Obama's Milestones Are Nation's Misfortune

Most presidents spend their second terms burnishing their legacy. President Obama can stow the political polish.  He already has tallied a number of achievements that no other American president will likely ever match.  At least, not on purpose.

These accomplishments won't be ballyhooed in the president's memoirs.  The achievements aren't likely to be enshrined in his presidential library in Chicago either.  A fawning media won't be reciting these exploits when Obama evacuates the White House in 2017.

The reason is the president's historic firsts are dubious at best.  Here is just a partial list of President Obama's groundbreaking feats:

1. Obama oversaw the first downgrade of U.S. debt in history. Standard and Poor's lowered the nation's credit rating in 2011.  The administration has failed to convince the rating agency to raise the nation's credit score.
2.  The nation's federal debt reached 67 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the highest since World War II.  This year's fiscal deficit is estimated at $642 billion, the first time since Obama assumed office that the annual figure has dipped below record-levels of $1 trillion.
3.  Long-term unemployment has risen to the highest levels since the Great Depression.  During Obama's first term, 45.9 percent of people unemployed had not worked in at least 27 weeks.  The number of long-term unemployed has skyrocketed 257 percent since 2007.  The portion of Americans working or looking for a job fell to its lowest level in 35 years in August.
4.  The number of Americans dependent on the government has spiked to historic levels. Nearly one-half (47%) of the population is receiving aid or federal benefit payments.  About one-third of the entire population (101 million) currently participates in at least one government food program.
5.  The percentage of Americans paying federal income tax is the lowest in the modern era.  Fewer than one-half (49%) are footing the bill for the unbridled  growth of the federal government.  A total of 46.4 percent of households paid no federal income tax in 2011.
6.  Federal government spending as a percent of GDP is the highest since World War II.  The government accounts for 25 percent of the nation's economy.  To pay for the burgeoning expenditures, federal debt has swollen to $16.7 trillion, the highest in the nation's history as a percent of GDP. Government spending has exploded 40 percent since 2002, even adjusted for inflation.

These statistics were gleaned from the Office of Management and Budget, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau, Standard And Poor's, the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Department of Agriculture and the Internal Revenue Service.

The numbers paint a morose picture of a president who has dragged the nation to a tipping point in its history.  Unless steps are taken to curb federal spending, curtail the debt and cultivate the economy, the United States will cease to be the world's economic leader and will face an uncertain future.

However, there is one certainty  Obama's gleaming library will be built.  His memoirs will be penned.  His legacy will glitter with imagined strokes of genius.  But Americans won't be better off after eight years littered with excuses, ineptness and wooden speeches recited from a teleprompter.