Only a few American Presidents have inherited a challenge similar to that which Barack Obama will leave to his successor. Andrew Johnson faced the Herculean task of reuniting the Union with a defeated Confederacy following Lincoln’s death. Woodrow Wilson was already enmeshed in World War I as his second term began and Franklin Roosevelt took over a nation struck by the Great Depression. By 1940 America was facing the dreadful threat of a global war for which America was poorly prepared largely because Roosevelt refused to ask America to rebuild its military forces during his first eight years in the White House. In 2017 this nation’s next President will assume the Presidency from a man who leaves extensive wreckage and failure in his wake. Fortunately all polls indicate that the majority of Americans believe the country is going in the wrong direction under Obama.
Foreign Policy is Mr. Obama’s greatest debacle. “Leading from behind” is a concept both naive in its origin and disastrous in its implementation. His approach to the world’s problems repudiated the sound and successful foreign policy tenets America has followed since 1945: a strong military and alliance system, active leadership of treaty coalitions such as NATO and the group that so successfully conducted the first Iraqi War. America’s post war policies and leadership led to prosperous and democratic governments in Germany, Japan, and South Korea and contributed significantly to the collapse of the Warsaw Pact in Eastern Europe. In most cases U.S. success was backed by a strong military presence, firm diplomatic posture and a strong economy. The Soviet Union, China and North Korea knew that our military presence was based on American resolve. There was no premature withdrawal of forces, as Obama mistakenly did in Iraq after he took office. No new American President from either party has ever traveled around the globe apologizing for America’s successes or his own concocted failures. “Leading from behind” has led our friends and allies to question our support and resolve. Our enemies, especially Mr. Putin and Iran are emboldened as never before. This will be a major task for the next president.
National Security and Military Readiness. The new President will inherit the smallest U.S. Military force since 1942. This despite the fact that the threat from our enemies and adversaries is growing every year especially in Europe, the Pacific and the Middle East. He will unfortunately look at the Pentagon, Foggy Bottom and Langley and see institutions that have been politicized by Mr. Obama. The new President will need to tell the Civilian and Military leadership at DoD, the heads of the intelligence agencies and America’s next top diplomat that their assessments and proposals must be honest, straight forward and brutally realistic. He must end the Secretary of Defense merry-go-round and the new Secretary of State will not be asked or required to negotiate treaties or implement policies or agreements intended to salvage a President’s legacy. America’s new President must scrub the concessionary and spineless negotiating mentality practiced by Obama and Kerry such as recognizing Cuba despite the Castro Government having made virtually no concessions concerning freedom and democracy.
The Cuban concessions of course pale compared to Mr. Obama’s “Deal of a Lifetime” with Iran where no nuclear facilities would be shut down, where inspections will be at the mercy of the Iranian Government and where the sanctions would be prematurely ended. It is indeed a Munich type agreement, not a hallmark of a tough United States Government and will, if implemented, allow Iran to build nuclear bombs very quickly. Mr. Putin has already announced he will sell S-300 missiles to Iran. Threats to America and repeated calls for Israel’s annihilation must be withdrawn by Iran before this process goes any further.
The new American President must restore Israel to her former position as friend and close ally and never again interfere in that nation’s elections. Prime Minister Netanyahu needs to be sincerely and honestly welcomed to the White House.
The new President must move quickly to end the long record of lies and deceptions that have been told to the American people, e.g. Benghazi was caused by a video, Sgt. Bergdahl served with honor and distinction; Ft. Hood was work place violence and the cruel and vicious acts committed by ISIS and its affiliates are not radical Islamic terrorism.
The issues of White House and Obama Administration scandals will need to be repudiated and cleared up. No more Lois Lerners; the likes of Al Sharpton and Eric Holder should no longer be in the President’s inner circle. Transparency must be restored, and the Susan Rices, Jay Carneys and Josh Ernests who have earned more than their fair share of “Pinocchio’s” will not be allowed through the White House gates.
A sluggish economic recovery will stare the new President in the face. In fairness to Mr. Obama, a 5.5% unemployment figure is better than 10%. However the economy is growing at a sluggish pace and the key measurement, the labor utilization rate is declining and now stands at 62%. Meanwhile nearly 11 million Americans are still without a “good job.”
The Federal debt will be near $20 Trillion by January 2017. Reform of our tax system and social security completely ignored by Mr. Obama will be overdue, and the reach of the Federal bureaucracy especially EPA, NSA and the IRS must be reined in.
The new President faces the huge task of remodeling the badly flawed Affordable Care Act and will inherit a porous and unsecured Southern border and 11 million illegal immigrants. On the domestic front his/her greatest challenge will be to accept the Constitutional role of Congress as America’s lawmaker and forsake excessive use of “Executive Orders. A close bi-partisan working relationship with the legislative branch will be mandatory.
Of course, America’s next President will have the unique opportunity of conducting the affairs of the Presidency and governing the nation without the burden of dealing with the pathetic political dwarf that Harry Reid has become.