President Obama is the Best Option to Continue American Progress

President Barack Obama

Are we better off than we were four years ago?  The Republican Party repeatedly uses this mantra as an attack on the first term of President Barack Obama, but the truth is, there has been progress made both domestically and abroad during the first term of President Obama and it would be unwise to change course now.

At the time of President Obama's Inauguration in January of 2009, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 7,949.  As I am writing this, the Dow Jones Average is 13,093.  The economy has enjoyed 32 consecutive months of private sector job growth and the National Unemployment Rate is under 8% for the first time in four years.  General Motors went from bankruptcy to leading the world in automobile sales.  Every President from Dwight Eisenhower on has attempted to pass health care reform, President Barack Obama was able to make it a reality and as a result millions of Americans will now have access to health insurance.

When President Obama came into office, Osama Bin Laden had been America's Most Wanted for nearly eight years and was still on the loose.  At the time, Presidential Candidate, Mitt Romney said "It’s not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person."  President Obama instead took the fight to al Qaeda and on May 1, 2011 he delivered the message that millions of Americans and many around the world had been waiting to hear, Osama Bin Laden was dead.  Killed in a mission by Navy Seal Team 6 into Pakistan on the command of President Obama.  President Obama has ended the war in Iraq and has put in a place an exit strategy for full American withdrawal from Afghanistan.  

All of this, and more, has been accomplished under the Administration of President Barack Obama with little or no help from the Republicans in Congress.  On the night of Obama's Inauguration, a group of prominent Republicans met at the Caucus Room (a high-end Washington D.C. establishment) including Representatives Eric Cantor (Va.), Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), Paul Ryan (Wis.), Pete Sessions (Texas), Jeb Hensarling (Texas), Pete Hoekstra (Mich.) and Dan Lungren (Calif.), along with Republican Senators Jim DeMint (S.C.), Jon Kyl (Ariz.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), John Ensign (Nev.) and Bob Corker (Tenn.).  Also involved in the meeting were Newt Gingrich, several years removed from his presidential campaign, and Frank Luntz, the long-time Republican wordsmith.  At that meeting those lawmakers put together a plan to put the brakes on any piece of legislation put forward by President Obama.  One look at the number of filibusters filed by the Republicans since Obama took office shows just this, in each of the three sessions of Congress during the Obama Administration, Republicans have filed well over 100 motions to block Democratic-led legislation.  Never before has a Congress filed over 100, the previous high was 82 from the 104th Congress, also by Republicans, during President Clinton's Administration.  Also, in October of 2010, Senator Mitch McConnell, the head of the Senate Republicans stated that his "top priority over the next two years is to deny President Obama a second term."  This is a classic case of putting party over country and shows the climate in which President Obama has had to work. 

It's time to send a message to our lawmakers in Washington that is is time to play nice and work together to continue to move our country forward.  It is with this sentiment that we here at LCFM endorse President Barack Obama for a second-term as President of the United States of America.  A term in which our country can focus on continued growth without partisan politicking.