Currently, if you look at America, you see mass deportations that rip families apart, sometimes killing people, foreign wars that very few people support, mass government corruption and opposition incompetence all over the board. Because of all the things people opposed to this administration have seen, there has been a newfound nostalgic feeling for the years of former President Barack Obama. Nostalgic sentiment in general is not some new or unique thing specific to the current moment, but I am fascinated by this iteration coming from many within my generation, Gen Z liberals in particular. This bygone time is described as more optimistic, one where people are thriving and the government works for the people. This nostalgia is mostly connected to the second Trump era and, more generally, the post-COVID era. Many people feel that the world is duller and darker compared to the past. I could go for the obvious criticisms such as Obama’s foreign policy or the deportation efforts, but I want to focus on the fact that behind the perceived happiness was political tensions and dark developments that were brewing under the surface, getting ready to pop.
First, we need to recognize the point in history during this time; Barack Obama was elected as President of the United States and many people were optimistic for an era of hope and change, as the Obama campaign made clear it would bring. After the 2008 recession and the fallouts that came from it, people wanted anything as an alternative to George W. Bush’s neoliberal economics & neoconservative warmongering. Therefore, with an Obama victory came an era of dumbfounded optimism; the economic conditions, unemployment and other crises happening were thought to be temporary and soon people would be able to thrive in a new version of more progressive neoliberalism. From this came the sort of millennial-esque hipster optimism that was focused on how the opportunity for society to progress beyond inequality and bigotry.
There was this idea after Obama’s election that we lived in a post-racial society, or that racism was beyond us since there was a black president. But this was also a delusional belief since, although incarceration rates decreased under Obama, black men were still being disproportionally incarcerated under the Obama administration. The deportation rates under Obama, which are heavily tied to race, were higher than even Trump in his first term, and the first year of Obama’s second term had more deportations than even Trump’s term so far.
The Obama administration’s flaws weren’t the only issues with this period, since the economy was still suffering from the 2008 recession. The early 2010s, and even the 2010s as a whole, was a time of economic stagnation. We also started to see a surge in the wealth inequality that has already been growing for decades, wage stagnation and the bank bailouts that had shocked many people — which would become the catalyst for Occupy Wall Street. The libertarian led Tea Party movement was growing, laying down the groundwork for the fascist rhetoric that we would soon be very familiar with. It was this slow growth and disappointment for standard neoliberal politics and reactionary anger towards social progress that would lead to heavy political division and the far-right rhetoric that is now commonplace in society.
Nostalgia, like mentioned before, is one of those things that is always going to exist for each generation; what’s important to realize is that the past is not the perfect place that we remember it to be. In fact, it is the events of the past that lead to the developments of the present time. It is easy to view the “stomp, clap, hey” indie music and the funny trends of the time and believe nothing was wrong, but you need to remember that when we look to the past it is often through rose-tinted glasses. It does not mean you can’t yearn for anything, in fact, that can be positive. But remember that the world we live in now is created from what has happened in the past. So, instead of looking longingly behind you, look forward.