There are people out there who are so passionate about politics that they often bring it up in conversation. They post political messages on facebook and even have entire blogs devoted to it. I secretly admire those people, but I am also a little afraid of them. They care a lot and are confident enough about what they know (or think they know) to speak out and speak often.
But, I care too. And, at this moment, I am tired of being afraid of offending people. I am tired of worrying that somebody might "unfriend" me or that I might cause a rift in an important relationship.
With election day quickly approaching, my political thoughts are bubbling to the surface once again. Nathan and I have been studying our ballot guides, watching the (attack) ads, and talking politics for a couple of weeks now. I am ready to step out of my own comfort zone for a minute and put my feelings about one simple message out there.
The message I am tired of hearing is that Obama is failing.
It seems like so many people- Republicans, Tea Partiers, Libertarians, Green Partiers, and even Democrats- are spreading the message that Obama has been a disappointment.
At election time two years ago, emotions were running strong (just like they are now) and when Obama was elected it seemed that people had very high expectations for a complete transformation in our country. People wanted a better economy, a way out of the Iraq war, an affordable mortgage, more jobs, a balanced budget, equal rights, alternative energy sources, oil independence, more accountable schools and teachers, the list could go on and on.
And now it's been two years.
Two years.
And, according to some, he's already failed.
In two years.
I think only history will be the judge of how successful or unsuccessful Obama's administration will be. Two years just isn't enough time. And it seems to me that we cannot possibly know what the state of our union would be like right now had Obama not come into office and done the work he has done.
And, lest we forget the work that he has done, here's an excerpt from Rolling Stone magazine that reminds us that Obama has not just been sitting around with his feet up for the past two years.
...Less than halfway through his first term, Obama has compiled a remarkable track record. As president, he has rewritten America's social contract to make health care accessible for all citizens. He has brought 100,000 troops home from war and forged a once-unthinkable consensus around the endgame for the Bush administration's $3 trillion blunder in Iraq. He has secured sweeping financial reforms that elevate the rights of consumers over Wall Street bankers and give regulators powerful new tools to prevent another collapse. And most important of all, he has achieved all of this while moving boldly to ward off another Great Depression and put the country back on a halting path to recovery.
Along the way, Obama delivered record tax cuts to the middle class and slashed nearly $200 billion in corporate welfare — reinvesting that money to make college more accessible and Medicare more solvent. He single-handedly prevented the collapse of the Big Three automakers — saving more than 1 million jobs — and brought Big Tobacco, at last, under the yoke of federal regulation. Even in the face of congressional intransigence on climate change, he has fought to constrain carbon pollution by executive fiat and to invest $200 billion in clean energy — an initiative bigger than John F. Kennedy's moonshot and one that's on track to double America's capacity to generate renewable energy by the end of Obama's first term.
On the social front, he has improved pay parity for women and hate-crime protections for gays and lesbians. He has brought a measure of sanity to the drug war, reducing the sentencing disparity for crack cocaine while granting states wide latitude to experiment with marijuana laws. And he has installed two young, female justices on the Supreme Court, creating what Brinkley calls "an Obama imprint on the court for generations."
What's even more impressive about Obama's accomplishments, historians say, is the fractious political coalition he had to marshal to victory. "He didn't have the majority that LBJ had," says Goodwin.... -The Case for Obama, Rolling StoneWhatever your politics might be, it's obvious that Obama has been working to implement policies that reflect what he feels is best for the people in our country. That's all we can ask from any President. Tomorrow is election day and I hope you, like our President, will go out there and do what you think is best for our country by voting for leaders who will represent the people's interests.
