Hope Floats to a Second Term Saturday Political Soap Box 52

Well, they said it couldn't be done.

In the highly conservative area that I live in, Barack Obama has been dismissed every step of the way.  My conservative friends scoffed at his ability to win the nomination in the first place, back in 2008.  All of a sudden people who had been bad-mouthing the Clintons for years were talking to me about how she would be the nominee, and how she would be so much better for us to run than Barack Obama. Even when Obama was being nominated, they talked about how well Hilary did, and how she would pick up the mantle and  be the Democratic nominee in 2012,  because this time we had picked a sure loser.

When the race for 2012 began, many around here thought it was a done deal.  No way would President Obama win again.  After all, the economy was still weak from the catastrophic collapse that occurred at the end of the Bushy Jr. administration. And the Republicans in Congress had done everything in the world that they could to block progress. Through Orwellian nonsense, they also had confused the positive impact of the Affordable Care Act.

Because the views in this area are so extreme to begin with, they didn't pick up on what a horrible, motley crew of fools the Republican contenders were.  Never has such an embarrassing group of people tried to compete to be President.  They picked the best of a very rotten lot, Mitt Romney, running on his record as a vulture capitalist. And then he selected an Ayn Rand follower to be his Vice-Presidential nominee.  Still, the people around here were shocked when Romney lost.

I know a bit how they feel.  I was stunned when Reagan won in 1980.  I couldn't believe someone that shallow and that far to the right could be elected President.  And I was surprised when the Supreme Court handed the Presidency to Bushy Jr., and even more taken back when he obtained a second term.

But President Obama is now in a very exclusive club, a two tern President of the United States.  And although it's diminished by the harsh glare of reality (and Eric Cantor's bitter face), I still hold great hope for this President and our country.

The economy was brought back from the brink of global destruction.

The American car industry was rescued.

The Iraq war was ended.

Osama Bin Laden was found and eliminated.

The Affordable Care Act shows a path forward to universal health care.

Civil rights and equality has been extended to our LGBT community.

And now, in the second term, we can see the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.  We mat finally have the political will to restore some sensible gun regulations.  We can continue to end our ground level involvement in Afghanistan.  We may get some true tax reform.  We might even finally look at education, research and infrastructure.  And my biggest hope, that we finally focus on addressing climate change.

So congratulations to President Obama and Vice-President Biden.  There may be crises to come, but I am as satisfied as I have ever been in my life that the country is in the best hands it could be in.

And for my ultra-conservative friends, do not despair.  Chris Christie casts a large shadow.  A very large shadow indeed.