Barack Obama has been a harmful president

Let's get start with some context. First off, Obama came into office during one of the worst economic upheavals since the Great Depression. 750,000 jobs were being lost per month, and 1.3 million houses were going into foreclosure annually. Student debt and healthcare costs skyrocketed. The automotive industry was on the brink of collapse, there was a $1.2 trillion deficit, and we were in the middle of two wars (the Iraq war probably being the worst foreign policy foul-up in U.S. history). The financial crisis, now known as the Great Recession, was started in 2007 under George W. Bush due to the harmful and illegal acts of Wall Street. "In 2008 and 2009, the U.S. labor market lost 8.4 million jobs, or 6.1% of all payroll employment. This was the most dramatic employment contraction (by far) of any recession since the Great Depression. By comparison, in the deep recession that began in 1981, job loss was 3.1%, or only about half as severe." The article is a bit outdated, but it's still relevant. http://stateofworkingamerica.org... Since then, the U.S. has seen a drastic turn around. More than 11million jobs have been added in the last 58 months. Since 2010, more people have been put back to work than every other advanced economy combined. Since February 2010, American manufacturing has added 786,00 jobs, the fastest pace of job growth since the 1990's. The unemployment rate is below 6%, and this is the fastest economic growth in a decade. "2014 was the best year of job creation in this century." http://www.nationalmemo.com... I recommend people read the entire article. Now to some other aspects of his presidency. He repealed the Bush-era ban on embryonic stem cell research. He's started a "clean energy revolution." As in, we're now moving away from oil dependency to wind, solar, and nuclear power. He's signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, which criminalizes the heinous crimes committed by Wall Street. http://us-presidents.insidegov.com... Abortion rates and teen pregnancies are at an all time low, and crime rate and incarceration rate came down together. Right now, a typical family should save $750 at a gas station this year. The national deficit went from 9.8% in 2009 to below 3% in 2014. Don't just take this from me, take it from the man himself: https://youtu.be... Corporate profits have skyrocketed. Look at the U.S. economy under Obama compared to under Bush. It's usually much better to understand the scale of a president's accomplishments when it's compared to the previous. http://ourfuture.org... Obama's most famous law, Obamacare has been a resounding success. There appears to be a very common ignorance on this particular law. Obamacare does a number of things, but what it mainly does is allow you to get another healthcare insurance plan if for some reason you lose your original one. Last I checked, more than 16 million Americans were on Obamacare, and now 9/10 Americans have healthcare coverage. "Obamacare has shown that we can increase coverage dramatically while cutting more than $600 billion from long-term debt projections." Given this, it's safe to assume that with Obamacare, the deficit will cease to exist in a few years. http://www.nationalmemo.com... People seem to freak out over the fact he made some Executive Orders. Fun fact: this is the lowest rate of Executive Orders in 100 years. Not a single conservative complained when Bush was making Executive Orders. http://nymag.com... More Americans finish college than ever before and students have the highest math and reading scores on record. Given this, it's expected that people will be more able to find a good paying job with the skills they learn. "Signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which has created 2.1 million jobs as of 12/31/09" "Provided the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) with more than $1.4 billion to improve services to America's Veterans" "Signed the Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act on February 4, 2009, which provides quality health care to 11 million kids - 4 million who were previously uninsured." "Increased, for the first time in more than a decade, the fuel economy standards for Model Year 2011 for cars and trucks so they get better mileage." "Managed several natural disasters successfully, including severe winter ice storms and flooding in several states." "Helped reverse a downwards spiral of the stock market. On January 19, 2009, the last day of President Bush's presidency, the Dow closed at 8,218.22. In February 2010, the Dow closed at 10,309.24" "Cracked down on companies that deny sick pay, vacation and health insurance to workers by abusing the employee classification of independent contractor." "Protected 300,000 education jobs, such as teachers, principals, librarians, and counselors through the Recovery Act that would have otherwise been lost." http://pleasecutthecrap.com... I recommend people read the entire list to truly comprehend what has happened since 2008. Given this information, It's safe to assume that President Obama has not been a harmful president, but I'll let Pro respond in the next round.