When President Barack Obama spoke at his first inauguration, his words were buoyed by promises of hope and change. Eight years later, I can attest that the president was at least half right. The path America journeys down has indeed veered from what came before. The destination, however, is no promised land.

Obama took it upon himself to recreate the United States in his own image. He acted often in spite of Congress and without constitutional authority. He quipped. He clawed. He pontificated until the primary check on his audacity was his own sense of shame.