Its going to be really interesting to see if we as a nation are ready to move FORWARD Pres. Obamo or BACKWARDS with Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, or President Barack Obama? Who should young people vote for in 2012?
A recent poll conducted
by Harvard's Institute of Politics suggests that President Obama's
approval with millennials is slipping, and a number of media outlets are
suggesting that hipsters and young people
are over the Obama hype. Among Democratic circles, there's a growing
fear that the generation that was so pivotal to Obama's 2008 victory
will stay home in 2012, or even worse, shift their allegiances to Ron
Paul or Mitt Romney.
Like nearly all of my friends, I proudly jumped on the Obama
bandwagon in the leadup to the 2008 election. And, like most of my
friends, I've been disappointed that President Obama has governed like a
technocrat, not the inspirational leader we all hoped he could be. But,
unlike many of my liberal friends, I'm sticking with Obama in 2012, and
here are the three reasons why:
First, Obama has accomplished a whole lot more than we liberals give him credit for.
Democrats and progressives tend to have a glass-half-empty mentality,
in which we dwell on the disappointments rather than celebrate the
accomplishments. We thus tend to forget that facing some of the most
adverse circumstances imaginable (two wars and a near Great Depression),
President Obama has accomplished an incredible amount. In a 2010
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."
Internationally, Obama has deftly managed the complexity of U.S.
policy through the Arab Spring, killed Osama bin Laden, reset our
relations with Russia, ended the combat mission in Iraq, banned the use
of torture, restored respectability to the United Nations and the G-20,
and successfuly (until now) contained a nuclear Iran. Would we like to
see Guantanamo closed, troops out of Afghanistan, and peace in
Israel-Palestine? Of course, but note the number of positives.
Domestically, President Obama has passed historic health care
legislation, restored the financial system so that it functions, set up a
Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, expanded national service more than
ever before, reformed the student loan program, passed Don't Ask, Don't
Tell, and protected our national security. Would we have preferred
higher wages and less unemployment, more movement on immigration and
education, and less infringement on our civil liberties? Most certainly,
but again, there have been a lot of victories. We tend to dwell on the
high unemployment rate as an indication of President Obama's failure on
the economy, but keep in mind that the President's two signature pieces
of legislation, health care and financial reform, haven't even fully
taken into effect.
Second, what's become clear 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. The depths of the Great Recession were $131 billion worse the orginially reported, and the country's unemployment numbers could have been 10-15% higher
than we thought in 2008. On top of that, Washington is absolutely
broken. It's easy to give up on Obama because he was supposed to change
Washington, and we've seen more of the same. 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 unprecedented. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) famously openly stated that
Republicans' priority is to defeat President Obama,
rather than to legislate. Approval ratings of Congress have reached
historic lows because both parties have put short-term political gain
over what's best for the country in the long-term. Against this
backdrop, President Obama's accomplishments are even more notable.
Finally, President Obama quite simply has a better long-term vision for the country than Romney or Paul.
He has had difficulty articulating that vision since taking office, and
at times that vision gets clouded by the game aspect of politics. But,
if you ask Republicans what they stand for today, their only agenda on
the economic front seems to be tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans
(which will cost $700 billion dollars) and spending cuts. But, will
giving an average $100,000-per-year tax break to people making a million
dollars a year help to rebuild the middle-class, promote growth, and
improve job numbers? I believe that the Democrats' signature domestic
policy goals – infrastucture 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 – will pave the way for a better
economic future. Don't forget under which president and party we got
into the economic crisis in the first place.
President Obama most certainly needs a better team of domestic and
economic advisers for 2012, and he needs to pick better strategic
battles with Republicans and rise above the partisan fray in his
second-term. And, liberals need to do better to celebrate Obama's
achievements and work harder to push him in a more progressive direction
for the next four years. But, President Obama is the only choice for
young people in 2012, and I'm most certainly voting for him again.
