During the administration of George W. Bush, I remember feeling a more or less chronic sense of despair and incredulity at the state my country was in. Lots of my friends felt the same way. And many others in this nation and in the world felt similarly. The distinguished historian Eric Foner wrote a Washington Post piece about W’s Presidency. It was called “He’s the Worst Ever<\/a>.” Greg Brown, one of America’s greatest singer-songwriters, began performing a song in concert called “I Want My Country Back<\/a>,” an anguished cry of despair about Bush’s America.<\/p>\n Why did we feel this way?<\/p>\n Thinking back, I can name several reasons I personally despised Bush as a president:<\/p>\n \u2022 the farces of the recount in Florida and the Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore<\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 war in Iraq<\/p>\n \u2022 surrender of environmental policy to industry<\/p>\n \u2022 torture<\/p>\n \u2022 tax breaks for the wealthy<\/p>\n \u2022 Bush’s blithe, dismissive personal manner, and his ineptitude with language<\/p>\n Today, three and a half years into the administration of Barack Obama, I think it’s obvious that some people feel the same level of disgust for him that I and others did for Bush. (Although I haven’t heard any distinguished historians call him the worst ever, nor any august singer-songwriters pouring out their despair in song.)<\/p>\n What I honestly want to think about here, though, is what specific reasons the Obama despisers could possibly have for despising Obama as a president.<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n Let’s think about the signature events in Obama’s time in the Oval Office:<\/p>\n \u2022 The Affordable Care Act? I can’t believe that anyone could hate Obama with a blazing passion over this one. For Pete’s sake, it started as an idea from a conservative think tank.<\/p>\n