My Legacy Comes Undone: The Scandals, The Mistake in Governing by Pen and Phone, Israel and Climate Change

I've lost the motivation to finish my legacy. I'm done and my presidency is coming apart. But I owe you a few words .  .  .

This is not my favorite portrait, but this is how I feel about legacy

There's much anguish in the land since the surprise victory of Donald Trump. Well, at least, in the hearts of many. I will admit, though, that flyover land is enjoying this moment.

But what about me? What about my legacy? That is the question.

It's time I looked in the mirror and spoke truth to power.

About the Scandals
My confidante and White House aide, Valerie Jarrett, was very kind to say that there were no scandals that marked my eight years in the White House.  But that isn't quite true. There've been many scandals and I want to tell it all. Maybe I've forgotten a few, but here's my own list of scandals.

• Fast and Furious - with guns walked across the border into Mexico ending with the killing of our own

• IRS targeting of Tea Party and Conservative groups - yes, there was more than a smidgen of proof

• The anti-Muslim video that was not the cause of the Benghazi affair - we tried to blame it on Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the filmmaker and we put him in jail, but he was only our fall guy. And, no, I can't tell you where I was while the Benghazi special mission compound was under attack by terrorists. That may be the biggest scandal of all.
• The fix was in not to charge Hillary for her extreme negligence in using a private server against government regulations and without real protection against hacking. At least I used a fake name when I emailed with her.
• Exchanging five bad dudes - the Taliban Five - from Guantanamo for Bowe Bergdahl, who his fellow soldiers said he was a deserter.  We released five top enemy combatants to Doha, Qatar, but who knows where they'll be in a year or two. Keep an eye out for Abdul Haq Wasiq, Norullah Noori, Mohammad Fazl, Khairullah Khairkhwa, Mohammad Nabi Omari.
• Failure to take action on the red line in Syria and the green revolution in Iran. I talked loud, but I did nothing. The failure to honor my red line ended up in the Aleppo tragedy. I gave $400 million to the Iran mullahs as a bribe to get our soldiers out of captivity. And then I returned $150 billion to those same mullahs who will now give large chunks of that money to continue their funding of Middle East terrorist groups.
• The ability to manipulate the electorate came easy when you have articulate gurus, like Jonathan Gruber. He made it easy for me to say that Americans would keep their health care insurance and their doctors if they wanted. It was never so. 

and the list goes on and on .  .  . 


About the Mistake in Governing by Pen and Phone
We all know that I had both the House and the Senate in 2009 and we were able to muscle through the Affordable Care Act - my own Obamacare - and then Dodd-Frank. Health care and consumer care. And somehow our control evaporated and as everyone knows, I turned to the power of the pen and the phone. It felt great. But I failed to appreciate that I was building my castles on sand. I thought Hillary would be there and she'd let them stand. So much of my legacy rested on her success.

And now, Mr. Trump and Congress will undo a major part of my legacy. So many regulations and executive orders will just fly away.

Israel - a lost cause, again
Some see me favoring the Palestinians over Israel. But it's not true. I gave Israel billions in defense and the Iron Dome missile protection system.  But when it comes to legal status and boundaries, I felt compelled to engineer the passage of UN Resolution 2334, allowing nations to boycott and sanction Israel for its settlement policy. Israel does not fully understand what is good for it. John Kerry and I just helped the peace process along. If only Israel complied with my plan, the Palestinians would grant Israel lasting peace and perhaps there would be less of a reason for war in the Middle East. Of course, history may prove me wrong - the 1967 boundaries are the red lines that Israel must recognize as the starting point for considering a Palestinian state.

Climate Change is really real
There is only so much I can do to reshape the world. Soon even climate change will out run terrorism and war as the greatest danger to the planet. People make fun of those children stories, like Chicken Little running around, saying that the sky is falling. Well, the sky is falling. 

Even if President Donald Trump's pick to run the Environmental Protection Agency has to follow existing regulations, the new version of the EPA will invent a science where CO2 is beneficial to the environment instead of being a danger. How can one rationally say that more CO2 will make the planet greener?!

A final comment
I will end this brief reflection on my legacy. I will ponder my rise to the pinnacle of power and my descent into the abyss. Perhaps, some day I will rise again. Maybe as a Supreme Court Justice, maybe as a future United Nations Secretary-General. There's so much good I can achieve and I've learned much as President of the United States.

The fix is in for Hillary

You might wonder why I saved Hillary Clinton from her own intentional misdeeds. Who else will cover for me?

You know that I don't need to make secret phone calls or send emails (would never do that!) to persuade those in my administration.  Sometimes I just announce it on TV.  They get the message.  Smart way of beating the conspiracy charge.

Remember Tom Wheeler at the FCC and my hint to pass net neutrality?

Or I get someone like Ben Rhodes to dupe the media - like on the Iran deal.

Unfortunately, some of my agencies aren't quite as adept in hiding their alliances with my progressive lobbyists. The EPA and the IRS were caught at this collusion.

Or I appoint a regulator, like Mel Watt, to loosen up financing requirements even if it creates another housing bubble and crisis down the road. 

So, what about Hillary?  And the fix?

I gave Slick Willie the green light to meet secretly with Loretta Lynch. I got Comey to impose an extra layer of secrecy to keep-FBI personnel-mouths shut. 

All I needed to do was to say on national TV that she was merely careless. 

Not so bad an excuse even if foreign hackers got into her private server.

At least, Hillary will keep my legend alive. That's a legacy to be proud of.  

Postscript:  How could I have known that Donald Trump would have won the presidency? I fear for my legacy in word and deed.  May 4, 2017.

Making America average: I speak, they listen

You've probably heard the complaints that I'm dethroning America. Like giving up the internet root directory at ICANN. So what if China, Russia and Iran can control their people better by only allowing pro-government domain names.  More important is that WE don't make those decisions, but let all countries in on the root directory game.  We shouldn't be forcing our way of thinking about freedom on others; there are more important things like progressive values and everyone being for the people.  Social justice, not everyone's own little castle.

I  just spoke my mind and Tom Wheeler at the FCC caved. That's how it works. I speak, they listen. And the Republicans can't do squat. I'll just veto it.

The same thing with the IRS. I spoke and Lois Lerner listened. We poked those conservatives hard with our IRS. 

The same thing, also, with my Affordable Care Act.  I talked up how important health care insurance was for the people and Justice Roberts just keeled over and changed what the words in the law actually meant to what it didn't mean. A tax is a tax even if it isn't called a tax.  What I saw is what others believe.

The same with Hillary. She was just careless with that email server.  I bet Loretta Lynch is listening to the news on Fox.

And so it goes. Get it? America will be just another place; nothing special - but everyone gets a piece of the pie.