Ted Babbitt

One would think that the latest revelation of Donald Trump’s misogyny would end the 2016 race for the presidency, but recent history has shown us that Trump’s supporters ignore his obvious flaws and their bad judgment predominates over what should be disqualifying statements.

Part of the problem is the media, who have not only afforded Trump billions of dollars in free advertising but have provided the shallowest analyses concerning both him and his running mate.

The vice presidential debate is a case in point. The media anointed Pence the winner of the debate based upon style points. No matter that Pence spent most of the debate denying Trump’s own statements, many of which, inconveniently for Pence, are direct quotes and immortalized on video tape.

The central premise of the Trump candidacy is that President Obama has driven the United States  into near bankruptcy and the worst decay ever in the country’s history. The facts are 180 degrees opposite.

The Obama presidency has succeeded despite a hostile Republican Congress which from Day One vowed to block everything that he hoped to accomplish. In spite of this impediment, he has brought this country’s health care system into the 21st century with the passage of the Affordable Care Act AKA Obamacare.  Before Obamacare this country was alone among first-world countries in having no national health insurance system. There are, no doubt, problems with the system as it is now constituted, but its benefits far outweigh any drawbacks. Thirty-two million people who were ineligible for coverage prior to Obamacare’s passage now have health insurance.  Little-known provisions in the law have vastly improved the quality of care, not to mention availability. Insurance companies are no longer able to deny coverage to millions of Americans on the basis of preexisting conditions. Obamacare is the first step toward a single payer system, which is inevitable.

Coincident with Obamacare’s passage, Congress revolutionized Pell grants for students who otherwise could never have afforded college and addressed the trillion dollar student debt burden that plagues young college graduates.

The economic stimulus package sponsored by Obama in 2009 put the country on the road to recovery following the financial collapse & subsequent worst recession since the great depression. Just weeks after the stimulus package was implemented, unemployment claims began to subside and within a year the economy began producing jobs again and it has continued to do so for the last 23 straight months. Nearly 4,000,000 new private sector jobs have been created, resulting in the lowest unemployment rate in decades.

In 2010, with little fanfare, Obama succeeded in passing Wall Street reform, which tightened financial restrictions on big banks so as to avoid a recurrence of the disasters of the Bush years.

The two wars (initiated by Bush) that nearly bankrupted this country have been drawn down. The last troops left Iraq in December of 2011 and troops in Afghanistan have been significantly reduced.

The world is rid of Osama bin Laden, thanks to a daring raid authorized by Obama.

The auto industry is thriving since the so-called Auto Bailout, adding over 100,000 new jobs, and for the first time in twenty years the U.S. auto industry is gaining ground over foreign auto makers. Under the terms of the bailout, loans to the industry were to be repaid, and they have been-  with interest.

The stock market has soared to heights never seen before and unemployment is the lowest it has ever been. Just what is the Trump cadre complaining about? The average income of the whining Trump supporters is $72,000 a year, also “up”.

History will judge Obama one of the finest presidents America has ever had. Despite concerted Republican efforts to thwart him at every turn, he succeeded in passing landmark, historic legislation, accomplishing great things against daunting odds.