As Mr. President completes his one year in office, there is a lot of noise around, ranking him, rating his first year as the president. Some terming him as a big let down and others calling him America's hope that lives on..
Through his campaign speeches and a vision for 'Hope for Change', Barack Obama, from the very beginning, set a high bar for himself. Creating history as the first Black man to reside in the White House, sit in the Oval office and run the world's most powerful nation, he talked about America undergoing a make-over and quite literally.
When he came to power, the economy was at an all time low and America was lost. The population hung onto his words and clung to him, 'hoping for a change'.
Mr. Obama had promised he would bring the war in Iraq to an end, bring health insurance to every American household, start the cap-and-trade system to curb global warming, and revive America's lost reputation by closing down the Guantanamo prison. One year hence and he hasn't done any of these yet.
Winning the Nobel Peace Prize, something he himself says he did not deserve, he still seems to be a bit of a let down. Though some may argue that he prevented the Economic crisis from getting worse and he largely changed the way the rest of the world thinks of America. True. But is that enough?
After the Bush government vacated office, Obama became not only America's hope, the answer to a lot of questions. People around the world started believing in his 'hope for change'. He was their messiah..
But America seems to be fed up with the recession and the government and Obama being the public's face bears the brunt. Even though Obama's not at fault that much. His election itself raised the bar so much. There were miracles in the ballot box and people expected the miracles to continue.
Atleast Obama has not endured disaster even if h is yet to pull of a signature piece of legislation in the vein of what Roosevelt and Lydon achieved early. Even if he did not achieve something big enough that the entire world bow down to him, we can't take away credit from him.
If we remind ourselves of the state of the country when he took office and the distance America has come since then, in terms of policy changes, it is impossible to argue that his first year has been anything short of an achievement.
And lets not forget, Early failure do not portend a failed presidency.
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