Scouring through my social media timelines over the last several days, I find that the left and right have one thing in common, the glorification and/or vilification of Obama and Trump, depending on your political leanings.  Obama fans have said he was one of our best presidents, while Trumpsters will "Make America Great Again."  Neither will be quite the case.  Let's take a look at the pros and cons.

When history finally writes its final chapter about the Obama presidency, his 8 years will probably fall into the 2nd Quartile of Presidents, which is not that bad.  His administration has seen several key advances with regards to LGBTQ rights and other social issues, but economic issues have been a mixed bag.  On the surface, employment stats look somewhat impressive on the surface (Unemployment rate halved, while Dow Index tripled), the unevenness of the economic recovery led the decline in Democratic power nationwide, starting with losing Congress and then a decline in the number of statehouses and governorships.  ACA (Obamacare) is the signature legislative achievement of his presidency, but has not been the panacea as expected and awaits an extremely tenuous future in the Trump administration.

As I had written back in February 2016, I have very little hope for a Trump administration.  If he turns out to be a 3rd Quartile President, he will be exceeding my expectations.  Many of his cabinet picks have been on the baffling side with minimal knowledge of details of his cabinet posts.  He has questions about ties to Russia during the election process, has not disclosed taxes as is traditional, and has not divested interests in his companies to avoid the perceived conflict of interest.   Recent odds by British bookkeepers put the odds at 2-1 that he will either resign or be impeached before his term expires.  A very rocky start for the presidency to say the least.

Stop being enamored by politicians.  You can almost always do more for your local community than weighting for Federal help.