Obamaism is the future of America.

Trump is what Obama critics think Obama is: Someone who's focused on symbolism rather than substance.

Because many people remembered a time when the Republican Party was not so extreme, and hadn't full grasped how much it had changed, people blamed Obama for his failure to get Republicans to agree with him. That blame coloured so much of how the public saw Obama during his presidency. The public thought he was dealing with a brand of Republican leader that just didn't exist any more.

Barack Obama is a very impressive human being.

Republicans fighting back against changes Obama made means those changes are important, as with most of the major progress in American history.

Activists measure progress against the standard of perfection, or at least the most perfect possible choice. Historians gauge progress against what came before it.

Trump's not the future; his ideas and his coalition are a dead end.