When people ask what President Obama has accomplished, the response often includes a long litany of supposed triumphs, but the list is a distraction. It includes things any Democratic president would have done, it includes trivialities, and it includes things promised but not even begun to be worked on. There's a better answer, and an easier answer. Because the response only needs mention one issue.
Of all the issues humanity faces, none is more important than climate change. None ever has been. But it's hard to argue against weapons proliferation and disarmament as being less than second. It, too, is about a potential existential threat. It, too, is about the safety of at least hundreds of millions of innocent lives. It, too, is about national security and world security. It, too, is about transforming our economy and our way of life.
President Obama has taken on arms control and weapons proliferation as has no president in recent memory. His negotiations with Russia constitute a real, substantive effort at true transformational change. I'm not one to attempt to delve into most politicans' psyches, but the way in which the president approaches this issue strikes me as coming directly from his heart. This wasn't a major campaign issue. It's not an issue that gets a lot of coverage in the corporate media, or even in the political blogs. It's a political issue that doesn't have a lot of political play. But it's a policy issue that could not be more important.
On December 17, Peter Baker of the New York Times wrote:
But even if the two sides manage to bring home a deal in coming days as they hope, that will be the easy part. After President Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia sign the new pact, they plan to send negotiators back to the table next year to pursue a far more ambitious agreement tackling whole categories of nuclear weapons never before subject to international limits.
The talks envisioned for 2010 would continue to advance Mr. Obama’s disarmament agenda and attempt what no president has managed since the dark days of the cold war. In addition to further reducing deployed strategic warheads, the negotiations would try to empty at least some vaults now storing warheads in reserve. And the two sides would take aim at thousands of tactical nuclear bombs most vulnerable to theft or proliferation, some still located in Europe 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The effort is part of a broader initiative by Mr. Obama to start down the road toward eventual elimination of all nuclear weapons and to transform the American military for a new era. A nuclear posture review due next month will propose an overhaul of the nation’s strategic doctrine and force consideration of the question of how many weapons the United States really needs without a superpower rival, including whether to eliminate one leg of the traditional "triad" of submarines, missiles and bombers.
I'm no Obama cheerleader, but that's eye-popping. On this issue, transformational change appears to be a real intention. And as an extra bonus, part of his efforts with Russia have included eliminating the aggressive "missile defense" program in Central Europe, which was a drain on our budget for an unproven technology that served only to antagonize. That's a win on many different levels.
For a more comprehensive exploration and explication of the entire issue, check out the work of Plutonium Page. She also is no Obama cheerleader, and her focus has been on the issue. And her focus and her expertise continue to reveal the importance of Obama's efforts.
So, to explain what Obama has done, or what Obama has accomplished, or why we should be thankful that he is president, you don't need a long muddled list, and you don't need to try to rationalize policies that are controversial, and that many will object to on legitimate grounds. You only need to mention arms control. There is no reason to believe any other national politician would have tackled arms control in anything close to the manner Obama is attempting.