This is going to be a LONG post (sorry about that)...just typed this to someone else on Facebook, then added it to my wall. I know many Republicans won't read this, probably won't get past this sentence, but if you do, you'll understand why this was all typed at the end, and I'll appreciate everyone reading it, regardless of what you believe. Let's talk about the things Obama has done in office:
- Prevented a full-blown depression.
- Stopped massive job losses and created 5+ million jobs.
- Moved the economy into consistent GDP growth.
- Cut taxes for 95% of working families.
- Saved the auto industry, which saved jobs.
- Passed the Affordable Healthcare Act (eight presidents have tried and failed).
- Passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Play Act.
- He and the military forces hunted down, and killed, Osama...and decimated Al Qaeda's leadership.
- Ended the war in Iraq.
- On track to end fighting in Afghanistan in 2014 (set year).
- Extended The Patriot Act.
- Repealed Don't Ask Don't Tell.
- S.T.A.R.T. Treaty with Russia.
- Comprehensive sanctions on Iran.
- Doubled the number of border guards on US-Mexico border and increased the number of cameras, drones and planes.
- Wall Street reform.
- Strengthened ethics rules, including banning gifts from lobbyists and ending revolving door practices.
- Expanded the Freedom of Information Act.
- Authorized more nuclear power plants, green and renewable energy initiatives.
- Reformed student loan programs.
- Expanding healthcare coverage to include pre-existing conditions.
Of course, there's more, but these stand out. On a personal note, the pre-existing condition rule being eliminated is going to be what helps me if anything else happens to me later on (and it probably will, won't deny it). I was fortunate to be able to get Medicaid quickly after going completely blind in both of my eyes (due to diabetic retinopathy), and to get my eyes cut on and cleaned out for tens of thousands of dollars each surgery. I agree that people do take advantage of the system, but Romney's ideas would have made it a longer and tougher process for me, when I truly needed to cover those surgeries that allow me to post this to you today, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
There are conspiracy theorists everywhere. People think Obama is a terrorist, just like they found reasons to believe Bush purposely crashed planes into buildings on 9/11. What causes the fear isn't the man, but what surrounds him...and today, it's easy to target Obama as some irate Muslim wanting to crush America as it is for me to tell you that Romney's $2 trillion increase for the military, and the isolation of other countries, was to start a nuclear WW3, to create jobs here and overseas, killing innocents across the world just so our own people can see production go up for weapons, clothes, planes, and military vehicles.
If Obama had bad intentions, he would not have risked doing nothing about those "bad intentions" while in his first term. He has had four years of guaranteed presidency to do all of the bad things people assume he plans on doing...and logically, there's no reason why he would wait for a second term to do them. For all he knew, he could have been on the losing end last night.
Last night, it wasn't about parties, or solely about the economy. It was about consistency. The Republicans may have had a better chance with a different candidate, but Romney wobbled left and right in so many discussions...not wanting to set a date for pulling out of Afghan. (but then decided to in the last debate), not supporting abortion AT ALL earlier in the year (but then changing his mind in the debates), shutting down coal plants years ago (but now he's a "coal guy"), wanting to make drastic cuts in education (but saying education is very important), wanting to give tax cuts across the board (but then saying in the debates he was not cutting taxes for the rich), disagreeing on much of Obama's foreign policy (but then agreeing on 75% of everything in the third debate), saying women's pay was important to him (despite turning his head at the Ledbetter Fair Play Act, and ignoring questions about the pay to talk about just getting them more jobs), and MUCH more. Ryan was the same...changed a lot of ideas because of Romney's flip-flopping, including his Medicare stance (which was a huge reason why a lot of Republicans were upset to hear he was chosen as VP that day).
As someone who covers basketball in the wide world of media, I know that controversy sells. If I wanted attention, I write about the Dallas Cowboys' future being bleak, and then I provide as many Dallas-area football fans with the article. It doesn't mean I necessarily believe it, but it sells. A lot of things that are believed about Obama sell, and that is what makes the media manipulative, in turn hurting our belief in hope and a future. It clouds what we should be seeing, and creates fear to help us seek what we don't necessarily want to see...yet, what seems to be the worst-case scenario. It forces us to be dependent on constant change, to be inpatient.
I never ask anyone to believe what I do, religion or politics. I ask everyone to analyze everything on their own, to think rationally. This idea that Obama is out to obliterate our country has been created as a result of the combination of fear and struggle...and that struggle existed before he took office, even before Bush or Clinton. Sometimes, it hits home...with the disabled, middle class, lower class, immigrants who actually desire to become a true citizen, the women who have been raped, the diabetics who are laid off and eventually have to wait months for their new insurance to cover $300+ of Type 1 diabetic supplies every month, the blue-collar man that works through ruptured discs in his back and vertebrae in his neck because the insurance company won't pay for a surgery until he pays for 52 sessions of physical therapy (out-of-pocket) and unnecessarily goes to a psychologist for a year (to "prepare" him for such a surgery)...that is my father...and it's not that we all feel the same way about Obama, or Romney, or even those around us everyday, we just continually search for answers, and occasionally, we reach too far. What makes us, though, is what we reach FOR, and last night, many Americans reached for patience and consistency, not for hate or urgency, no matter who was on the ballot...even for those voting in Romney because of his beliefs are reaching for a legitimate cause.
Unfortunately, what has truly crippled this country over the last decade has not been Obama's policies, or Bush's war, or a Clinton sex scandal, but the American people's ever-growing pessimism, soaking in negativity for the sake of filling one's interest (and, sometimes, pockets), a two-party system that benefits from the creation of that fear and uncertainty by simply running the opposition into the ground and eliminating any chance of bipartisan productivity we have, transforming our realistic goals into mere hopes and dreams. We are born to make the best of life, to take advantage of such a precious gift, and our country hinges on that. If we don't open our books and turn the pages together, our ability to learn, to grow, and to live together dissolves, and consequently, the true meaning of being free and living the American dream ceases to exit.