Historian Burt Folsom makes a good case here that we haven’t had a great second term since Calvin Coolidge.
Most historians put Coolidge in the “mediocre” category because he didn’t do anything “big.” Correct. He whittled down the size of the federal government, paid off much of the national debt, lowered taxes, got into no wars, and abided by the Constitution. All of that had everything to do with the fact that the nation was prospering.
The contrast with Obama couldn’t be more stark. Obama has relentlessly increased the size, power, and scope of the government, has roughly doubled the national debt, has increased taxes, gotten us into wars (but mostly continued existing ones) and has trampled all over the Constitution. All of that has everything to do with the fact that the nation is not prospering.
