In 2008, the election of Barack Obama as president was a crippling blunder of which Americans have felt the sting.In hopes of change and salvation from the mess they felt they were in, American citizens elected a leader who has been the most devastating, self-inflicted blow our country has ever faced.And now, as the 2012 election commences, many wonder if Obama will maintain his grasp on the White
When Obama first took office, the unemployment rate was close to 7.7 percent.But as of 2012 it is 8.5 percent.This is a .8 percent increase, but that doesn’t include the terrible rates that bounced up and down and then even farther up throughout the past four years.The average unemployment rate under the Obama administration has been about 9 to 9.4 percent.But this isn’t exactly an accurate percentage either.This does not count the newly graduated students who have never been employed or the citizens who have given up looking for work.This could attribute to his 17.3 percent approval rating drop as of January 2012.
Obama has given his best at the presidential seat and it’s time to pass the bat to a player that can at least hit the ball.The American people have seen what Obama can accomplish and as a whole they are unhappy about it.His so called “achievements” have barely scraped the edges of the great accomplishments this country’s leaders have attained.His experiences, though trialing, have not rivaled him in the eyes of Americans as someone who can lead them through these dark times.Especially since many see him as the key creator of it.The approval of the picky American population is vital.And as aforementioned, Obama just doesn’t have it.Even if the approval rating were different and Obama had accomplished something better, no president since FDR has won a re-election with the unemployment rate as high as the U.S.’s is right now.Overall, his 2012 campaign promises nothing better than has already been given.
Just recently, Obama rejected the TransCanada permit application to construct a 1,700 mile long pipeline from Alberta, Canada to Texas.This pipeline would bring 700,000 barrels of oil per day and would directly create 20,000 jobs during construction and is estimated that by 2032 would have made 179,000 American jobs.By discarding this option, Obama has directly turned his back against an opportunity to do something truly great to help this country.He has angered many people over this decision as well.The Democratic House members even sent him a letter in opposition.Other presidential opponents expressed their opinion over his decision as well.Newt Gingrich told press that this decision was a “stunningly stupid thing to do” and Mitt Romney voiced that if people wanted to know why the unemployment rate was over 8%, that decisions like this one were the places to blame.They are right.By saying that this pipeline is not in the “national interest”, Obama demonstrates an absence of seriousness about lowering unemployment rates, reestablishing the growth of our economy, and attaining energy independence.
Since January 2009, the debt of our country has increased by $4.212 trillion.That is more than the total debt of the first 41 US presidents together. From George Washington to George H. W. Bush, they only accumulated $4.1672 trillion.Were Obama’s spending trend of $4.27 billion a day to continue, at the end of his four years he would have increased the debt of America by $6.2 trillion.This hardly follows his 2009 campaign promise where he vowed to be cutting more than he was spending.
Perhaps, President Obama could have focused more on the problems he inherited with office instead of concentrating on things that didn’t matter as much, and consequently ended up worsening the existing problems.Time and time again Obama has been given the opportunity to pull the country out of the slums and he has yet to take that opportunity.Obama in no way rivals the greats of this country and his time in office has proven his inadequacy.Therefore, the likelihood of him maintaining his position is minimal, and is in no way even discussable.The American people are scared and others may say Obama would sound like a safe bet because citizens are familiar with how he is in office. But Obama isn’t a safe bet.He’s a dangerous one.