Why Truman was Like Obama (Part II)

Truman would not learn from his mistakes. Truman attempted to nationalize the steel industry during the Korean conflict. In Youngstown Steel and Tube Company v. Sawyer (1952), the Court held that Truman’s impatient actions were unconstitutional: even during emergencies such as wartime. Truman could have solved the strike situation without nationalizing the industry. But Truman would nationalize several industries following World War II to circumvent the growing trend of union strikes. Truman would go on to call strikes un-American but Truman supported the unionization of labor as a Senator. Dealing with labor strikes displayed Truman’s not only inept problem-solving skills, but his overall contempt for the Constitution (which he also trampled on during his Senate days supporting the FDR progressive economic power grab). Of course, no president had a worse record putting their agenda in front of the Supreme Court than Obama. Obama is the only modern president to lose 50% of his agenda cases put in front of the high court. In fact, Obama not only lost over half of his cases in front of the Court, he lost most of them by a 9-0 majority.

There are also many eerie parallels between Truman’s conflict in Korea and Obama’s fight against terrorism, especially ISIS. Both Truman and Obama underestimated their opponents. Obama called ISIS the “JV team” and Truman, of course, being the bigot he is, did not see China as any kind of threat. While Truman got greedy because he lacked respect for China, Obama basically did nothing to thwart ISIS. Obama also did nothing to stop genocide and terrorism in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq while at the same time he created vacuums for terrorism to flourish in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia. The Korea conflict ended in a draw, but Obama lost ground not only to terrorism but to rogue nations such as North Korea and Iran. While Truman pushed McArthur to be overly aggressive in Korea; Obama achieved similar results by being much too passive with terrorism.

Both Truman and Obama were Nixonian in their paranoia. Truman, with the help of J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI, wiretapped Senators, Congressmen, and even Supreme Court Justices. Truman was paranoid over Communism infiltrating his administration. Obama was just paranoid. The Obama administration was caught listening to the leaders of allies and of course used very questionable techniques to listen to Donald Trump’s incoming transition and administrative teams. While Obama used an Air Force 1 photo op over New York City to scare citizens into a frenzy fearing another 9-11, Truman was even more sinister by testing nuclear weapons in Nevada without warning citizens of its side effects. Needless to say, both Obama and Truman were blinded by their love of self and their super egos.

Both Truman and Obama administrations were also plagued by scandals. Obama scandals included Fast and Furious, IRS and media targeting, improper spying on political enemies, the Clinton email server, the Uranium One deal, and the Benghazi coverup to name a few. Interestingly, one Truman scandal was with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (present day IRS) dealing out favors to political allies was similar to the Obama IRS scandal which denied rights to political enemies. Both Truman and Obama abhorred the press. Obama held the lest amount of press conferences than any administration in U.S. history while Truman held many press conferences but was irate over his negative press coverage. And both Obama and Truman have a legacy of appointing bad Supreme Court Justices. Truman appointed four justices which are generally ranked among the 10 worst in United States history. The jury is still out on Obama appointees but Sotomayor has no business being a judge of any kind and Kagan is not much better.

Russia is an interesting topic for both Truman and Obama. Obviously, Obama was weak with Russia. Obama did nothing as Russia meddled in our elections; Obama did nothing as Russia interfered in Georgia, Ukraine, and Syria; and Obama gave Russia 20% of our enriched uranium. Obama always failed to act when faced with any type of Russian aggression. On the other hand, Truman talked tough against Russia but he did nothing to deter their aggression other than to build up our Nuclear arsenal and create the Central Intelligence Office (CIA). Truman was responsible for the arms race, the red scare (McCarthyism) and bitter feelings between the two countries. Remember Russia was in shambles after World War II losing over 10% of its population and it was in economic turmoil. Truman was in a unique position to try diplomacy first with Russia after World War II when relations were at a high between the two nations, but once again Truman acted with haste and destroyed that opportunity. Sure, the Truman Doctrine (hardline on communism and terrorism) is widely accepted and promoted by all administrations (except Obama) since its introduction, but only Truman had the opportunity to confront a weakened Russia. Russia would have the atomic capabilities by the time Truman left office.

While both Truman and Obama were bumbling fools, there were some stark differences between the two men. While Truman would do anything to keep America and its allies safe from the spread of communism, Obama did very little to protect Americans from the threat of our adversaries and terrorism. Iran, North Korea, and ISIS gains in power under Obama would have for sure gotten more attention under Truman. Truman also understood that presidents make mistakes and they should own up to them. He made so many that it was said to “err is Truman”. However, Obama would never admit to making a mistake and is the first president to leave office having never committed an error (at least in his own egotistical mind). When something went wrong in the Obama administration, he always claimed the John Banner defense: “I know nothing about that”.