With the turmoil that the world has recently been through, its difficult to measure what positive impact the election of Barack Obama has had. Let's briefly review: While his health care push has experienced serious resistance, he has made some significant accomplishments domestically including instating the financial recovery bill (including 19 billion to modernize health care records), canceling the F22, demanding new auto fuel efficiency standards, and banning space weapon development.
His international rapport is better than any president in the short history of globalization He has worked on reducing the worldwide nuclear stockpile, specifically with Russia and has taken steps to close Guantanamo and has made the right decision to resurge in Afghanistan. Obama's largest impact is likely to come from his ability to inspire, such as his speeches such as setting a new world order at the United Nations or speaking directly to the Muslim world. Instead of waiting to see what history makes of the man who promised to bring change, we should take more personal responsibility to carry on the momentum.
3 comments:
Basically, all the things he did right are things for which there was already a substantial base of support among many politicians and people. He didn't make any changes that Hillary Clinton or John Edwards or any other democratic candidate wouldn't have. Basically, it seems there have been some changes because an unpolished, neo-conservative of dubious intellect no longer has final say. The emphasis should be on your final statement, that, whoever the president, if enough people want something and say something, politicians are forced to make changes.
Also, what steps has he taken to close Guantanamo? How significant was the reduction of nuclear weapons (beyond symbolic)? What is the evidence that a "surge" is/was the right decision in Afghanistan (how would the decision to simply leave compare? - do we know the answer to either of these questions?)? There is certainly a lot of evidence that suggests getting our military out of a country whose majority wants us out is a good idea. Or does Obama and America just know better than Afghans when it comes to what they really need?
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