President Obama (Round 2)

jamin | October 23, 2012 | 0 Comments

It’s now a year since President Obama got reelected. Sadly, things this time around for him are worse than before. The backside of the recession hit, we’ve lost jobs and are now going through what Europe is digging its way out of. Gas prices are back down and I’m still employed, but many are not. Republicans are piling on Obama saying that his policies haven’t worked. He’s rightly calling them out and telling them that it’s time to enact his policies they have been blocking for four years. They are not so much the Party of No now, but more the Party of No, But We Need To Get This Thing Together. They are still trying to do things to make sure they win at the end of the day, but people are starting to notice chinks in the armor. I mean, if something didn’t work for four years to make Obama lose and the new Tea Party representatives were largely sent back home, what more can you do? The party seems split over what to do, though, which I think is good for them to get some distance, reflect, and decide who and what they’re going to be. They’re unified, all right, in many things, but these last few years seemed to break them slightly. More GOPers are turning Independent.

Romney got a new gig as a pundit for anyone who’ll listen. It’s the same rhetoric from his campaign about regulations, tax relief, etc. Fortunately, there are policies being put into place thanks to a Democratic majority in the House and Senate.

We have a path forward with a budget. The ceiling on Social Security was raised, so it’s solvent for the next 25 years. Medicare underwent some changes and Obamacare is well on its way to being implemented (people like the benefits of the law and all the “The Sky Will Fall” people are being disproved, but we will await post-2014 for more results). The previous de-funding efforts failed. Education is also being revamped by getting non-education people out of it, and emphasis on family and community involvement (along with adequate funding) is finally taking the forefront. The Respect for Marriage Act is on its way to replacing DOMA, which the Supreme Court upheld as unconstitutional based on the findings of lower courts. And, true to his word, Obama did not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. The GOP in Congress are appearing to work more willingly with Obama, and he, in turn, has let down his guard some to grease some palms and work with them.

Unfortunately, all this progress hasn’t broken the rhetoric from those pundits, representatives, and Senators who angle for camera time. There have been calls for literal militia uprisings to take over the government. Fox News is even worse than before. They just outright lie now even when people bring on-air proof of facts. There have been calls to repeal the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments and the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act because apparently everyone’s rights are enshrined in the Constitution if you look hard enough. Obama has more protection that any previous President – again. No one wants to call attacks against him based on race, but it’s worse than before. I’m honestly concerned for his safety, but his life is not in my hands.

We are almost to January 2014 and have to contend with mid-term elections and the new candidates for 2016’s Presidential Elections. This is all so very headache-inducing. It was nice to get a year off from this drama in spite of the many ups and downs we’re experiencing. (Some tax breaks for the middle class wound up getting axed, but the rich are back to Clinton-era tax rates. Someone finally said the other day on the news that if a rich person wanted to decrease their tax burden [which most don’t care about if they’re rich enough], they should hire more people to have a lower taxable income.) The GOP field is already lining up with heavy-hitters who will announce their candidacy in early January. The Democratic field is lining up as well. Hillary has not completely ruled out running, but she has to make a decision soon to get the energy going.

In any case, I’m observing this from afar as I’ve become an expatriate now with no plans to return for a few years.