Recently, comedians have been having a nice laugh over President Obama's supposed lack of accomplishments. SNL, Conan, even Jon Stewart have taken their licks. His supporters can't be too thinned skinned after dishing jokes out to George Bush for so many years. While we can have a laugh over the jokes, we must also remember that the digs have no merit.
I'm not sure how the "lack of accomplishments" impression got formed. Maybe it is because the President is faced with problems that simply can't be solved quickly. The economy is not going to turnaround quickly from a two year recession no matter what steps are taken. Similarly, peace in the the middle east and a reduction global warming are goals that will not, and cannot, be completed in a few months or even a few years. The very nature of the challenges the President has taken on are ones that can only be partially met 9 months into office. Maybe it was that the President dared to enunciate lofty goals, even when he knew they could not be easily achieved. Maybe opponents decried "he's done nothing" so many times that people just started believing it.
Whatever the reason, the President deserves credit for tackling the major problems of our day and making real progress on many fronts. Below is a short list of accomplishments. Suffice to say, I could have gone on much longer but there are enough bullet points to show clearly and concisely that the guys done a lot.
Economy
Here's a simple summation– “He saved the economy from economic collapse.” How about a slightly longer one - “After a nearly a two year recession, and two years of total inaction, Obama steered the economy back to growth in only 9 months.” Here are the particulars:
· Developed and passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.. Even the Wall-Street Journal admits that the Recovery Act worked and independent audits suggest there is little or no fraud. Most Americans got a tax break. If you or know someone who is getting extended unemployment insurance or COBRA, you can thank this Act. See all that construction on the streets? Thank the Recover Act for that as well. You can debate how well the Act worked, but you can't debate that it did. You can debate how many jobs the Act created, buy you can't debate that it created or saved many, many jobs. As important is the fact that the projects funded by the Recovery Act will have a multiplier effect. For example, the investment in computerizing medical records creates jobs now and reduced medical costs long term.
· The "Making Home Affordable" home refinancing plan allows people in trouble with their mortgage to refinance at lower payments and rates. 500,000 people have refinanced.
· The President signed the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, expanding on the Making Home Affordable Program to help millions of Americans avoid preventable foreclosures, providing $2.2 billion to help combat homelessness , and helping to stabilize the housing market for everybody.
· The President launched a $15 billion plan to boost lending to small businesses.
The President sighed the first time homeowner tax credit and cash for clunkers.
· The President signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act to protect Americans from unfair and deceptive credit card practices.
Civil Rights
- The President signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, restoring basic protections against pay discrimination for women and other workers.
Health Care
- Reform bills have passed every committee in both houses of Congress. No other President has pushed reform this far.
- The President signed the Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act, which provides quality health care to 11 million kids – 4 million who were previously uninsured.
- The Recover Act:
- Protects health coverage for 7 million Americans who lose their jobs through a 65 percent COBRA subsidy to make coverage affordable.
- Invests $19 billion in computerized medical records that will help to reduce costs and improve quality while ensuring patients’ privacy.
- Provides $1 billion for prevention and wellness to improve America’s health and help to reduce health care costs;
- Provides $1.1 billion for research to give doctors tools to make the best treatment decisions for their patients by providing objective information on the relative benefits of treatments; and
- Provides $500 million for health workforce to help train the next generation of doctors and nurses.
Foreign Policy:
- Won the Nobel Peace Prize for putting diplomacy back on the table.
- First U.S. President to address the Muslim/Arab world directly
- Appointed Special Envoys for Climate Change, Southwest Asia, the Middle East, Sudan, and a Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
- Improved relationships with China and Russia
- Won commitments from Russia on tougher sanctions with Iran.
- Ended the expensive, ineffective and diplomatically disastrous missile program in Europe.
- Re-started nuclear non-proliferation talks
- Re-started talks between Israel and Palestine
- Had the U.S. join the U.N. Human Rights Commission
- Helped save the Turkey/Armenia peace agreement.
Hiring the Most Qualified Senior Staff that is Also the Most Diverse Group
Obama’s senior staff is generally acknowledged to be one of the most impressive, smartest, and qualified groups in presidential history. Here’s a fact – they are also the most diverse. He’s picked more women and minorities than any other president.
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