President Obama Lays Out Blueprint for America's Future
by Tommy Lee Jenkins, III
Tuesday night, January 24, 2012, President Obama laid out a blueprint for how America should proceed in it's navigation through the current economic downturn we, as a Nation, find ourselves in our current segment of history. This is an election year, and President Obama seems un-phased by the challenging odds of him being re-elected for a second term as President.
And, by all means, should he be phased by the competition which presents itself on the GOP side of the 2012 election?
His opponents for the 2012 Presidential bid are Newt Gingrich (a GOP candidate that claims "conservative values" while leaving one wife on her death bed and offering an open marriage with another) and Mitt Romney (the poster-child of the 1% and thus what is wrong and unfair in the disparities of wealth and prospects in America today).
Nothing needs to be said about the GOP that has not already been said. Newt Gingrich took money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while Americans were being foreclosed upon and struggling to stay afloat. Not to mention that, the last time Newt Gingrich was in power in Congress, he was ousted by his fellow Republicans for ethics violations. There are many assertions that Newt Gingrich makes during his debates, but he backs his assertions with either no evidence or faulty logic, at best. Newt Gingrich is delusional enough to believe that he is adept enough to debate Barack Hussein Obama in a general election in which he would have to appeal to a majority of Americans, including the ones he has shunned and spoke disparagingly during the primaries currently underway.
His GOP opponent, Mitt Romney, released his tax returns (2 years worth) a few hours before the President was due to give his much-anticipated State of the Union address. He made a speech in a venue with a banner in the background that read "Obama Is Not Working". The choice of words is characteristic of Mitt Romney's disconnect to the general population. Case in point: While employment in America is getting better, there are still many Americans who remain unemployed; the sign automatically places Obama as one of the unemployed and stresses Romney as one of the 1%. This is in addition to the fact that Mitt Romney does not feel that $400,000 in speaking fees as being a lot of money; Mitt Romney professing his love of firing people who provides services to him; and paying less than 30% worth of taxes on his income that we have been made aware of. It is left to be said that he may have income that goes untaxed in the Cayman Islands.
It is almost as if President Obama cannot lose this election with competitors like Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. I do not fault the GOP candidates with being who they are. I fault them with being so tone-deaf as to not be aware with the images they are projecting of themselves to America as a whole.
There are some problems I have with President Obama.
1. President Obama has an over-idealistic view of the GOP's willingness to work with both him and the Democrats in order to get America on track and headed in the right direction.
2. President Obama governs more like a conservative Republican (at least the ideals they espouse to be for) than the Republicans themselves and he still chooses to do so despite their constant obstructionism and vehement opposition.
3. President Obama does a poor job of commanding the dissent among Republicans and getting them to put the needs of the Nation above their own self-interests and govern in response to the voiced concerns of their constituency.
4. President Obama does a poor job of marketing his vast accomplishments and explaining to the American people how his decisions are in their best interests.
5. President Obama was far too late in using his bully pulpit to whip the GOP in line with passing legislation that would benefit all Americans.
President Obama hit it out of the park with his 2012 State of the Union address.
President Obama gave the speech of a lifetime in his 2012 State of the Union address. It was a speech that drew stark contrast to his GOP competition. He hit a lot of the points that the GOP candidates avoid speaking about or speak about in such a disconnected nature that one wonders what reality they live in.
President Obama hit the points of killing Osama bin Ladin, saving the American auto industry, providing tax incentives for corporations to create jobs in America, income inequality, enforcing immigration in a responsible way, providing support for veterans, focusing on education and research, diversifying America's energy options, and generally digging America out of the hole we find ourselves in.
Obama needs to continue and intensify the tone he set in the SOTU speech.
Despite the speech and the lack of competition in the GOP, President Obama could still lose his re-election bid. I work at a hotel that has a bar. We get a lot of conservatives and Republicans. Most of which reminisce over President George W. Bush, if you can believe it. In overheard conversations, they lay the blame of them having to lay off workers with President Obama.
Rasmussen states that 48% of Americans believe that Romney would do a better job with the economy while only 39% trust Obama more.
My hope is that the SOTU speech that President Obama gave gives him a much-needed bump and that he manages to maintain that increase in the polls.
Despite my hopes, it seems that President Obama does need to actively pursue his bid at re-election. While America is in a bad place right now, I shudder to think of America with a President Mitt Romney at the helm, or worse, President Newt Gingrich.
I fancy myself as an independent. I do not support President Obama blindly. I just feel that I have been robbed of the choice to select a president due the serious lack of a viable alternative. I am going to vote for President Obama, but it is always nice to have a choice in the matter, instead of the inevitability I find myself with in electing President Obama.
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