At some point, Obama and his party might mutually recognize that his political acumen was always more myth than reality, and he can retire to his vast wealth in Martha’s Vineyard without subjecting us to more of his grating lectures.

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In a historical anomaly, Barack Obama remains the only president in United States history to see his popular and electoral votes decline while escaping with a reelection win.  

That’s merely one among many realities that should serve to puncture the myth of Obama’s political prowess after two decades under the nation’s political spotlight.  

Yet somehow, his mythical image endures.  

Earlier this week, Democrats trotted Obama out to reassume his grating false Southern drawl in a New Jersey campaign speech, confirming that he maintains a mysterious but stubborn status as some sort of political magician among the political left and mainstream media.   

It’s closer to the truth, however, to say that Obama was one of the best things that ever happened to Republicans.  

When Obama entered the White House in January 2009, his party was euphoric and appeared ready to finally secure their “permanent blue wave.”  His sweeping victory in November 2008 brought fully nine formerly Republican states into the Democratic column, and secured overwhelming Congressional majorities.  

In the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats held 257 seats to the Republicans’ 178.  In the U.S. Senate, Democrats – including two “Independents” who caucused with them – effectively claimed a filibuster-proof 60 seats.  And at the state level, Democrats controlled 28 governorships and twenty-seven state legislatures, versus just fourteen for Republicans.  

The nation’s political map was thus deeply blue.  

Eight years later, however, the nation’s political landscape had flipped so dramatically under Obama’s watch that even The Washington Post wryly noted in a February 2016 headline that his presidency had been “a very good thing” for Republicans.  

The unambiguous numbers illustrate that astonishing flip.  

According to Gallup’s annual party affiliation survey, for instance, in 2008 it classified 35 states as solidly or leaning Democratic, with only five states solidly or leaning Republican.  By 2016, however, that balance had flipped – only 14 states remained Democrat-leaning, while 21 leaned Republican.  What once appeared a new Democratic era instead proved a prelude to an extraordinary Republican resurgence.  

That same partisan swing manifested itself in the electoral data at the federal, state and local levels.  

Republicans reclaimed the House of Representatives in Obama’s first midterm election of 2010 in a historic rout, gaining 63 seats and achieving their largest majority since World War II.  By 2016, Democrats claimed just 194 House seats, a net loss of over 60 since Obama assumed office.  

In the Senate, meanwhile, Democratic numbers plummeted under Obama’s watch from a filibuster-proof 60 seats in 2009 to just 48 by 2016.  

Well done, Mr. Obama.  

That swing was even more pronounced at the state level.  Democrats began Obama’s presidency claiming 28 governorships, but fell to 18 by the end of his presidency.  Meanwhile, Republicans share of the governor count climbed from 22 to 31.  In 2009, Democrats controlled 27 state legislatures, but by 2016 held only 12.  Republicans, in contrast, held both legislative chambers in 30 states and partial control of several more.  

Nationwide, Democrats hemorrhaged over 800 state legislative seats over Obama’s presidency, a collapse unlike anything in modern political history.  

By the time that Obama departed Washington, D.C., Republicans controlled both houses of Congress, nearly two-thirds of state governors and approximately three-quarters of the nation’s state legislative chambers.  A Democratic Party that appeared so ascendant in 2009 under Obama was reduced to a more isolated regional party concentrated along the coasts and urban enclaves.  

The irony is impossible to miss.  Obama was elected as a political savior, a figure who promised to usher in an enduring Democratic majority.  Instead, his leftist policies of higher taxes and more regulation, as well as his grating personal manner, hollowed out his party.  ObamaCare, overregulation and cultural radicalism proved toxic to his party’s candidates across all levels.  

Democrats got a president who could read inspiringly from a teleprompter, and who managed to slip by lackluster candidate Mitt Romney for reelection.  Republicans, however, flourished nearly everywhere else.  

Ultimately, Obama’s primary political legacy was leaving the Republican party stronger, more numerous and more geographically dominant than at any time since the 1920s.  

At some point, Obama and his party might mutually recognize that his political acumen was always more myth than reality, and he can retire to his vast wealth in Martha’s Vineyard without subjecting us to more of his grating lectures.  

To borrow a term from his 2008 “Hope and Change” mantra, we can only hope.