Blog #158 Obama’s Legacy and My Tribe
By: Mikki Willis
My tribe is small: me, my wife, and our two kids.
My party is truth.
My team is humanity.
From that ground, I can freely criticize Trump—and every president before him.
Now, let’s talk about the smoothest criminal of them all…
Obama was the first U.S. president I ever voted for. Growing up in California, I was conditioned to believe that only Democrats truly cared about people and the planet. At the time, I was convinced that progressive policies were our only hope to fix a broken nation.
I’ll never forget the night Obama was sworn into office. I was at a bar in downtown Los Angeles with a group of friends, and we all had tears in our eyes when he placed his hand on that Bible. But before the end of his first term, I found myself asking, “What happened to hope and change?”
We had been duped. He turned out to be just like the rest - but even worse.
During his second term, I participated in a research experiment that tracked the rise and fall of words and phrases since the birth of the internet. What I found was striking: racial terminology surged every time Obama was campaigning for himself or endorsing others.
Terms that had been fading - like “racist,” “oppressed,” “marginalized,” and “white supremacy” - spiked each time he delivered one of his spellbinding speeches. That’s when I saw his true strategy: reopen old wounds, then pose as the healer.
But healing was never really his plan. Obama was a Trojan horse - placed in power to accelerate the agenda to dismantle America from within.
After a decade behind the political curtain and years spent researching the roots of our social decline, I’ve come to believe that Obama was one of the worst things that ever happened to America.
Here’s just a partial list of his “accomplishments.” Tell me again why he was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize?
During Obama’s presidency (2009–2017)
Massive drone warfare and civilian casualties. Obama greatly expanded drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and elsewhere, resulting in hundreds of civilian deaths.
Libya intervention in 2011. Led NATO’s effort to oust Gaddafi, after which Libya descended into chaos, becoming a failed state and ISIS foothold.
Warrantless surveillance and the NSA. Continued and expanded mass surveillance, collecting data on millions of Americans without individualized warrants.
Used the 1917 Espionage Act more than all previous presidents combined to prosecute whistleblowers.
Legalized propaganda to be used against the America through the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Deported more immigrants than any previous administration, earning the nickname “Deporter-in-Chief.” He separated families and strengthened an aggressive deportation apparatus later used by Trump.
Continued Bush-era Wall Street and bank bailouts, and failed to prosecute top Wall Street executives responsible for the 2008 financial crash.
Use of kill lists and extrajudicial killings. Weekly meetings reportedly approved “kill lists,” including American citizens abroad without trial.
Obamacare disaster. The promise “If you like your plan, you can keep it” proved false for millions. Health insurance premiums and deductibles skyrocketed, and 28 million Americans remained uninsured even after its passage.
Yemen war support. Backed the Saudi-led coalition with weapons, intelligence, and refueling, leading to large-scale civilian deaths and what the UN called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Increased use of executive orders and administrative actions, bypassing Congress.
Failed Syria policy. The “red line” threat over Assad’s chemical weapons wasn’t enforced, damaging U.S. credibility.
Benghazi. On September 11, 2012, the U.S. diplomatic compound and a nearby CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya, were attacked by militants.
Four Americans were killed. The attack led to intense controversy over security failures and intelligence handling. The State Department (led by Secretary Hillary Clinton) denied some requests for additional security.
As President, Obama is ultimately accountable for how executive agencies, including the State Department, prioritize resources and risk assessments abroad.
After his presidency (2017–present)
Ordered intelligence agencies to spy on Donald Trump’s campaign to sabotage it. It’s documented that the FBI investigated Trump campaign figures under “Crossfire Hurricane.”
The Obama administration deliberately helped create and fund ISIS to destabilize the Middle East. Obama’s policies—like withdrawing from Iraq and mishandling Syria—are widely criticized for enabling ISIS’s rise.
Ordered targeted illegal spying on journalists, political activists, and even members of Congress.
Secretly orchestrated resistance to Trump, coordinating government leaks to undermine his administration.
Personally directed the IRS to target Tea Party and conservative nonprofits.
Obama received enormous sums of money from foreign governments or corrupt deals in exchange for political favors.
Looking back, Obama wasn’t the antidote to a broken system; he was the system perfected - wrapped in charm, eloquence, and just enough illusion to keep hope alive while the country’s foundations were quietly hollowed out. In the end, he didn’t heal old wounds - he deepened them, weaponized them, and left us more divided, distracted, and disillusioned than before.
The latest:
According to declassified documents released by DNI Tulsi Gabbard on July 18, 2025, Obama and senior officials allegedly:
• Suppressed intelligence showing no Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.
• Promoted a false narrative of Russian collusion to undermine Donald Trump’s victory.
• Leaked and amplified the Steele dossier—funded by the Clintons—to build this narrative.
In anticipation that some readers might dismiss this by saying I’m the wrong color to understand, here are just a few quotes from prominent Black voices:
“Obama posed as a progressive and turned out to be counterfeit. We ended up with a Wall Street presidency, a drone presidency, a national security presidency.”
— Cornel West
“Obama is not the lesser evil, he is the more effective evil. Because he is Black, he is able to do things white presidents could not get away with, like neutralizing Black opposition to imperialism and austerity.”
— Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report
“Obama ended his presidency with Black median wealth lower than when he began… His election became a substitute for real justice and transformation.”
— Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Author of “From BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation”
“Obama did more harm than Bush because he made Democrats love war, surveillance, and Wall Street… He put a Black face on imperialism.”
— Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report
“Obama’s legacy for Black America is his greatest disappointment.”
— Tavis Smiley, from his book “The Covenant with Black America”
Mikki Willis
Father/Filmmaker
Mikki’s website mikkiwillis.com (registration for his newsletter and his most excellent documentaries - such as the Plandemic series) and his X page is @mikkiwillis