Monday, November 5, 2012

The Hope and Change Is Staring You in the Face

It is not uncommon to hear pundits and journalists lament about the promised hope and change that they imply may not have materialized during Obama’s first term.


But the hope and change are right there for all to see. Could anyone imagine a greater change from Bush 43 than Obama?

• Ending the war in Iraq while killing Osama Bin Laden and reversing the destructive course of the neoconservatives.

• Historic health care reform which curbed the worst abuses of health insurance companies and expanded insurance coverage to 30 million additional Americans (by 2014).

• Reforming Wall Street to reduce the risk of another financial meltdown—180 degrees from Republican ideological opposition to regulation.

• Equal pay for women and expanded civil rights for gays, vigorously opposed by Republicans.

The change couldn’t be clearer, and it is for the better. Yes, there’s still Guantanamo, financial reform could have been stronger and it would have been great to get the public option. But we all know the political climate that the president faced. These were impressive legislative victories in the face of the Republican money machine and we can build on them.

The president’s record gives us hope. He has indeed delivered. And what kind of hope would there be under Mitt Romney? Economic, social and environmental policies of the 1920s. America cannot afford four to eight years of regression and re-application of discredited policies.

We need to keep going forward with the hope and the change offered by President Obama.