Then ask what the other Presidents are remembered for: Carter, inflation and Iran hostages; Nixon, Watergate; Johnson is a toss-up in my eyes between the Civil Rights laws and Vietnam; Kennedy for cute; Grant for dissolute.

We remember people who face terrible odds and do great things. And we remember people who fail or are criminal. We don't remember much in between. In other words, we remember great LEADERS, and rightly so!

If Obama could pull the world away from climate change and push it in the right direction away from destruction, he would be remembered; he is so pathetically absent on this that one wants to cry for all the completely foreseeable future devastation. It does no good to say this problem began with the industrial revolution...which it did; the buck would have to stop NOW.

If Obamacare succeeds, which it absolutely will not in any foreseeable future, he might be lauded. However, unlike as with the making of SS and Medicare, really making over healthcare as it exists now would cause enormous pain to shareholders of HCA, Humana, etc., all the drug companies, and on and on. The successful makeover of healthcare in the US would cause pain and economic dislocation on the same scale as making over the military industrial complex into something tolerable and reasonable. It does no good to say that the military industrial problem began in WWII, which it did; it has to stop NOW. Not taking these forces on now will cause huge pain on an individual and societal and global level over the foreseeable future of US history, and indeed, the history of the world.

Except, as Roger points out, that he is the first black President, this man will be remembered for nothing. And, he could have been, although the personal courage it would have required would have been very dangerous to his life in my opinion. This didn't stop Washington, Lincoln...who did give all in the end, or FDR who had astonishing guts. They did it.

But at a more nuanced level ---

Regarding the first point: though he may have been able to do more, it's not clear that this is true. We should have had universal health care right after WW II, like the Brits, but the 2nd worst congress in living memory squelched that. The recent 112th was the absolute worst and most obstructionist beyond living memory, and in fairly evaluating Obama's domestic performance it's important to remember that.

Re: the 2nd point, I don't know anything about the whistle-blowers, but concerning drones, etc. it's a mistake to consider this a continuation of Bush policies. More realistically, the great arc of American foreign policy post WW II [and possibly much earlier] has been continuous militaristic imperialism, intervention and meddling, irrespective of who inhabits the White House. Bush played his part, Obama is playing his. See Andrew Bacevich's book for a compelling overview. http://www.scribd.com/doc/16023291/Bacevich-The-Limits-of-Power-2008-Synopsis

The power of climate change denialists in the U.S. is enormous, and not limited to natural resource industries. Blame Obama if you wish, but there is a lot more to this than the relative ineffectiveness of a particular president who inherited a total mess in every conceivable respect.

Cheers!
JzB

He will be remembered for extending the police state in the US, solidifying and adding to the legacy of Bush, imprisoning more whistle blowers than any other President in memory, violating all standards of international law and decency with his drone murders.

Above all, if anyone is left to remember anything, Obama will be remembered as the President who utterly lost the last chance to control Climate Change...and with that, lead on saving civilization as we have known it and the human race. Australia has added a new color to the heat charts for maps this week....and we...we are debating fracking and innumerable other ways to quicken destruction. This is surreal.