President Barack Obama (left) and Mitt Romney
During this week’s debate, Mitt Romney got a few things right about President Obama. Obama promised to reform the United States’ immigration policies during his first term. He hasn’t. He promised to improve the economy and cut down the deficit. He failed to meet his goals. At best, he scores a C+ on the economy.
But Obama has shown that he does want to do what’s best for America. Four years ago, it was dangerous for an American abroad to say that they were American. Now, being “American” is no longer a slur.
If there is anything Obama is guilty of, it’s being too ambitious during his first term. He lost his way a bit during the healthcare debate and saw many of his strongest allies elected out of Congress, but that has given insight. He refocused his vision. And being too ambitious is never a bad thing if you work hard.
In an unstable time like this, it’s better to stick with President Obama, someone whose record and stances we know and can be sure of, than to switch to someone like Mitt Romney, who has changed his stances on important issues, such as healthcare multiple times and lacks a clearly defined plan. We need a leader not only good enough to fix the economy, as Romney has argued that he would be the better choice, but strong in other aspects of running the country as well. Mr. Romney would be a great CEO to run a multi-billion company, but not a well-rounded leader to be the president of the United States.
Though President Obama hasn’t accomplished all of his goals for his first term, he has shown us that he is sincere and will work his hardest. Real immigration reform has stalled, but his administration announced that it would stop the deportation of young undocumented immigrants eligible for the DREAM act. The economy is not fully recovered, but it has been getting better.
He has also delivered on many of his other promises, such as lowering taxes for the middle class, making education more affordable for everyone, and creating a more open and publicly-accessible government.
He has also been very attentive of minority communities. Not only has his cabinet consisted of many minority members (Secretaries Ken Salazar, Gary Locke, Hilda Solis, Steven Chu, Eric Shinseki, and Eric Holder), he also nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court and has filled the sub-cabinet levels of his staff with many minority members.
Barack Obama has not been the perfect president. But, given what he was faced with when he took office, he has done a good job. Though there are a few big goals he has left unfinished, he has accomplished many of his smaller ones. On the goals he has yet to accomplish, he has shown strength, initiative, and resolve. This is a fragile time for America, and during a fragile time, we need a president who we know and can count on. Barack Obama is that president. (end)