No one can deny that the country had severe problems that
were developing just as Obama was coming into office. Obama took charge of a mess and started work
on our recovery. The whole economy is
connected and each job created or lost has an impact on all things
economic. We know that consumer
confidence is tied to job security which is linked the GDP which affects stock
prices and so on. With the housing
market bubble busting and sending the banks in a downward spiral caused by junk
bonds, credit default swaps and the “overrating” mortgage backed security scandal,
Obama was walking into a perfect storm of economic collapse. Then of
course the property tax crisis hit pushing cities, counties and municipalities
to the brink of bankruptcy due the lack of revenue caused by the housing market
crash. This in turn resulted in millions
of police officers, fire fighters, teachers and other public service personnel
being laid off, down sized, retrenched and furloughed. Record high job losses and the fall of Lehman
Brothers and a slew of other banks infected by the toxic assets and irresponsible
and unethical investment risks all threatened to turn America “the super-power”
into a failed nation. All this while we
were engaged in two wars and al-Qaeda
continued to transmit threatening messages reminding us of the 911 tragedy that
was yet to be properly avenged.
Good Americans
were losing their pensions and life savings; coming out of retirement to make
ends meet. The auto industry was failing
and people were faced with the reality of having to start over, again. All this and the first Black President
elected in the history of our nation just now walking into his new job at the
white house. Let us not forget that he
had taken on the job as President at some considerable risk to himself. Let us make no mistake there is no shortage
of people who would like to take a shot at President Obama. Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William
McKinley and John F. Kennedy are the assassinated presidents to date. Even Reagan, now remembered so fondly, was
almost assassinated while in office. There
are threats made, plans formulated and schemes being hatched to harm the president
all the time. And all this just from the
Americans for whom he has vowed to serve. I do not know if there are any checkable stats
but I am sure the secret service has never worked so hard. It
goes without saying that there is much personal risk involved with being
elected President of the United States of America. But he accepted the challenge and he has endured
to this point striving to bring back some dignity to the office that was
somewhat eroded with his predecessor.
The banks have
been stabilized and are profitable again, the stock markets has regained much
of the loses, the car industry has rebounded, thanks to the bridge loan, and
the housing market is no longer hemorrhaging equity. We have had thirty straight months of job
growth yielding 4.6 million new private sector jobs. The war in Iraq is over and we are winding things
down in Afghanistan. The healthcare bill,
with its imperfections, will save families from financial ruin making healthcare
“affordable.” He passed the Lilly Ledbetter act and won the Noble Peace
prize for his efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation
between peoples. A lot of Americans do
not feel Obama has worked hard enough on job creation. But let us not forget the “Tea Party” wing of
the Republican Party that has refused to compromise on anything and stifled every
effort he made on jobs for the last two years.
Yes he is our first Black President and many people disagree with
him. But he tried under extraordinarily
difficult circumstances. He said he would
lead and he did. He said he would bring
us justice for 911 and he has. I can
live with that. Nobody is perfect but I
give him a nine out of ten for effort.
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