One of the blessings embedded in the nightmare that we call the 2016 presidential election is at some point soon, Mr. Obama will no longer directly control the reins of political power.  His presidency has been a dismal failure in terms of economic growth, foreign policy, dealing with the burgeoning entitlement state, and of course, his assault on mainstream social values.  But nowhere has he failed more than his inflaming–not helping–race relations, and indeed, social relations more broadly.  Rather than rehashing why I think that (happy to debate in the comments below), let’s get right to it.

First up, we should not accept that this is just “in the heat of the campaign” and they all do it.  This past week Mr. Obama has had two major attacks on Trump and potential Republican supporters:  You are a bunch of racists and sexists.  Why have we never had a female president?  And why aren’t more people supporting Mrs. Clinton?

Speaking specifically to “the guys out there,” Obama told them to “look inside yourself and ask yourself, if you’re having problems with this stuff how much of it is that we’re just not used to it?”  He noted, “When a guy is ambitious and out in the public arena and working hard, well that’s okay, but when a woman suddenly does it, suddenly you’re all like, ‘Well, why’s she doing that? I’m just being honest.”

Maybe he truly doesn’t get it, but then that’s even worse.  Why can he not accept the reality that most American’s don’t like Hillary–not because she’s a woman, but because she has a 30+ year track record of lying to us?  And that’s most people–including many females and democrats.  And for us conservatives, why can’t he give us the dignity of taking the reasonable face value argument that we have huge policy differences with her?  I don’t have any problems with her sex, I have problems with her vision for our country.   Why must he call me a sexist?

Then to not be undone, Mr. Obama is whipping the African-American vote.  Democrats know that there is little enthusiasm for Mrs. Clinton, especially among African-Americans (certainly relative to their enthusiasm for Mr. Obama).  So Mr. Obama pulls out the ultimate race card late in the week and calls Mr. Trump (and implicitly all his Republican supporters) a KKK fan.

“If you accept the support of Klan sympathizers — the Klan — and hesitate when asked about that support, then you’ll tolerate that support when you’re in office,” Obama told an audience at Chapel Hill, North Carolina on Wednesday.

It’s a reasonable criticism of Mr. Trump to say he’s clueless about the problems in the African-American community, and that his policies would harm them, etc.  But this is over the top–way over the top–when racial tensions are so high.  To cause further strife for pure political opportunism, well that’s not very hopeful and its certainly not the change we need.

I would have disagreed with Mr. Obama on most of his agenda, after all, he had the most liberal voting record of any president ever coming in, but I was hopeful that his election could help further lead to racial reconciliation in the country.  Alas, that has not happened, and Mr. Obama shares much of the blame.