Recently, I had someone close to me inquired as to whether they voted for Obama, They had, but weren't particularly openly political - politics was a personal thing for them, and not something they cared to debate in public (unlike me). Without explicitly saying who they voted for, the person asking deduced from body language and a hesitancy to answer directly that they had indeed voted for Obama. So the next the person asked was, "How's that hopey-changey thing going?"
So, how is that hopey-changey thing going?
Well, considering where we started out from, pretty darn good, actually.
The country and the globe stood on the verge of complete economic collapse, largely due to policies that led to unregulated banking, concentration of wealth, and unchecked exploitation of the poor and middle class (home mortgages, usurious interest rate,student loan and medical debt, the paycheck loan industry, etc.). President Obama pulled us back, or the Second Great Depression would have become a reality and an abyss.
Our economy has recovered faster than it has in Europe. Our economy has recovered faster than it did under Reagan (even though the recession was miles milder), according to Forbes Magazine and other recent stats I have seen. The stock market is at an all time high.
Could it have recovered faster? Certainly, although not instantaneously - we were in way too deep for that. But the American people, in all its gerrymandered glory, decided in 2010 to send to Congress a TeaPartyAmerika controlled House, a group who is more interested in making the President look bad than they are in moving this country and economy forward.
We still have an American auto industry in this country thanks to the President and a Democratic Congress.
We have a President who has killed more terrorists than any other, including killing Osama Bin Laden. He wound down our conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. But make no mistake. The Bush/Cheney Iraq War was the most brutal and stupid military move in decades, if not all of American history, and that mistake will have effects on us and the Middle East for DECADES to come.
We are at least recognizing that climate change/global warming is the most serious problem on the planet, and is doing everything he can to pull us into the greatest battle of the 21st century, the battle to keep our planet livable.
He has lowered student interest rates. He has signed into law the Lillie Ledbetter Act, an important tool in helping solve the great pay divide between men and women. He has put into effect Financial Reform legislation. He has created, led by Elizabeth Warren, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, designed to be a consumer advocate against the more exploitative acts by financial institutions.
He has accomplished the greatest health care reform act in a century or more. Even as the name Obamacare continues to be childishly reviled, the individual things the Affordable Care Act is doing are becoming more and more popular. It is accomplishing everything it set out to do, and at a quicker pace than expected. Unless, of course, you're in one of those hissy-fit red states that is fighting the law tooth and nail. I'm talking to you, Georgia! My conservative friends are disappointed as to how it's working in Georgia? It's not working because the utter and complete choke hold Republicans have on this state won't LET it succeed.
You think the President is not compromising enough? You've got to be kidding, right? I have never in my life seen a President try to bend over backwards as far as President Obama has to try to include Republican ideas. And it just doesn't matter. The Republicans only goal is tell the President NOOOO, no matter what he says.
Could we have made more progress under McCain/Palin or Romney/Ryan? Hahahahahahaha! You can't possibly believe that. How many wars would be in if McCain were President? How much bigger would the wealth gap be if Romney were in charge? Does anyone out there with any economic sense believe austerity measures get you out of a recession? Do you think social issues would be any different? The American people are changing their views on those regardless of who is President.
I would have loved for us to do more. I would love for us to have single payer health care. I would love for us to reduce NSA spying. I would love for the fatty parts of the defense budget to be cut. I wish we didn't use drones so much. I wish some of the bankers that brought us down would be tried and imprisoned. I fervently pray that we do ten times more on combating global warming than we are doing. I wish we would stopping messing with private for profit charter schools and rededicate ourselves to public education. I wish we would increase the minimum wage to the point that we can decrease our reliance on social safety net programs.
Yes, there is much that has been done and much left to be done.
But as long as Mr. Gerrymander rules over the House, as long as many congressional districts decide to send lunatics to that legislative branch, as long as there is no price to pay for Republicans to behave like stubborn spoiled children, progress towards a brighter future will be slowed, even stalled.
You say you are disappointed in that hopey-changey thing? Then here is the most important thing you can do -
Vote for a Democratic Congressman and Senator. Not because they're perfect. But because you want to send a message - no more obstructionists! Let's get the work of this country done!
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