Obama had the opportunity to go down in history as having had an
extraordinary presidency, one that brought an end to foreign empire and
foreign interventionism, brought all the
troops home and discharged them, ended Bush’s “war on terrorism” (and
war on Muslims), and dismantled the extraordinary totalitarian powers
that Bush had unilaterally adopted and that were supposed to be only
“temporary.” Alas, no change. Obama’s eight years turned out to be
nothing more than a continuation of Bush’s eight years, which, like
Obama’s, consisted of waste, death, and destruction.
