UNITED States President Barack Obama does not need me to defend him, and I doubt he takes criticisms to heart, particularly when it is misguided and unproductive. Otherwise, he could not have survived Washington or remained president of a country where the hatred from some circles is so palpable.

I am bemused, however, by the expectations some seem to have of Obama — that, for example, he can and should fix the problems of black America and the black world, or those of America and the world in general in the course of two four-year terms. I am curious, too, about how, amidst the raging tide of public opinions, we distinguish what has merit from what does not. The operating principle seems to be ‘just let it all hang out’, because everyone has a right to his/her opinion, if not his/her facts. The absence of facts, or incorrect facts, however, is not the only framework to negate an argument. The FELT principle must also apply: Fairness, Evidence-based, Logical and Tone appropriateness.

Against that background, I am refuting the argument that Obama is a “waste man”. The most civilised interpretation of the term is someone who has done nothing useful with his/her life. At its most offensive, it equates someone to waste, trash. The artiste Chrnonixx, who characterised Obama thus, has a right to his opinion, and there should be no expectation that Obama should not be questioned or his record scrutinised. In fact, I like the idea that at least one person was unimpressed and had the nerve to say it. But what was said was ugly and, by any measure, a gross mischaracterisation of a man who, against tremendous odds, has succeeded as a politician and as a human being. He is an Ivy League-educated lawyer, a best-selling author, a husband and a father, loving and present for his children — despite the weight of responsibility he carries elsewhere.

There are people whose goal is simply to take the opposing side of any issue. Chronixx may have made the comments just to be objectionable. Apart from being a waste of time and creative energy, that approach accomplishes nothing. If the comments were supposed to represent principled objection, they needed to be based on something other than that Obama has not pardoned Marcus Garvey’s conviction in the United States. It is an important issue to all of us, but the US president might not have it on his agenda — and it is not because he thinks it is unimportant.

That some in black America are also disappointed with Obama is also understood. Perhaps it would be less so if the evaluation came minus the expectation that he can and should treat black America as a special block. There is good reason most academics do not share that view. They know he is not the president of black America, and they know that he is up against a formidable establishment whose expressed wish is for him to fail regardless of what that means for America.

Nevertheless, Obama’s domestic policy initiatives have been extremely beneficial to African-Americans. Again, we will appreciate this better if we get past the fact that there will be no reparation for slavery under Obama or any American president for the foreseeable future. The leadership of black America, including people like Ben Jealous, former president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, need to recognise this and the fact that the community also has a responsibility to itself: To identify cultural characteristics that are inimical to its growth and development. Obama, the messiah, will not materialise, but Obama the president is engineering policies that are especially helpful to minorities.

The goal of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), for example, was to expand access to quality health care to those who lack coverage and reduce disparities — eight million of those were African-Americans. Obamacare gives nearly six million of them access to preventative services in the private health insurance market and to more than two million through Medicare in 2011.

The law is not perfect. It was rushed, I believe, because Obama feared he had only a short window of opportunity to pass anything. It continues to face numerous challenges in the court. I hope it will stand with directives to work out the kinks because it is saving lives.

Obama’s education initiatives are similarly beneficial to minorities. By redirecting subsidies from private lenders to students, he raised the maximum Pell Grant award — a federal subsidy to low-income students — to more than US$5,600. From 2011 to 2013, the number of applicants doubled to reach over three million. A student loan reform bill provided us$2 billion for community colleges and other eligible institutions to improve education and career training programmes. Other initiatives include the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) — a partially refundable tax credit worth up to us$10,000 over four years of college; Improving Educational Outcomes through Promise Neighborhoods, which focuses on outcomes for students in high-poverty neighbourhoods at a cost of us$40 million; and initiatives to fix lowest-performing schools at a cost of us$4 billion. The Administration is pushing to make community college free. This would be a game-changer and be most impactful for poor minorities.

Efforts to keep homeowners in their homes during the financial crisis also benefited minority communities, and immigration reform, increase in the minimum wage, and Obama’s unrelenting support for pay parity will also be of great benefit.

Garvey, a man of great dignity and formidable intellect himself, would have recognised Obama’s essential decency. He would have understood that one man, to the extent that he wants to, cannot transform a centuries-old bureaucracy or dispel unproductive beliefs and attitudes in a few years.

Michael Eric Dyson, a leading black scholar, offers this advice on how to fairly criticise Obama: “Start with…pride in his epic achievement, focus on the unprecedented acrimony he faces as the nation’s first black executive, and target his missteps and failures.”

I concur.

Grace Virtue, PhD, is the Marcus Garvey Centenary Scholar.