The best I felt about President Obama wasn't when I voted for him.

[RedSpartan]

Last edited Sun Sep 2, 2012, 08:00 AM - Edit history (1)

Not by a long shot, although I was proud to do so and look forward to doing so again.

I felt great about President Obama when the first thing he did in office was pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which guarantees equal pay for women in the workforce, because I am the father of two young daughters and want them to be as rewarded for their hard work as I have been.

I felt great about President Obama when he helped avert a second Great Depression, because, call me crazy, I don't think Great Depressions are all that great.

I felt great about President Obama when he helped rescue the now-thriving US auto industry, rather than let it go bankrupt as Mitt Romney wanted, because I believe that American jobs and American companies deserve Americans' support, especially in hard times.

I felt great about President Obama when he passed heathcare reform -- something that every President since Teddy Roosevelt has failed to achieve -- because I feel that we have a moral obligation to help the sick and the poor, and I find it repugnant that we have allowed it to become acceptable practice for health insurance companies to put profits over people.

I felt great about President Obama when he appointed two strong, smart women to the Supreme Court because I believe that We The People deserve Supreme Court Justices who understand that, while Lady Justice is supposed to be blind, even she can see that corporations are not people, money is not speech, and issues of law are not a partisan game.

I felt great about President Obama when, as Commander-in-Chief, he authorized the raid in which our Navy SEALs terminated Osama bin Laden, because I watched the murder of 3,000 people on September 11, 2001 and believe it was unacceptable for a mass murderer to escape justice for his crimes for almost a decade.

I felt great about President Obama when he helped secure the downfall of Col. Qaddafi, because I still remember PanAm 103 and I likewise believe it was unacceptable for a murderous dictator to escape justice for over twenty years.

I felt great about President Obama when he ended the Iraq War, because I am repulsed by the price in blood and treasure -- both ours and the Iraqi people's -- that has been paid in a war of choice in which we allegedly achieved "Mission Accomplished" over nine years ago.

I felt great about President Obama when he began the draw-down of the war in Afghanistan, because I believe that it is far past time to end the longest military operation in American history, especially after the elimination of bin Laden.

I felt great about President Obama when he passed Wall Street reform, because I believe the selfish, greedy bastards who almost collapsed the world's economy shouldn't be given free rein to do so again.

I felt great about President Obama when he repealed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," because my sister-in-law served in the Navy for ten years, including Iraq, and had to keep who she is a secret and, regardless, I believe that all Americans, of every type, must be allowed to openly serve in our military as who they are: proud Americans.

I felt great about President Obama when he ordered the Justice Department to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act, because I believe that all Americans should be able to love and marry whomever they choose, which only serves to strengthen (not weaken) the "institution of marriage" as a whole.

I felt great about President Obama as he has repaired the image of America around the world, because while I believe that we are a great country, as a world we are only as strong as the sum of our parts and can achieve a far better future together than we can apart.

And I have felt great about President Obama as he has, at every turn, been the adult in the room and showed nothing but class and grace in the face of an opposition that has plotted to destroy him from Day One, has publicly stated their most important goal is to make him a one-term President, has hoped and prayed for his failure, has brought assault weapons to protests against him, has questioned his citizenship, his intelligence, his race, his religion, his patriotism and his legitimacy and has pandered to and riled up the most grotesque elements of society in an attempt to "take our country back" to when they nearly destroyed it.

This November, I will feel great about voting again for President Barack Obama, because I feel great about what he has achieved over the last four years and feel great about what the next four years can bring. I hope you will, too.