Ed Rogers - In the age of President Trump, liberals love nothing more than to pine for the glory days of President Barack Obama. But Obama was always better in theory than he was in reality. His recent trip to Europe reminded us all of that phenomenon. Still, liberals would have you believe that today’s problems began on Jan. 20, 2017, with Donald Trump’s inauguration - as if the plague of Obama’s foreign policy blunders and failed economic initiatives had never occurred. And so the story goes, with Obama retired from the White House, the liberals and their allies in the media are trying to recapture the near-godlike status he had attained during the summer of 2008.

But some things never change. Obama continues to hold himself in high regard. He still loves the sound of his own voice, and his self-congratulatory ramblings mirror the inescapably pretentious tone of his campaign and presidency. Perhaps unsurprisingly, therefore, Obama’s supporters continue to swoon behind him - seemingly blind to the chaos caused by the past eight years of mishaps, inaction and distorted truths.

Former president Obama has no shame. After all, it was Obama’s arrogance, inexperience and misguided worldview that fractured our relationship with key allies. It was Obama who retreated from the world stage at a time of increasing conflict and uncertainty. As Israeli President Reuven Rivlin asserted this week, under President Trump’s leadership, “America is back again.” For Obama and his supporters, that has got to hurt.

And it was Obama who capitulated to Iran, saluted Cuba, and walked back on the American promise to retaliate against the Assad regime’s barbaric use of chemical weapons in Syria. It was Obama who undermined U.S. leadership and signaled to our allies that America was not the reliable actor they previously knew. But even with the benefit of hindsight, Obama has not come to terms with the impact of his foreign policy blunders. Rather than remain silent and humbly accept the consequences of his misguided actions, Obama incredibly announced in a recent interview, “the issue that required the most political courage was the decision not to bomb Syria after the chemical weapons use had been publicized.” In his mind, reneging on a commitment made to the world should be glorified as an act of political courage. And perhaps most chillingly, the truth is neither Assad’s refusal to turn over his entire supply of chemical weapons nor the fact that he took a green light from Obama to continue slaughtering his own people seem to have made any impression on the former president.

And here at home, Obama has contrived notions of reality that serve to build only the facade he desperately wants us to see. Rather than remain on the sidelines for a gracious period of time like most other former presidents, Obama is taking shots at his political opponents. While cozying up with a host of euro-elites in Berlin yesterday, Obama pronounced in a pompous and self-righteous fashion, “We can’t hide behind a wall.” Thankfully, the homeland security secretary, retired Gen. John F. Kelly, pushed back against Obama’s childish jab, arguing, “We’re not hiding behind a wall, and you can’t defend anything by hiding behind something.”

With a flock of unquestioning liberal enablers cheering on his every word, Obama can continue to obfuscate reality and advance the narrative that all was good and well under his reign in the White House. But Obama invited mayhem around the world, fostered a depressed, crippled economy at home, created racial divisions, and imposed a PC culture that hangs like a dark cloud over Middle America. Remember, Obama did more to make the conditions ripe for a Trump presidency than anything Hillary Clinton did.

Regardless of what happens at home or abroad, our former president can hop on his private jet and escape the unfortunate realities of today’s crises. Obama can bask in self-delusion and embrace the collective amnesia of his pious followers while living the life of a .01 percenter, but feeding his own ego does not help solve any of today’s problems. Obama can afford to walk away from his blunders, but the rest of us can only hope that today’s leaders do a better job than he did.–Washington Post