It’s less than 60 days until the election, and once again the United States stands at a crossroads. We — both as voters and as the generation that stands to inherit the nation — wield an awesome power and bear a solemn responsibility: We have a choice between sustaining the progress that has been made by President Obama, or letting impatience and apathy guide our vote, undoing the good he’s done in office and sending our country careening backward.
The election of Barack Obama in 2008 felt like a clean break from the destructiveness of the Bush years, and many Americans, I think, were gripped by the belief that Obama’s election was victory in and of itself, rather than the first battle of a longer war to get America back on track — in spite of the euphoria many felt in the wake of his election, it did not wipe America’s problems clean.
The past three years have been a protracted struggle for our president, against deep institutional problems in this country’s economic system, a fractious and ineffective Congress, the shambles that was America’s image abroad, etc., etc,. ad nauseam. This president has been tried in ways that a only handful of leaders in our history have ever been tried, and it seems reasonable to suggest that this alone would qualify President Obama for another term in office, because he, unlike his opponent, understands the burdens of leading a nation (rather than a corporation).
We should also consider Mr. Obama’s record in office — a record that is notable for its glowing achievements and the poor job the Obama Administration has done of touting it — and his opponent Mitt Romney, a strong argument for Obama’s reelection in and of himself.
But first, a few notable items from his record in office:
1. He pushed through and signed the Democrat-sponsored American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as the “stimulus package.” With the passage of the Act, the administration also launched recovery.org, a website where Americans can track spending from the Act. For any of you students who receive Pell Grants or other forms of federal aid, this Act made financial aid more accessible to a greater number of applicants.
2. The Great Recession was costing the economy nearly 800,000 jobs per month by the time President Obama took office. But by the end of his first year, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act created and sustained 2.1 million jobs and stimulated the economy by 3.5 percent.
3. He signed the Democrat-supported Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, restoring basic protections against pay discrimination for women and other workers. (This June, Senate Republicans blocked a pay equity act that would’ve built on the Ledbetter legislation).
4. He signed the Affordable Care Act, which expanded health insurance coverage to 36 million Americans and reformed health insurance, ending common insurance company practices such as denial of coverage to Americans with “pre-existing conditions.” Through the ACA, young persons are covered under their parents’ policy until they turn 26.
5. He rescued the American auto industry from collapse, adding 250,000 jobs since mid-2009.
Also, in spite of the Republican controlled Congress’ unabashed policy of obstructionism — Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was blunt but truthful when he said his party’s top priority was to deny President Obama a second term — the president has still had an unprecedentedly high success rate at getting his legislative goals through Congress: His success rate of 96.7 percent is higher than any presidential success rate ever recorded.
These are just some of President Obama’s domestic achievements, to say nothing of his foreign policy successes (the phrase, “Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive” comes to mind). With a record like this, it is apparent that President Obama’s time in office hasn’t been for naught; to remove Obama from office now seems petty, especially considering that if Mitt Romney wins the White House, we would be ceding complete control of government to the same party that nearly destroyed us.
When paired with the conservative-dominated Supreme Court and the Republican-controlled Congress, a Romney-Ryan White House would complete a right-wing triumvirate the likes of which should never exist in any democracy — turning the U.S. government into a conservative monolith with no pretence of plurality or restraint.
The stakes of this election are so much higher than they were in 2008 — in that election the people were fired up and eager for change, thereby making change certain. Now, in 2012, the American people have grown weary of the partisanship in Washington and impatient for progress — progress that is happening and ongoing, but easy to ignore.
But our generation doesn’t have an excuse. Even though national politics is an ugly thing, we cannot shy from it. Even though the work of rescuing a nation from the point of collapse is tough and arduous, we cannot shirk our responsibilities as citizens. Even though we have our own lives to be concerned with, we cannot allow ourselves to become distracted and apathetic to the issues that will determine the fate of our country.
We hold the power to shape the future of our nation, and that power must be used with wisdom and perspective. We, as a people, are better off now than we were four years ago, and now we have a choice: To continue to strive forward and reach for a better tomorrow, or to turn our backs on progress and trudge wearily backward, into the arms of a ruinous past.
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Apolitical is a blog that covers current events, politics and culture. We’re bringing the world at large to the Malibubble, one post at a time.
– Sienna Jackson: Sienna.Jackson@Pepperdine.edu
