I love HackerNews. People are clinging really hard to the idea that Obama was a great guy or whatever. I'm going to take my little -3 point soapbox and lead any

I love HackerNews. People are clinging really hard to the idea that Obama was a great guy or whatever. I'm going to take my little -3 point soapbox and lead anyone who wants to understand how bad Obama's presidency was to this reading list by left-wing writer Emmett Rensin: http://www.bookforum.com/booklist/17438 http://www.bookforum.com/booklist/17438 The era of Obama is over. Now the majority of Americans may see it clearly for the first time. Over the past eight years, it has become apparent that President Obama's presence in office was a distortion. His calm demeanor and steady optimism seduced liberals into thinking that they were living in good—if occasionally dull—days, at war with an intransigent Congressional GOP, but blind to the breadth and power of the reaction brewing below. Liberals were often frustrated by the slow progress under Obama, even offended by the indifference and injustice that persisted in the practice of American power, but the White House and its boosters in the respectable media always had their rebuke: Don't worry. We're getting there. Trust the process. That calm is over and for many, the sudden chaos of the political situation comes as a shock. What happened? When did the country become so precarious again? But there is no "again." None of this is sudden. It is only that, in the absence of President Obama, every cruelty that persisted or grew under his stewardship has come fully out into the open. Some of this was the former president's doing. Some of it was not. But none of our problems are concealed by the veneer of steady progress anymore. Obama was a bad president, Clinton was a bad candidate, and the Democrats are the main group to blame, since their failure gave an odious Trump the presidency, no matter how much saber-rattling tries to pin it on Russia.