Mr. President,
I voted for you in 2008 and you have my support for a 2nd
term as President. While I was initially hesitant during the primaries,
I warmed to your ideas and inspiring message of change in Washington.
Many of us had high hopes for a more effective government, one able to
work toward the progressive change we desperately needed. Alas, the
political realities burst that bubble all too quickly due in large part
to a minority Republican Party determined to place its own designs on
power above the needs of a struggling country. But many also found they
could not reconcile the icon created in voters' minds throughout the
campaign with the man who entered the White House after the election.
While each of us harbor disappointments over what did not come to pass,
there are many who appreciate and are capable of recognizing the
accomplishments you have made despite overwhelming opposition.
As I considered all that has transpired over the past 3 ½ years I found a number of reasons to vote for you once again. Here is a list of the prominent ones;
- Your administration, in conjunction with the Democrat-led Congress and the Federal Reserve, acted quickly to shore up a financial system and job market in free fall, held us back from a entering a depression and, as the CBO director put it in congressional testimony back in 2010, the “...aggressive action by the Federal Reserve and the fiscal stimulus package helped moderate the severity of the recession and shorten its duration.”
- You and congressional Democrats put your own political careers at risk to produce the most meaningful health care reform this country has seen in 45 years in an effort to expand access to care for nearly 30 million uninsured Americans. While some may criticize you for abandoning the public option, these individuals forget the ardent opposition and misinformation campaign waged against it, culminating in Senator Joe Lieberman's last minute reversal, deciding to vote against any reform with such a measure. This, as you know, is what effectively struck the the final nail in the coffin of the Public Option.
- Against significant opposition you decided to bailout the American auto industry which resulted in an undeniable success, so much so that your presidential challenger is now attempting to credit himself with the idea. But many, even some fellow liberals, claim you chose big business over struggling Americans. These views fail to take in the bigger picture. Your critics do not consider the average Americans employed by the industry itself, the parts manufacturers, the shippers who transport those parts, the auto dealerships or the communities where those very workers and businesses reside. It would appear these bailouts did more for the average American than your critics care to admit.
- You and the Democratic-led Congress reinstated many of the very regulations whose repeal led to the Great Recession. These new regulations include provisions for a controlled "winding down" of failing financial institutions eliminating the need for taxpayer bailouts in the future, something your Republican counterparts have tried to reverse.
- You and congressional Democrats created the Consumer Financial and Protection Bureau (CFPB) which, as you know, is tasked with ensuring contractual language and documents from banks, credit card companies, mortgage brokers, payday lenders, student loan providers and other financial institutions are understandable to average consumers. It seeks to educate consumers so people can make financial decisions based on sound comparison and assessment of all available information.
- You lobbied for New Deal style work projects in an effort to return Americans' to work. You pushed for infrastructure investment and maintenance, you pressed Congress for national passenger railway funding which many GOP-led states refused to take. You pushed for broadband internet expansion into rural areas and continued to advance your transportation legislation through Congress. Yet at every turn these efforts were hampered by a GOP intent on holding firm to an agenda of austerity.
- Your first act as President was to sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a bill designed to break down wage discrimination barriers for women. Since then you have made it a point to eliminate inequality at numerous levels.
- You made reinvestments in education and career transition training, advanced policy to make college more affordable and to assist students with student loans.
- You eliminated Don't Ask, Don't Tell and have stood up for LGTB rights and just yesterday officially backed the rights of same-sex couples to marry.
- Under your leadership we have seen a marked improvement in the economy. Of the 8.7 million jobs lost since September 2008 including the 4.3 million lost under your administration virtually all those lost since your time in office have been regained. We've seen GDP go from 0.4% in March 2011 to 3.0% in the 4th quarter of that year. It has dropped to 2.2% in the first quarter of 2012 but with a historical average of 3.8% and the fact that we're in a recovery, there isn't much room for criticism.
Despite all these accomplishments, Mr. President you still have
your detractors many of whom are from your own party. They seek to
punish you for not implementing all of your campaign promises or for
pursuing all of their agenda items.
