If you are in group b, I'll ask you one thing: give the man a chance, please.
We've all heard the reasons why people would be concerned about what's going to happen to the country under our next President (we heard them all summer during the campaign!):
- It's the end of our capitalist system! The man's a Socialist!
- He's a corrupt crony-ist! (What President hasn't surrounded himself with friends and allies?)
- Taxes, taxes, taxes!
- Inexperience: he's never been a player on the world stage.
- He's not a born American citizen! He's a Muslim! He's a serial killer who will murder us in our sleep and eat our livers!
I'm not going to argue these points; time will tell. It wouldn't be the first time that the American people have put their faith into a political leader, only to be disappointed. (Polk, Hoover, Nixon, and Clinton come to mind as examples.)
But, no matter how you feel about President Obama, I defy you to prove to me that things should remain the same, that we are not desperately in need of changes. 8 years ago, after all, we had a similar event. Since then,
- We've fought a (unnecessary) war resulting in thousands of deaths
- We've seen a huge increase in the cost of living as a result of that war (Gas prices, people, impact the cost of everything, from postage to potatoes).
- We are perhaps at the onset of next great depression
- We are in the middle of a housing crisis brought on by both political parties, Liberals trying to allow more people to own homes, Conservatives failing to reign in run-away corporate greed.
- Unemployment on the rise as a result of all of the above.
We are about to experience the peaceful transition of power from one chief executive to another for the 44th time in our nation's history. This is truly an amazing thing, and there are many places around the world where it simply doesn't happen. Sometimes the results have been good, others not-so-good, but we, as a nation, have survived them all. We have entered each presidents' administration with the same 2 outlooks, never knowing what is to come and either hoping for the best or fearing the worst. I don't know on which side you fall, dear reader, but realize one thing: we have never, in the history of this great country, made progress by working against one another. Never.
Let us keep our discourse civil, our minds open, and our focus on our common goal no matter the label we attach to ourselves, liberal or conservative, libertarian or socialist. We, all of us, want the same thing: a prosperous and secure country to call home, one we can point to with pride and say, out loud, "I am an American!" We may measure these things differently, and we may vehemently disagree on the path we take in pursuit of our goals, but it is our diversity that makes us great, and at the end of the day we are really less different than we are similar.
Give him a chance. He's got the job now, whether you like it our not. Give him a chance to prove you wrong. You may be surprised, or you may be right, but either way, he is the lawfully elected President of the United States, and deserves the opportunity.
I'd have given Senator Mc Cain the same.