, but there have to be preconditions.

2:20 No preconditions is silly.” And this is

2:22 what other Democrats did say at the time.

2:24 But he didn’t accept that.

2:25 And with two of the countries listed in that question— Iran and Cuba—

2:28 Obama led some of the biggest changes

2:30 to those diplomatic relationships in recent history.

2:33 I’d be remiss in not mentioning the importance

2:35 of the fact that Obama is the first black president.

2:39 After 8 years it seems obvious to point out But the history

2:42 of America is a history of learning to deal with racial diversity,

2:48 and with the legacy of white supremacy.

2:50 In a very real way the history of America is the history of race relations.

2:55 There’s a famous photo that still hangs in the White

2:58 House of a black toddler in the White House who

3:02 asked to touch president Obama’s hair because he thought it

3:05 was great that the president had hair that looked like his.

3:08 It seems cheesy, but it really is a big deal that a generation

3:11 of black children are going to grow up knowing that they could be the president.

3:16 Overall it’s a pretty extensive track record.

3:18 You can generally divide American presidents into two camps.

3:21 There are the ones who were maybe a little good, a little bad,

3:26 but are sorta forgettable: Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison,

3:30 Zachary Taylor, William Howard Taft, Bill Clinton.

3:33 And then there are the ones who were hugely consequential either for good:

3:38 FDR (ending the depression, winning WWII), Lincoln (winning the civil war),

3:44 George Washington (establishing what a president is), or for ill.

3:48 Andrew Johnson, destroying reconstruction and subjugating

3:51 black people for a century.

3:53 Andrew Jackson committing genocide or ethnic

3:55 cleansing against the Southeast Indians.

3:57 I think it’s hard to argue that Obama is in the sorta iffy,

4:03 “eh” camp rather than the big consequential camp.

4:07 He did a lot, he accomplished a lot.

4:10 And I think in the next 10 or 20 years when we have a bunch

4:14 more presidents many more of whom are

4:17 alright or slightly bad but ultimately forgettable.

4:19 We’re going to look back and realize what a rare

4:23 thing a presidency that active and that accomplished is.