In a few days’ time, the Trump administration will mark its 100 days in office. To what extent President Donald Trump has so far been able to successfully focus on fulfilling his electoral promises to the American electorate is neither here nor there. One thing that is, however, clearly identifiable and deeply entrenched in the Trump administration’s style is Mr. Trump’s predilection towards demonizing his predecessor, Barrack Obama over every challenge that his administration has had to grapple with since its inauguration.
In the wake of recent horrific gas attack on civilians in Syria, the void in the Trump administration’s foreign policy became quite pronounced. Initially, the White House was unusually quiet in its reaction to the ugly incident. While the attack was swiftly and roundly condemned by leaders across the world, the US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, who was then on a visit to neighbouring Jordan disregarded questions from probing newshounds about the event, thereby maintaining his habitual quietness in the face of troubling global occurrences.
When the Trump administration eventually found its voice, it simply laid the blame on Barack Obama. In what now seems like a routine, President Trump used the attack, which killed dozens of people, including children, to score a cheap domestic political point against Barrack Obama when he described it as a direct “consequence” of Obama’s Syria policy.
Till date, the Trump administration is yet to come out with an official position on Syria. Interestingly, prior to the Idlib attack, Paris has expressed deep worries over Washington’s inability to take a definite stand on Syria. Indeed, after the gory Idlib event, French Foreign Minister, Jean -Marc Ayrault, vented his frustration at the confusing Trump’s Syria policy, arguing that the Idlib attack was carried out by Syria as a result of the Trump administration’s seeming none committed stance towards Syria. He said: “It’s a test. That’s why France repeats the messages, notably to the Americans, to clarify their position.” Really, the Idlib massacre only goes to underscore a deep hole in the Trump administration’s weak approach to Assad’s barbarism.
The same Obama bashing trend was taken to a rather ridiculous height when President Trump made unsubstantiated claims that Obama wiretapped him during the last election. This allegation has since been debunked by the chairman of a congressional committee investigating the affair. Indeed, Mr Trump has been accused by former CIA Director, Leon Panetta of making the claim as a calculated diversionary ploy.
Similarly Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Intelligence Committee have affirmed that they had no concrete evidence backing President Trump’s claim that the Obama administration wiretapped him. Curiously, when President Trump alleged that Obama ordered a wiretap on his phones during the election, he didn’t turn to the federal intelligence agencies for proof.
There is, perhaps, no other event that portrays President Trump’s obvious discomfort with Obama’s shadow other than his administration’s recent bungling of its controversial health care legislation. After the health bill hit the brick wall, President Trump characteristically figured out Obama as the key guy responsible for the premature death of his health bill.
Ironically, President Trump’s Republican Party controls the majority in both the House of Representatives and Senate. That he could not push through his first major bill in a government where his party controls the legislative is somehow puzzling. While he lashed out at the Democrats for not supporting the bill, one doubts if the usually self confident President Trump ever deem it fit to approach members of the Democratic caucus in the two legislative houses for support. He was so sure that his party’s superior numerical strength in the two houses was enough to seal the deal.
Ironically, there were reports that he didn’t even make any concrete overture to the particular Republican caucus that was strongly opposed to the bill. At the end, President Trump unwittingly acknowledged his administration’s incompetent handling of the wobbling bill when he said: “We have learnt some hard lessons about negotiations through all this”. Certainly, a larger chunk of the lesson learnt would be that he failed to appropriately canvas for the bill before it met its waterloo. To highlight his gross disdain for the shadow of Obama, President Trump said that Obamacare offers nothing good for the Americans and will simply “explode” by itself. What simply meant is that, if possible, his administration would undermine Obamacare.
Funny enough, analysts have claimed that there seems to be no remarkable differences between Mr. Trump’s aborted health bill and the much vilified Obamacare. In a nutshell, it wouldn’t do President Trump much good if he continues to make chasing the shadow of Obama as a key policy of his administration. The earlier he realizes that the elections are over, the better for him.
Tayo Ogunbiyi
Ogunbiyi is of the Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos
