Can the country move forward with the election behind us?
On November 7th, America awoke to a re-elected commander- in-chief, after what was a very unpromising campaign. Don’t get me wrong, we heard many promises from both sides, but gone was the uniting force behind the President’s 2008 sweep of the electoral college. Around town just before the election, one heard not optimistic predictions, but sad utterances such as “Do I have to pick one of them?”
But now that the decision has been made, we must look forward.
In locking up his second four years of residency in the White House, Barack Obama promised more progress. We should support this vision, no matter our political views. Although his policies may have seemed weak, or perhaps nonexistent, since his inauguration, there is a good chance he will become more politically aggressive in the coming four years.
The amount of progress achieved in government is directly related to political liability. Thanks to a two-term limit on the Presidency, there is no reelection to worry about for the Obama team. He can take all the action that he wants to, and he does not have to worry about the political repercussions of big moves.
I hope to see President Obamamake big moves.
Whether we agree with the progress that President Obama is pursuing or not, it is important that progress is made.
The United States needs progress. If it is good progress, President Obama will be remembered as one of our great Presidents. If it turns out not to be good progress, it gives us a chance to correct our mistakes, and move in a different direction.
Our partisan ways right now only inhibit this progress, and in effect cause our country to find itself in the doldrums. A lack of progress will certainly result in a poor situation for our nation four years from now. And it is safe to say that we have had enough of poor situations.
We should all be rooting for President Obama. If we rally behind him, and support his efforts at change, we will be in a much better place than where we are as a nation divided.
That doesn’t mean ceasing the debate, throwing our support behind one person’s ideology. Civil discourse should be maintained, it is the structure of our system. It takes multiple opinions to continue democracy.
Simply, we need to soften our talk, and start to move forward cohesively.
We are in need of change. Two parties can’t make it happen. One President can help lead us there. But it is truly up to 300,000,000 citizens to make the United States of America great again.
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You can follow Colin Criss on Twitter @ADKCurrent
