This is the second time we have endorsed Obama for president. Our recommendation this time is perhaps a bit less hopeful, but a great deal more informed than that of 2008. Obama was something of an empty vessel back then, allowing both his supporters and detractors to project onto him their greatest hopes and fears.
Four years later, we know Obama is not a terrorist-coddling socialist. Nor is he a transcendent figure able to bring unity to Washington, D.C. and our nation. He is a pragmatist willing to accept the best deal available. And, he is a politician who, like many politicians, promised more during his campaign than he was able to deliver.
In October 2008, our nation was bogged down in two unpopular wars and our economy was in a tailspin, shedding jobs at an alarming rate that required emergency measures, taken first under George W. Bush and then Obama, to prevent a deep depression. That was good news for candidate Obama, but later presented an enormous challenge for President Obama.
Now, Hope and Change has been replaced by It Could Have Been Worse. And the truth is, it very well could have been much worse. After 23 consecutive months of jobs gains, the unemployment rate finally dropped below 8 percent in September. While the economic recovery has not been swift or robust, it has been steady. And Obama's policies in rescuing the auto industry and propping up local economies
through the stimulus bill have contributed to that steady growth.Obama's signature policy achievement in his first term, the Affordable Care Act, is a microcosm of all that has happened in Washington since he took office. It was passed without a single Republican vote. The original foundation of the bill, a government option for health insurance, was scrapped at the insistence of moderate Democrats. The bill was likely responsible for the rise of the Tea Party and the Republican wave of 2010.
Yet many of the bill's provisions, like protection for those with pre-existing conditions and the ability of young adults to remain on their parent's plan until age 26, have grown more popular over time.
Presidential elections are a choice, not a referendum. The other choice this year is Mitt Romney, a flawed candidate who was the last man standing after a Republican primary in which the best and brightest of the party chose to sit this one out. That left it to the likes of Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, as GOP voters lurched from one to another in an anyone-but-Romeny parade. In the end, they settled for Romney.
Romney has offered a tax plan that doesn't add up, and an immigration policy that would be disastrous for New Mexico, saying he wants to use Arizona's law as a model for the nation. He advocated letting the auto industry go bankrupt and has selected for his running mate the architect of a plan to turn Medicare into a vouchers program.
We believe the country has turned the corner and is heading in the right direction under Obama. Given the intentional vagueness of his proposals and his many reversals on core positions, we're not sure which direction Romney would lead us.
Source: http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_21759576/u-s-president-our-choice-barack-obama?source=rss_viewed
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