Progress and success for one, stagnation and failure for others. The lasting legacy of Barack Obama is seen differently by many people depending on their personal convictions.

With United States (US) President Barack Obama soon exiting the White House, attention has shifted from his daily activities and messages to what legacy he leaves America and the world. We can now compare Obama’s campaign slogans of “Hope” and “Change” against what he was and was not able to accomplish while in the Oval Office for eight years. His lasting legacy may be that of progress and success or stagnation and failure depending on whom one asks.

Data that supports a legacy of economic success for President Obama includes a record 73 consecutive months of overall job growth in the US as of October 2016, the reduction of the federal budget deficit, successful government bailouts of key American industries and more. US stock markets are currently at all-time highs under the Obama administration. Partisan political rhetoric and spin may point to other economic figures to argue against his accomplishments, but the fact remains that Obama prevented the Great Recession, inherited from the Bush administration, from becoming a Great Depression.

Other areas of President Obama’s legacy seem murkier. Americans rate the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, as both his biggest accomplishment and failure, according to recent polls. The landmark and controversial act extended affordable healthcare access to millions of poor and middle-class Americans via government subsidies, but for millions of others medical insurance became more expensive and coverage options were more limited as a result of the law.

There is also fierce debate over how President Obama’s actions in the realms of domestic and national security will be remembered. Those who see a legacy of security successes might highlight his law to reform the US National Security Agency after news broke of extensive monitoring programs. Also, Obama has acted on intelligence and eliminated Osama bin Laden and countless other terrorists around the globe. He was able to successfully finalize a deal that will block Iran from developing nuclear weapons, in addition to many more achievements.

On the other hand, President Obama was unable to fully extract the US from war in Afghanistan and could not favorably influence wars in Syria, Ukraine, Yemen and elsewhere. In the city of Chicago, Illinois, where Obama grew up, murder rates are at an all-time high. Under his administration there were also countless incidents of confirmed or suspected police brutality towards ethnic minorities that triggered protests against a judicial system perceived as racist.

We should keep in mind of course that President Obama’s legacy on certain issues is not yet cemented and during his last few weeks in power he will work to secure his policies from being completely overturned by Donald Trump. For example, this week Obama banned drilling in America’s Arctic and parts of the Atlantic Ocean in anticipation of non-environmental friendly policies under Trump. Also, President Obama has transferred prisoners out of Guantanamo Bay recently to leave as few as possible there before Trump can carry out his campaign vow to keep it open and “load it up with some bad dudes.” There is also uncertainty over whether Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran will be scrapped and if domestic legislative successes on Internet freedom, immigration, women’s rights, gay rights and much more will remain in place.

Incoming President Trump and his supporters will no doubt work towards erasing Obama’s accomplishments. However, it will take years of legislation and extended litigation to do so and many Obama achievements may prove irreversible. The debate over what America’s forty-fourth president could and could not accomplish during.