Barack Obama for President in 2012

The nightmare for some, comedy for others, generally referred to as the 2012 Republican primary for President of the United States, is finally almost over. With victories in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington, D.C. on Tuesday of this week, Governor Romney, short of being disclosed as the father of three illegitimate children, is the presumptive Republican candidate for President in 2012. So, let’s take a moment from the Republican campaign trail to look at the other side of the aisle, so to speak.

The right wing in America rants against President Obama, calling him a socialist. The left wing in America bellows that he is a sell-out and tries too hard to compromise with Republicans and their Wall Street keepers and independents just think the President lacks courage. The noise is everywhere and it is at such a fever pitch that now the common held beliefs are that Democrats are disappointed in the Obama administration and that the Independent voter is even more disillusioned. As for the Republicans, well they have worked themselves, as is normal for them, into an almost apocalyptic fever.

And while this is a common occurrence during the last year of any President’s first term and that first term presidents running for re-election always get attacked viscerally by the opposition, it seems that this time around, the complaints, charges, criticisms and even the outlandish lies are more prevalent than in any prior race for the White House.

The fact that unemployment is still at a stubborn but remarkable high level and that the national debt is also setting historical records fosters a political environment in which criticism of this administration has been, and on some level should be, fierce. In fact, I understand exactly why the right is so enraged and the left is so demoralized. There is enough bad news to upset even the strongest Obama supporter.

Once we have gotten all of our disappointments off our collective chests however, the reality is that both the right and left analysis of this administration’s performance over the past three years is just simply wrong. Despite the rhetoric ranging from the sarcastic to the vile, the reality that is left for us to deal with is that President Obama has performed admirably, given the state of the Union when he was inaugurated.

There have been instances over the past three years where I have disagreed with the Obama administration. Some of those disagreements have found their way into posts to this blog. I was disappointed that the President did not accept the Bowles-Simpson debt commission findings as warm heartedly as I thought he should have and I have been terribly disappointed that the perpetrators of Bush-era war crimes have not been brought to justice, but given the state of the American economy since before he took office, it seems to me that what the Obama administration has accomplished balanced against what it promised coming into office, demonstrates that the President has delivered in a way that right wing nuts and left wing purists cannot grasp because of their own deep-rooted silliness. Their endless whining has kept them from appreciating the work that this administration has only begun and why it needs four more years to build on the successes of the first four years. As critical as his election was in 2008, the re-election of Barack Obama is even more essential for 2012 if this country is ever to complete its recovery from the Republican forged economic debacle of the George W. Bush era.

Those who oppose him from the right claim that President Obama has governed as a radical socialist attempting to implement a “fundamental transformation” of the American way of life. Governor Romney has accused the President, whenever he can take time to beat back his Republican opponents, of wanting to turn America into a “European welfare state.” He has pointed his finger at the President claiming that be does not believe in free enterprise and that he has no real understanding of how a capitalist economy is supposed to function and most of all, he riles the President for apologizing for America around the world while simultaneously appeasing our enemies. According to Romney, the President is a mortal threat to “the soul” of America and is an “empty suit” who couldn’t run a business, let alone a country.

Here is what actually happened: when Obama assumed the presidency, our economy was losing some 750,000 jobs each month. The last quarter of FY2008 saw an annualized plummeting of job growth near nine percent. This was the most dramatic drop since the 1930s and there was the real danger of a systemic collapse of the entire global financial system. Added to that was the frightening possibility that unemployment and debt were about to get a lot worse. Even the most virile right wing nut who carries picket signs depicting Obama as Hitler or the devil cannot blame President Obama for the economic earthquake that fully erupted in 2007 and wreaked havoc on the American family through 2008-2009 resulting in after-shocks through 2010 and most of 2011—that have only recently begun to subside. Economies in general and the American one in particular take time to change course.

Upon being sworn into office, Obama went right to work. He continued the bank bailout that had begun under his predecessor, he implemented a bailout of the American auto industry and he worked hard to push a stimulus package of more than $780 million through Congress.

Despite the howling from the right, these decisions and actions were far more successful than anyone has yet to give the Obama administration credit for. The monitoring of the number of job losses each month has now been transformed into an assessment of job gains each month, with Republicans still screaming that the increase in employment is not enough—a point never disputed by the President.

Since the stimulus began to finally impact the jobs market, America has added 2.4 million Americans to payrolls across the country. Again, that is not enough, but it is far better than what Romney would have you believe and even more importantly these jobs represent more than the net jobs created under the entire Bush administration! Just this past year, 1.9 million private-sector jobs were created, while a net 280,000 government jobs were lost. Overall government employment has declined almost three percent over the past three years. Listening to the Republican wannabes on the campaign trail would make one think the opposite is true, but the facts are indisputable.

I admit it, I am biased. Anyone who knows me recognizes that I am an Obama supporter—not an apologist—but a steadfast supporter. This President has conducted himself with a sense of grace and calm that even when a member of the U.S. Congress shouted him down as a liar during a STOU address he failed to lose his cool. I have a fundamental belief in the intelligence and common sense of Americans, and it is my hope that enough of us will come to recognize the need to keep President Barack Obama in office for four more years, letting him finish what he has started.

Next week, let’s talk geo-politics...