When it came to his handling and use of government, President Obama was the most old-fashioned President in the worst possible ways in spite of his preachy lectures on the future and his embrace of technological accessories because of his complete inability to recognize that government is supposed to represent not rule the American people.
Obama's attitude is more reminiscent of the 1700s politically corrupt system of Tammany Hall, described well in TammanyHallNYC where, "William M. Tweed, known as 'Boss' Tweed, ran an efficient and corrupt political machine based on patronage and graft," than a testament to modernity.
As he "drains the swamp," President Trump is going to be challenged by President Obama's backwards-thinking, by Obama's thumbing of his nose at the American people living through economic uncertainty and a presidency that amplified our country's differences between rich and poor, "…in Obama’s America the rich are gaining while the rest of us are struggling to get by," ttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/01/income-inequality-obama_n_3853183.html,
and resulted in the lowest participation in the labor force since 1978, http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2014/jan/26/ted-cruz/labor-force-participation-its-lowest-point-1978-sa/ .
The results were part of the President Obama's limited world view revealed so clearly by the President himself in 2012 when he lectured in 2012 that the private sector is doing fine and immediately advocated for MORE PUBLIC employee jobs, "…one of the biggest weaknesses has been state and local governments…" http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2012/jun/08/context-private-sector-doing-fine/, an important insight into the man that will be best known for using the federal government as his own fiefdom at the expense of the American people.
Public employment is finally getting the negative attention it deserves for its outdated retention of employee protections that stand in stark contrast to the reality of the American workforce. Even the ultra liberal LA TIMES can't avoid noticing, "Paying for public retirees has never cost L.A. taxpayers more. And that's after pension reform," http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-pension-squeeze/, November 18, 2016, Peter Jamison.
Under President Obama, the unspeakable contrast between a President and his government imposing limits on everyone else while liberally spending on themselves became the bizarre Obamaland America. And Trump must mend this gap between public employment and everyone else in America in order to avoid Obama's legacy: "We're special. Public employment is our only concern."
It was evident in everything Obama did including the fact that even as American workers faced wage stagnation, "For most workers, real wages have barely budged for decades", Drew Desilver, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/09/for-most-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/, Obama repeatedly approved pay raises to federal public employees (not huge but not stagnating.
So it was not only President Obama's old fashioned protectionism towards public employment, but the contrast of that protectionism versus the imposition and tolerance of worse conditions for other American citizens that should make every nonpublic employee relentlessly scrutinize Donald Trump's behavior in draining the swamp.
It was President Obama's INDIFFERENCE towards the people that put him in office that ultimately renders his legacy as a weirdly king-like ruler of America rather than an American President.
No longer can public employment enjoy Obama protectionism without citizen outrage when Americans live with job insecurity, pension erosion, diminishing benefits and the uncertainty that they'll ever be protected by the money they've paid into Social Security and Medicare in their declining years .
Because of the stark contrast between government and the rest of America, Obama's conduct went from pro-government to anti-American. It went further than imposing some of the most draconian measures on the American people's options for physical and financial survival in the face of illness by partnering government with the health insurance industry because of the grotesque superiority of benefits given to public employees.
(public employees were exempted in fact from Obamacare. I've gone through this before, but the way public employees were exempted from the laws they imposed on us was by characterizing the federal government as an employer who could offer them superior benefits therefore avoiding the need for them to face the brutality of Obamacare,} so much so that the government thumbed its nose at the American people and bragged, "The government provides its employees with a first-class benefits package. In fact, studies conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveal that the gap concerning benefits between the private and public sectors has been growing-in favor of the public sector,” http://gogovernment.org/government_101/benefits.php.
It went further than granting amnesty in fact to millions of illegal immigrants because of the grotesque superiority of rights given to illegals over American citizens as Obama watched Americans struggling for jobs face the prospect of a flood of new competition from lawbreakers who with a sweep of his scepter, which he called his pen, were decreed innocents with a clean slate while ignoring the albatross of misdemeanor convictions that bar millions of American citizens from employment.
It even went further than the first family's newsmaking lifestyle and lavish spending on itself New Obama vacation costs uncovered; They now exceed $70 million," Investors Business Daily, Andrew Malcolm, http://www.investors.com/politics/andrew-malcolm/obama-vacation-expenses-already-exceed-70-million-dollars/, made more grotesque by Obama's lecture to Americans that we must tighten our belts, "Speaking about the economy at an event in New Hampshire, Mr. Obama told Americans: 'When times are tough, you tighten your belts,'" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/7149616/Barack-Obama-tells-Americans-dont-go-to-Las-Vegas.html.
Instead of addressing problems his tenure created and worsened, Obama would put his time and effort into "explaining away" the problems, defying reality and fudging numbers of how great things are.
Public employees must live with the rules they impose on the rest of us--period. Yes, the government is their employer and YES we pay for it, therefore pay raises when our wages stagnate, not acceptable, pensions when we have none and the government can't afford to honor every worker's payment into Medicare--not acceptable. Job security when we have none--gone. Superior medical benefits, no way.
This will be Donald Trump's biggest challenge especially in the wake of his drain the swamp promise and it starts with language. Government employees aren't public servants, they're public employees the same as anyone else working for a buck. It is outdated to use the language of public service for individuals NONE OF WHOM is required, forced, mandated to work for government.
For Trump, this challenge is complicated by promises he's made to the military, also public employees. Like other public employees, since the draft was stopped in 1973, from then on it has been a CHOICE to work for the military. While respecting the job they do and acknowledging the risks they take, today's armed forces are workers, just like other workers.
Much like the government's Accountability Review Board concluded regarding Ambassador Chris Stevens' death in Benghazi, "Ambassador Chris Stevens was responsible for the decision to travel to Benghazi."
Public employees should never obtain a pay increase when Social Security cost of living increases are not provided to citizens who were FORCED, didn't CHOOSE to pay in. Public employees should never have pensions protected when citizens who were FORCED didn't CHOOSE paid into Medicare for their whole working lives. Federal bonuses paid to employees should be SUSPENDED if benefits under Medicare and Social Security, two forced programs are modified to REDUCE benefits to our aging population.
Drain the swamp in short, must begin with a level of fairness that the pro-government biased Obama never showed. I don't know if Donald Trump can do this. I don't know if a 70 year old can modernize where a 50 year old couldn't. But I do know that consumers are watching thanks to Obama.
