Barack, Let it Be

I have great admiration for Barack Obama and his presidency. I become increasingly uneasy with his apparent obsession with "legacy."

Outside of Abe Lincoln's "Emancipation Proclamation," presidential legacies tend to be mundane, and the stuff of nerds. You were president. Given great power, you had to do something. Let history decide if it was worth remembering.

I thought all along that President Obama sounded a bit foolish when, during his aggressive campaigning for Hillary, he openly appealed to voters - especially African-Americans - to protect his legacy by coming out and voting for her in. I cannot remember any other president, Democrat or Republican, imploring voters to protect him, as though only he and his accomplishments were encased in glass. If presidential legacies are as fragile as that, then none but the most stout should be safe.

Subsequent administrations may seek to "white-out" their predecessors' achievements, but the spirit of that administration will last through the ages, especially if that spirit is genuine. To tout the greatness of your deeds taint those deed with a haughty spirit.

Chill, Barack, chill. You smiled and lit up a nation, a world. That is the pearl of your legacy. No subsequent administration can touch that.