system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Barack Obama was an unambitious, mediocre, president that set fairly low goals and achieved them.

By mediocre, I mean in the context of US presidents. Of course, all of them are extremely honorable, intelligent individuals, but Obama is about average as far as presidents go. From my pretty limited understanding of his accomplishments, he passed the Affordable Care Act early in his first term and Congress shut him down after that. They kept him from doing anything revolutionary or unique, and he didn’t try to stretch his powers or change the situation. The ACA was not a failure, but it was hardly a great success either. He generally tried to behave as the moderate Democrat party wanted him to, fighting existing wars but not escalating or ramping them down. He failed to appoint Merrill Garland to the Supreme Court, which also represents a broad failure to fill a lot of judges’ seats because Mitch McConnell stopped him and he didn’t make a big deal out of it. He behaved in a broadly internationalist way, seemed displeased with but not angry at his successor’s more ambitious outlook and unique personality. Obama seemed kind of like a stock President, beyond the fact that he’s 1/2 African American and got beat up on for refusing to do anything creative. He’s a bit like Hoover and Trump is a bit like FDR I think. I wrong here? CMV.
gpt
The ACA was and remains a huge success. Sure, we didn't get m4a or the public option, but millions of previously uninsured and underinsured Americans suddenly found themselves with adequate healthcare that would have previously been nearly impossible for them to get. The criticism coming from the left about the ACA shows the distinct problem with the "idealistic" progressives... they want to hold out for the perfect at the expense of people suffering now. You see it with people who say Bernie or bust. They would rather have 4 more years of Trump rather than 4 years of what they see as a somewhat less progressive candidate than Bernie Sanders.

Not only did we see an unprecedented expansion of healthcare under Obama, we saw DACA, the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, a landmark nuclear agreement with Iran, countless initiatives to combat climate change, expanded protections for LGBT people, etc. And while many of Obama's accomplishments were later scrapped by the current administration, it does not diminish what Obama did for this country and the lofty goals he set for his time in office.