Sticking With Obama
Last night, this country made a decision to give Barack Obama another 4 years. While the race was close in popular vote, the Electoral Vote was a decisive victory. Mitt Romney’s concession speech was very professional and his words of working together were a welcome phrase to all.
But this election divided more than it united, in this person’s opinion. The purpose and goal of being a collective turned into a finger pointing on both sides and created an “Us vs. Them” mindset.
This is something that needs to change. If it was the heat of the election, hopefully we can move away from that year long sea of division and towards a united people that are citizens of this great country.
Positives and Mistakes
I think part of the division that a lot of us experienced was how little anything positive a growing group gave to Obama. It appears that we are in this state of turmoil where people have nothing to look forward to and their lives are completely torn apart. Yet the guy who can swoop in and save the day rarely received a sentence of criticism or a question about his abilities and plans to move this country out of this horrible mess. If there were answers to be presented, I heard very few of them that made enough sense to replace Obama.
Neither candidate is perfect, but I chose to point out positives in both. I had my hopes that Romney would take credit for the things he did as governor of Massachusetts, but alas, his party took the focus onto things I didn’t feel were about moving us forward as a nation. Given more attention to his stances that were forward thinking, I would have been more welcome to hear them instead of the distracted positions about women’s health decisions and stopping same-sex marriage.
Obama’s steps in the last 4 years were not perfect, as he faced a stubborn Congress, an inherited deficit [which grew under his watch, which has under every president since George Washington], a weak economy, deregulated financial industry, damaged infrastructure and many other road blocks that prevented him from doing more. He could have done more, even with the resistance, but at times, he didn’t.
On the positive side, we have removed the discrimination for those who serve our country in the military, we have taken steps to help those without healthcare get care and not be turned down for any pre-existing conditions. The terrorist organization that shook our nation in 2001 saw several of it’s leaders being taken out. We rescued an auto industry that many of us were against at first, but now in hindsight, spared thousands of jobs and kept factories open and growing. And pushed for the equal treatment of women in all areas.
Benghazi
Let’s get Benghazi out of the way. While mistakes were made in the efforts to protect American lives, it involved more than just the Commander-in-Chief. This was an effort that included many groups and individuals that tried their best. These situations have happened many times over the decades and this was another one where lives were unfortunately lost. I feel we need to get the facts collected and organized of what went down and let the ongoing investigation move forward without the injection of the media and those who already have a negative mindset against Obama feel they know everything that happened. That’s my position.
Feet To The Fire
I expect a lot from the President, regardless who or what party they belong to. And as I’ve done my entire voting life, I criticize to help them do better. While there are times when a President needs to be voted out, I felt this was not the time to do this. I don’t feel Obama’s negatives were enough to replace him, especially with someone who was inconsistent with his plans to change things. Perhaps another candidate like Jon Huntsman would have offered some real solutions, but his party didn’t want a moderate with real solutions.
I feel Obama has real solutions and with this second term, I feel he needs to buckle down and get things done. Yes, some of the roadblocks are still there, but if we can find a way to convince those that despise him to actually put aside their differences and help the people of this country, we will see some progress.
Continue On
It’s my hope that as we all work together, we can make this country what it is. And by removing the dividing lines, it will be a lot easier to accomplish the goal of moving forward.