by Mark Bearing

Created on: August 28, 2009   Last Updated: October 17, 2010

It would be rather unfortunate for President Obama if his legacy over the next 2 plus years is entirely dependent on one issue. Unfortunately, if he succeeds, this will be the single biggest change in America since FDR's new deal. And if he fails, well it's probably best not to think about what this country will look like if health care gets worse. Health care is a terrible mess and there are millions of people in the U.S. that aren't getting the help they need. It really is interesting because it really appears that everyone, both democrat and republican, is in agreement that something needs to be done to fix this problem. Unfortunately it seems that this issue has swelled to such mass proportions that it is hard to see what else is going on in America.

There are many other extremely important issues that the commander in chief needs to address during his term. President Obama still has the outcome of his stimulus package to be decided. Iraq still seems to be quite a mess. Afghanistan seems to be fighting back towards its Taliban days. Iran and North Korea remain nuclear threats. Education in this country is faltering when compared to Asian countries or heck, even compared to our own expectations. Technological and medical breakthroughs are slowing down in comparison to other nations. And energy needs are as pressing an issue as they've ever has been. Not to mention border control has hardly been mentioned since Mr. Obama took office. And no one can forget that America is sitting in a multi-trillion dollar deficit. One could go on and on about what's wrong in this country and what needs to be done and there will always be more to do than one president can address throughout even two terms. So it is understandable that one issue could mean the success of a presidency.

So if President Obama's health care plan works out and saves the day for those millions in dire need of help, and if the economy becomes stabilized and bullish again, then there is a good chance that Obama will go down as one of the better presidents in this nation's history. No one has ever had to face a great health care crisis. Roosevelt and Reagan and Clinton all had economic issues as Obama does now but never a giant of a social issue like this one. But to stay realistic, there are many giant issues going on in America these days and Mr. Obama has quite the mountain still to climb.

Therefore the most likely outcome will be that very little will change. Change rarely comes quickly in this country and as president with control of only one third of this government, a man can only fix one little thing at a time. So when 2012 rolls around and the world hasn't fallen into apocalypse, what most likely will remain is a stabilized global economy, the loss of hegemony in that global economy, an incredible debt to be paid back to whomever, and an America that is still slowly trying to climb its way back out of the hole it dug itself. All of this without a perfect health care system.

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