In 2008, I was in the 7th grade and did not support President Barack Obama. As a 13-year-old boy who did not know a lot about politics, I managed to abide by three reasons not support Obama. First, I believed he was inexperienced; he only served for three years in the Senate, not even one term, whereas John McCain had years of experience in the Senate. Second, claiming to be an independent and with everyone around me supporting Obama, I thought I had to support McCain to ensure that I was not consumed by the fervor. Finally, I had the uneasy feeling that the issue of race was coming into an election that should not have contained it.
In 2012, four years later, four years older and now realizing the breadth of the crisis that was consuming us in 2008, I am a proud supporter of Obama. However, I feel the tables have completely turned around me. Upon leisurely walking along South’s hallways, I hear of much disappointment in Obama and the current conditions America faces. The once fervent supporters of Obama who ran down the hallways of my middle school chanting “Obama! Obama!” have become completely disinterested in this race and are now convinced it is a race between a bad President and a ludicrous candidate.
When we look around, we see a nation on its knees after a decade of pain. We came out of the 20th century as the strongest nation on Earth only to be consumed by crisis after crisis. A nation once boasting of its political freedoms saw the Supreme Court decide the election of 2000 between George W. Bush and Al Gore. A nation once proud of the strongest economy in the world saw the Great Recession tear apart the industry, economy, jobs and 401Ks. A nation once proud of the most educated citizens of the world has seen scores slip on the lists and education costs increase dramatically. A nation once consumed by a decade of peace, we have been embroiled in two wars in the Middle East. A nation faced with a debt crisis watches as its legislature is torn in partisan upheaval.
After this decade of awe-striking destruction, one man is turning around the ship of state, Obama. Despite facing a Tea Party rise, showdowns with the Supreme Court and special interests, the greatest economic recession since the Great Depression, two wars and a chain of revolutions in the Middle East, Obama has sailed the course.
If anyone tells you Obama is not getting anything accomplished in the White House, they are severely incorrect. In the midst of a recession, Obama and his team stopped the bleeding and prevented an economic depression. He saved the auto industry and did the necessary restructuring to build what has the potential to become a booming manufacturing industry. Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which for the first time gave the FDA the power to regulate the tobacco industry. He has done what Presidents have failed to do since the 1960s, maneuver through Congress the Affordable Care Act, the most important piece of health care legislation since Lyndon Johnson’s Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. The Affordable Care Act should not be underestimated as an accomplishment. Health care is one of the hardest issues to ever undertake. To do so, you need to fight nearly every special interest in the book, and Obama did just that. The act will close the Medicare doughnut hole, make healthcare more affordable, stop the discrimination of Americans with preexisting conditions, and make it more universal than ever before.
Obama has also cut taxes for those who need it, the middle and lower classes. He has reinstated regulations on Wall Street (even though they are not as comprehensive as I would like them to be). Obama repealed “Don’t Ask; Don’t Tell,” the final step in a long process allowing homosexuals to openly serve in the military. He ended the war in Iraq and rightfully turned attention to the people who murdered three thousand Americans on Sept. 11, 2001. Obama devastated the Al Qaeda leadership and developed a mission to kill Osama Bin Laden. He repaired our diplomatic relations with the world, earning him the Nobel Peace Prize and making him the third sitting President to receive the award.
If Obama has done a bad job at anything, it has been informing the American people of his accomplishments. Many Presidents would only wish they could have a record as great as Obama’s.
Of course the issue people worry most about is the economy. What is Obama’s record there? First, I would like to point out that with the collapse of the financial and housing industries, we were plunged into the worst recession since the Great Depression and that took a decade to pull out of. Nevertheless, we are persevering. Obama has overseen the creation of five million jobs, more jobs than Bush oversaw during his Presidency, which occurred predominantly before the recession. I do not like the conditions we are in and you should not either, but we are making strides toward progress.
On Nov. 6th, the nation’s fate will be in the people’s hands. I cannot vote, as I am only 16 years old, but many of you can. Is America better than it was four years ago? Is America being led by a better leader than it was four years ago? The answer is undoubtedly yes. We cannot afford to elect a President whose party spent eight years fumbling through crisis after crisis.
My fellow Americans, we simply cannot go back. Pull out your “Hope” poster, lift up your spirits, and go to the ballot box on November 6th. The election of 2012 is not merely an election, it is a crusade to restore America to the people and to restore this great nation to what we used to be and could be again. Let us move forward as a nation. Vote Obama.
You are the champion of our generation