I have no doubt that Obama made the agency worse and weaponized it further, but it was Lyndon B. Johnson who signed off on that shit. Specifically it was Title X of the CRA:
TITLE X--ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMUNITY RELATIONS SERVICE
SEC. 1001. (a) There is hereby established in and as a part of the Department of Commerce a Community Relations Service (hereinafter referred to as the "Service"), which shall be headed by a Director who shall be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate for a term of four years. The Director is authorized to appoint, subject to the civil service laws and regulations, such other personnel as may be necessary to enable the Service to carry out its functions and duties, and to fix their compensation in accordance with the Classification Act of 1949, as amended. The Director is further authorized to procure services as authorized by section 15 of the Act of August 2, 1946 (60 Stat. 810; 5 U.S.C. 55(a)), but at rates for individuals not in excess of $75 per diem.
I have no doubt that Obama made the agency worse and weaponized it further, but it was Lyndon B. Johnson who signed off on that shit. Specifically it was Title X of the CRA:
Thank you for the correction. It’s accurate, I think, to say that the agency was uniquely weaponized under Obama, but he didn’t found it. My bad.