There was a time when one of the major reasons the majority of the American public not only approved of, but also seemed to like, President Barack Obama was because he was generally seen as trustworthy.

Political trust is something that, once lost, is extremely hard to regain. Recovering the American people’s trust will be extremely difficult for Obama to accomplish for the remainder of his second term.

Credibility is one of the most important attributes for a president to have. Without it, Congress can define the terms and conditions of debate, leaving presidents essentially powerless. Obama has lost credibility in his second term for a myriad of reasons.

The latest incident resulting in a loss of credibility for Obama is the revelation that the NSA has been spying on foreign leaders for a number of years, most prominently Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel.

Obama claims to have quite recently discovered the program and to have immediately ordered its discontinuation. The irony in this case is that even if what Obama says is in fact true, he still loses credibility and comes across as careless. Either Obama didn’t know about a drastically risky development taking place right under his nose — which is hard to believe — or he did know and simply kept the activities confidential.

A president with a cleaner slate and more credibility may deserve the benefit of the doubt. In Obama’s case, however, I find this extremely hard to believe.

On this and many other issues, Obama has been a self-proclaimed know-nothing president. First Obama withheld information from the public regarding drone strikes and then denied having had any knowledge of the controversial Fast and Furious gun-tracking program.

Then he claimed to know nothing about IRS targeting conservative groups and individuals and about the Justice Department’s snooping on reporters. His response to the terrorist attacks that killed two Americans in Benghazi was incoherent at best and dishonest at worst.

The American public, for one reason or another, has a long history of being an extremely forgiving people. Even our politicians are forgiven time and time again for both their personal and public mistakes. Yet apparently Obama would prefer to hide behind this charade that he has a lack of knowledge of the goings-on within his administration.

The reality is the United States government is made up of an enormous bureaucracy. No president can reasonably be expected to know the goings-on of every department or agency within it at all times.

Only the most partisan critics would criticize a president for something like that, and this is not the issue people have with Obama. The issue is that Obama has repeatedly hidden behind the excuse of ignorance far too many times on critical, weighty issues.

The blunders that will likely go down as costing Obama the most in terms of credibility are his false statements regarding the Affordable Care Act.

Obama repeatedly pledged to the American public, “If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what.”

Now that millions of Americans are receiving cancellation letters in the mail for their health care plans, this statement is impossible for Obama to defend.

His half-hearted apology last Thursday did not help his case. Regardless of whether or not you agree with the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, it’s undeniable that it was described to the American public in bad faith.

Presidents that were not trusted by the majority of citizens are almost never remembered fondly historically. That doesn’t bode well for Obama.

Ethan Demers is a senior political science and history major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at [email protected].

Published on November 12, 2013 at 1:56 am