I know that conservatives are going to hate Obama regardless of what he does. There’s nothing that can be done about that. Obama can make the country 100 times better to live in and they’d hate him for it. I am not going to debate that with conservatives cause that’s what they do. I gave Bush a shot, I gave him a lot of shots actually… I thought he was good for the job of dealing with 9/11. Fail. I thought he might be telling the truth about Iraq. Fail. I even thought maybe a businessman might be able to run the country better than a politician money-wise, boy can that boy prove me wrong. I don’t expect the same sort of opportunity given to Obama from the other side.
That being said. One thing you must admit from whatever side you come from is that President Obama has done one thing far better than most presidents of recent memory. He has been doing what he actually said that he’d do. Many of his big campaign promises he has already gotten underway. Financial Stimulus package, check. Closing Guantanamo, check. Withdraw from Iraq, timeline set. Increase troops in Afghanistan, check. Trim the fat, plan set. Undo the stem cell ban, check. Open and honest, so far so good.
The main things that I see that he hasn’t completed out of his bigger campaign promises yet are tax breaks for the middle class (which I don’t consider the stimulus return to be part of since everyone gets that), health care reform (which he has been starting to work on), energy independence (which there was money for in the stimulus but there needs to be solid rules put into place as well), and more stringent rules on lending institutions.
But the important thing to note really is that Barack Obama has only been in office for less than three months already and I feel that he has done more to fulfill his promises than the last three presidents combined. Considering the margin of his victory in November, I would say then that this is pretty good news. People voted for his vision, and surprise surprise he is actually fulfilling it. He brought a lot of hope in his campaign, and it is good to know that he is filling it.
That being said, I’ve never actually believed in his stimulus plan exactly. I agree with the idea behind it, I just don’t agree with how it has been put in. I do agree that if the economy fails, the government needs to step in to fill in otherwise we would free fall forever. That theory, I believe, is correct. However, much of the stimulus budget never really fell in line with that. Like the tax breaks for new home owners (which may further cause people to buy houses they shouldn’t) and just general tax breaks all around. I don’t think that giving me an extra $400 will help the economy at all. I probably won’t even spend it. It will help me catch up on my account however which may be part of it. I just don’t think the people who are foreclosing are really going to be helped by $400.
Still, President Obama even with the stimulus has been a breath of fresh air. Much better than the “do nothing but attack” policy that we’ve been living with for eight years now.