Donald Trump is attacked regularly as a divisive president. But let’s not forget another divisive chief executive — one named Barack Obama

The mainstream media today lauds Mr. Obama for his smoothness and sophistication. The picture of urbanity and elitist wisdom, he is always portrayed as the coolest guy in the room. The “cool” president, yet he had no problem dividing Americans by putting down those who disagreed with him.

But it wasn’t entirely his fault. Our divided culture has a lot to do with it. First, though, let’s look at the Obama record.

Those Crazy Voters

Noting in 2013 that 42 states had enacted provisions to restrict abortion, Obama called these measures “absurd.” Those crazy voters — who knew that more than 80 percent of the states were so full of “absurd” people? 

In 2010, he called Republicans the “enemies” of Latinos. He later said, “I probably should have used the word ‘opponents.’” Probably, Mr. President? And even if he’d said “opponents,” how can he claim the party opposes a whole ethnic group? Really, Mr. President? 

Obama had the audacity to say that if African-American voters failed to turn out in significant numbers in the 2016 election, he would “consider it a personal insult, an insult to my legacy.” This from a man who presided over “the largest wealth gap between blacks and whites since 1989, record levels of black child poverty, and widening racial gaps in college attainment.” The black talk show host Tavis Smiley commented that “in the era of Obama, [African-Americans] have lost ground in every major economic category.” 

In 2015, when the Supreme Court threw-out 32 state laws stating that marriage is the union of one man and one woman, Obama bathed the White House in LGBT “rainbow colors” to celebrate the ruling. Roughly 40 percent of the American people then opposed same-sex unions. So much for being a uniter.

A Trite Uniter

Yet Obama said repeatedly that he wanted to unify the country. His trite declaration in 2004 at the Democratic National Convention that we are not red or blue states but the United States set the media narrative for years to come. Barack Obama would be a healer, a transformational figure who would bring us all together.

And so he would be — but only if we agreed with him. “When Obama called for unity,” writes commentator David Harsanyi, “He meant a nation of diverse people who can all agree that progressivism is right for the nation.” In other words, give up your convictions and agree with me, or else you’re primitive, backward, and an obstacle to obviously needed change. And you don’t care about the poor, blacks, hispanics, homosexuals, and women.

But failing to unite America isn’t completely his fault. No president can unite America. America has never really been united in the sense that most of us have agreed about most things. Politics has always divided Americans.

And that tells us something important about America today. Most of us have always agreed about a few basic things. Our worldview has been shaped by the Judeo-Christian moral tradition and what Alexander Hamilton called a belief “in the sacred rights of mankind” that are “written as a sunbeam” in human nature.

Once United

Were we perfectly united? Of course not. A Civil War proves it. But we shared convictions about some very basic things that are now sources of endless disputes. If we can’t find unity on the basics, no president can create it. Politics can sometimes be about principled and productive compromise. The recently enacted bill that changes the way we deal with criminals and the jail time they serve is an example.

But much of the time, politics is about making choices that can’t be compromised — choices that divide. There’s not much room for compromise on some of the most significant issues facing our country. So, in fairness to both Obama and Trump, to decide is to divide, at least on some critical matters. The result? To be president means being divisive.

Set an Example

At the same time, presidents can at least set examples of civility and respect. In an era of great national division, even that can be hard to do.

It seems especially hard for a reality TV star-turned-President. Yet to uphold Donald Trump as a uniquely divisive figure is to buy into a line that liberal journalists might love, but which recent history proves flat-out false. Donald Trump divisive? Let me introduce you to Barack Obama.