Obama 2012

During the presidential elections of 2008 I was seventeen and was not able to exercise my right to vote. It made me angry I was not old enough to vote because I believe in Obama so much. By now you know that I am a democrat and most of my family is as well. What I had believed in the most from what Obama promised in 2008 was that he advocated universal health care. But throughout these first four years Barack Obama has been in office I have become frustrated because the Bill that was passed was not anything close to what was promised to us originally. Some other ‘accomplishments’ that President Obama promised the citizens of America also came a bit short in my opinion. The DREAM Act didn't even come close to what I originally thought it was going to be! All I saw was the Bush era tax cuts that we have seen before being renewed and put into place. That basically insulted the middle class that, ultimately, gave him the presidency. Guantanamo Bay was still operational, equal marriage was still not spoken for; so many short comings have been done I thought I was done supporting Barack Obama and vote for Ron Paul so Marijuana can be legalized and I could become a hippy and not care about politics!

But with elections coming up I had to rethink to myself…

It has always been said that democrats and progressives always tend to have a ‘glass-half-empty’ mentality and knowing myself I always do that. I, like most democrats, have dwelled so much on the little disappointments Obama has given us rather than celebrate the major accomplishments. We forgot what Obama had to face when taking over the presidency…Two Wars and a near Great Depression! Even the god of all presidents Bill Clinton probably could not get us out of this mess if he was president. He even admitted it at the Democratic National Convention 2012!

 

 “No president, no president — not me or any of my predecessors, no one, could have repaired all the damage he found in just four years. But he has laid the foundation for a new, modern, successful economy, of shared prosperity, and if you renew the President’s contract you will feel it. You will feel it.” – Bill Clinton

Here are the three main reasons I will vote for Obama in 2012:

1. Obama has accomplished a whole lot more than we liberals give him credit for.

• In 2010 in  an interview with Rolling Stone, President Obama noted, "I keep in my pocket a checklist of the promises I made during the campaign, and here I am, halfway through my first term, and we've probably accomplished 70 percent of the things that we said we were going to do … So I think that it is very important for Democrats to take pride in what we've accomplished."

2. Since President Obama took office is that the state of the economy and the state of Washington were even worse than we knew in 2008.

• It's easy to give up on Obama because he was supposed to change Washington. But that view places all the blame on Obama, but not on Congress and the Republicans. The delays, cloture votes, and obstruction that has taken place in the Senate has been ridiculous. Mitch McConnell (Republican, Kentucky) famously openly stated that Republicans' priority is to defeat President Obama, rather than to legislate. Against these odds, President Obama's accomplishments should be more notable!

3. President Obama quite simply has a better long-term vision for the country than Romney or Paul.

• President Obama’s domestic policy goals: infrastructure spending, green energy initiatives, investing in education, a new energy policy that doesn't rely on fossil fuels, regulation of the financial industry, laws to protect workers, and taxes to boost the middle class.

 Vote Obama 2012!