By Anna Ste. Marie, Class of 2012
Being a child of the 21st century, I was recently reading my Facebook newsfeed and found a status that sparked my interest. Although I enjoy social media, I have been warned by my sage role models and teachers to not believe everything I see. Their words of wisdom proved to hold truth as I was reading a viral message. This message was supposed to act as a support slogan for President Obama in the 2012 elections; however it only gave me reasons to not support the Obama administration and the Democratic party as a whole. The message read:
“MY PRESIDENT:
1. Got Osama bin laden…check
2. Unemployment rate down to 8.5%…check
3. 1.6 million jobs created with no GOP help…check
4. 22 months of job and economic growth…check
5. Ended war in Iraq …check
6. DADT repeal…check
7. Not one tax hike in 3 years….check
8. Same wife for 15 years with no extra marital affairs…check
9. Saved the auto industry which got GM back to the #1 automaker in the world and created 1.5 million jobs…check
10. Assisted in ousting Ghaddafi…check
11. Only active President to receive Nobel Peace prize while in office…check
12. Mortgage modification to prevent home owners from losing their home
13. STILL fighting for middle class families…check
14. Reformed financial system, first time since FDR…check
Despite what the GOP would have you believe the President has been doing these things and more by himself.
Obama 2012- Re-post to support”
I would like to take a minute to refute and challenge several of these points.
1. Remember what Gandhi, perhaps the most influential peace maker to live, preached: “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”
2. While the unemployment rate is down to 8.5 percent, it is still up 2.7 percent from when he took office in 2008.
3. There is no way the GOP cannot be given credit for the 1.6 million jobs created. Every bill that helped create said jobs had to pass through Congress, which is made up largely of Republicans.
5. Although he ended war in Iraq, he escalated military presence and action in Afghanistan.
11. This point is actually false. Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt also were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while in office.
13. I wasn’t aware that he had ever started fighting for middle class families…?
I would also like to add in a few points of my own:
15. Allowed 5.3 million babies to be legally murdered in the 4 years he has been in office…check.
16. Allows some of the world’s richest oil reserves (found in his country) to go untouched…check.
17. Currently trying to force religious institutions to include birth control coverage in their health care packages…check.
18. Kept the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 which has made 48% of schools not meet standards…check.
19. Gave $535 million to a politically well-connected solar energy company that filed for bankruptcy 3 short years later…check.
20. Added $4 trillion to our nation’s debt (Bush added $4.9 trillion in 8 years)…check.
I hope this can teach my generation to not believe everything they see even if it is on our trusty social media sited. If nothing else, I hope this can at give first time voters, like me, a look at the triumphs and short fallings of President Obama.
