... and in with the new administration

On Friday, Jan. 20, the transfer of power will peacefully take place. Donald J. Trump will be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. President Barack Obama will return to the ranks of being just a citizen. That’s how our democracy works in America, even when there are different political philosophies and issues at stake.

But things have not been easy for Trump and his choices for Cabinet positions. They have undergone grueling hearings on Capitol Hill, and as I write this, there is no guarantee that all of them will be approved. Most likely, they will. Left behind, however, will be strained feelings between some of the appointees and members of Congress – and the incoming president. I don’t recall such strong feelings for and against Cabinet appointees in recent history.

Trump continues to have a strained relationship with the news media. That was front and center at a recent combative press conference – his first in six months – where he refused to recognize a reporter from CNN, calling it a network of “fake news.” Unbelievable. CNN reported unverified allegations that the Russians have compromising information about Trump. Other questions went unanswered about his business interests, income taxes, and a host of other issues.

His ethics plan he laid out creates many more questions, and some ethics experts believe it could be in violation of the Constitution. He failed to clarify his stance on Russia, although he admitted they probably had something to do with the hacking of the presidential election. He needlessly escalated his war against U.S. intelligence, widening a breach with the officials whose reports will be responsible for Trump’s daily decisions.

Same old Donald Trump. Bullying the media, as he did during the campaign, is not a good start for his administration. You can bet that the media will pay close attention to every move he makes.

"You can bet that the media will pay close attention to every move [Donald Trump] makes.”

As for President Obama, he leaves office on a high note and with a job approval rating of 59 percent, according to Rasmussen Reports. That places him in the top tier of modern-day presidents, surpassed only by Bill Clinton with 66 percent and Ronald Reagan with 63 percent. Other presidents: Gerald Ford at 53, Lyndon Johnson at 49, George H.W. Bush at 34, Jimmy Carter at 34, and George W. Bush at 29 percent.

After eight years in the Oval Office, Obama leaves with some signature achievements.

Among them are:

• Rescued the country from the Recession, cutting the unemployment rate from 10 percent to 4.7 percent.

• Signed the Affordable Care Act, which provided health insurance to over 20 million uninsured Americans.

• Ended the war in Iraq and began the drawdown of troops in Afghanistan.

• Ordered the capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden.

• Passed the $787 billion America Recovery and Reinvestment Act to spur economic growth during the Recession.

• Saved the U.S. auto industry.

• Supported the LGBT community’s fight for marriage equality.

• Signed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, making it a federal crime to assault anyone based on sexual or gender identifications.

• Helped negotiate the landmark Iran nuclear deal.

• Nominated Sonia Sotomayer to the Supreme Court, making her the first Hispanic to serve as a justice.

• Began the process of normalizing relations with Cuba.

• Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

Those are just a few of the things that the Obama Administration has accomplished over the past eight years. How many of them will continue to stand once Trump occupies the White House remains to be seen. He has threatened to repeal the Affordable Care Act and to negate the Iran Nuclear Deal. At his press conference he gave mixed signals about the repeal of Obamacare. And that is just the tip of the iceberg when you look at his Cabinet appointments.

While America’s new presidents usually enjoy a honeymoon upon taking office, that does not seem to be in the cards for Trump. After his performance at the press conference, it is obvious that the Donald Trump presidency will be the stormiest of modern times. He is bringing to the White House a combative, intemperate personality the likes of which has not been seen in American history. Whether that will change once he sits behind the desk in the Oval Office is anyone’s guess.

Trump does not have a mandate from the American people to undo everything that Obama has done. He lost the popular vote by 2.4 million votes. Will the people approve of his conduct as president? Maybe they will. We’ll see how things play out and how the elections go in two years.

Lou Gehrig Burnett, an award-winning journalist, has been involved with politics for 44 years and was a congressional aide in Washington, D.C., for 27 years. He also served as executive assistant to former Shreveport Mayor “Bo” Williams. Burnett is the publisher of the weekly “FaxNet Update” and can be reached at 861-0552 or louburnett@comcast.net.