By: Toby Schill
In 2008 Barak Obama was elected as the 45th president of the United States of America. The two republican candidates who ran against him in 2008 and 2012, John McCain and Mitt Romney, did not have a chance and were crushed at the election. Most people had high hopes for the future of this country when they elected Obama.
Unlike his predecessor, Obama is a very smart, highly educated and above all has good common sense, integrity and decency. He hit the ground running, getting more done in 3 months than George W. in 8 years, with the exception of the two wars he, needlessly, plunged our country in, if you call that work. It’s actually what I call “negative work” or bad work. More on that in another article.
Mr. Obama was decisive in saving General Motor, and AIG Insurance Co., and others. He basically saved the economy in this country from a total collapse that was eminent had George Bush stayed for one more year. Much to the Republicans’ dismay, he was doing great and his popularity was on the rise. Instead of helping him move this country forward, they tried and succeeded to a certain extent, to put every obstacle in his way so he will fail in his mission. They were vocal and open about their evil scheme, and didn’t care if the whole country knows about it. They publicly announced, shortly after Obama’s winning the 2008 election, that their only mission is, not to save this country’s economy or cooperate with the newly elected president, but to make Mr. Barak Obama a one-term president. Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show, I hope Obama fails.
To achieve their objective and accomplish their goal, they opposed this president in everything he does, and ridiculed every idea he comes up with, even if it’s one of their own. They have managed to slow down the recovery of the economy to a degree that got some people frustrated and angry. Unfortunately, some people look only at the results with no consideration to the cause of those results. Imagine if you were going to work one day and had a flat tire on the way. You stop on the side of the road, change the tire and proceed to your work place. When you arrive, your boss yells at you for being late, and when you tell him that you had a flat tire, he says, I don’t care, you’re late.
In 2010, we’ve had the “mid-term election”. The economy was improving, but not as fast as some people wanted. It’s a problem!! What to do? What to do? I Know, I know. Let’s bring back the people who put us in this big mess back, because the people who are leading us to the recovery are not moving fast enough. This is what I call “the moronic solution”. The Republicans managed to win the majority of the House of Representatives’ seats, making the job of the president even more difficult.
The president of the United States or any president of any country in the world has to work on two fronts simultaneously. The domestic front; meaning the economy and the country’s local issues. And the foreign front; simply dealing with other countries. Mr. Obama, like all his predecessors and all those that will follow, made many promises. He managed to accomplish many of the domestic goals, but thanks to the Republicans, he was forced to put on his turtle shoes instead of his rabbit shoes. However, when it comes to the foreign policy, he failed miserably. Only one of his promises was accomplished on his watch, which is ending the war in Iraq. On the surface, this sounds like a great step for both the US and Iraq, but if you think about it, it was a disaster for both. The abrupt withdrawal of the American troops from Iraq caused more ciaos in the country causing the killing of a large number of people. That was bad for Iraq but why was it bad for the US. Here’s why:
The number one enemy to the United States is not Iran or Russia, its Al-Qaida. During Sadam Hessian’s regime, Al-Qaida was non-existent in Iraq, because Sadam hated them and prevented them, not only from forming a group in Iraq but even entering the country. George Bush and his boss Dick Cheney along with their hit man Donald Rumsfeld falsified the record and lied to the whole world about Sadam Hussein harboring Al-Qaida and stock piling chemical weapons. They wanted to attack Iraq so badly that they stooped so low as to falsify the facts. During the war and afterwards, Al-Qaida members entered the country and fought against the US troops. The sudden withdrawal of the US army opened the door to Al-Qaida to flood Iraq. Thanks to Bush and Obama, it will be next to impossible to rid Iraq of them.
Recently, a militant group called “ISIS”, which’s a division of Al-Qaida, invaded and occupied a large part of Iraq, and killed thousands of innocent people. Obama said that he is not going to put “boots on the ground” but will weigh his other options. Of course he does not want people to think that he went back on his word of pulling the American troops from Iraq. If you would ask George Bush about what to do in Iraq, he would probably say, we went to Iraq to mess up the county, protect Israel and get the Oil from there. We succeeded in all that, now we should stay out of that country.
Among his unfulfilled promises, Mr. Obama announced that he will close Guantanamo bay. He is no closer to doing that than when he spoke those works. Also, he promised to work with Iran on a solution to their nuclear program and the sanctions against the country. Instead of working toward this goal, he bowed to the Israeli pressure and imposed more sanctions against Iran and treated them as an enemy. Instead of bringing them to his side, which’s the smart thing to do, he pushed them further away, just to please the Israelis. They wanted him to go one step further and attack Iran militarily, but he knew that he would be making the biggest mistake in his life, as a president, an American and as a human being, so he did not.
He also failed to come to an understanding with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, whom he treated with hostility instead of understanding. When Putin annexed the Crimea area, which’s what its people want, Obama went crazy, and when the Russian President sent troops to the Ukraine, Obama hit the wall. He, Obama, announced that he is going to impose sanctions on Russia which he did. That Putin fellow, just who does he think he is? Doesn’t he know that invading other countries with no consequences is reserved to us, the United States, and the occupying and killing of innocent people is reserved to the Israelis? The last time I checked, he was neither an American President nor an Israeli prime minister, so back off Putin!!
The absolute biggest failure of President Obama’s foreign policy is peace in the Middle East. When running for president prior to the 2008 election, he repeatedly announced that he will make peace in the Middle East. He knew, or should’ve known, that Israel does not want peace. If there is peace, what reason would they have to suck the life blood out of us, the Americans? When he tried to find a solution to Palestinian-Israeli problem he was stopped dead in his track by the Israelis. Their lobbyists and political organizations like APAC, which I consider the most dangerous organization in the country, pressured him to step aside when it comes to the Middle East. He bowed to them and did exactly what they wanted him to do instead of having a back-bone and standing up to them. After all, he is the president of the United States.
Over all, I would give Mr. Obama a 65% grade point average. In his defense, after succeeding the worst president in the history of this country, he did OK. Not great, just OK. He could’ve been much better and stronger, as the leader of West, but he tried very hard to please the Republicans and the Israelis. What we, in this country, should be bracing for is the next president. If we make a colossal mistake like the one we made in the year 2000 when we elected George Bush, we’re doomed.
My advice to the president is: Just be yourself and do what you think is right, and for heaven’s sake stop trying to kiss the rear end of the Republicans and Israelis. They will never like you. Your popularity now is at an all times low, watch it soar if you do what’s right and ignore those two groups.