Muslim in America

When 53% of American citizens voted for Barack Obama in November of 2008 to become the president of our country, one word was on their minds: Change. Eighteen months into Obama’s presidency, it is no secret that there has been more negative change than positive, and this is not something that those of us who voted for him had imagined. Yes, I know, it is still early and history shows that change never happens over night. However, we can still analyze some of the decisions President Obama has made so far, and discuss whether or not change is imminent in the near future. I, for one, am not too optimistic.

I do not believe there is much proof out there to show that Obama’s presidency so far has been any better than that of the Bush administration. If anything, our economy may be worse as unemployment rates continue to rise along with the nation’s debt. And what has our president done to solve this issue? By constantly and freely investing on every multi-billion dollar project he can get his hands on. It is easy to blame Bush for all of this, but Obama must take some of the blame instead of acting like the celebrity he is not. Seriously. You are the president of America; do your job instead of going on talk shows or discussing your college March Madness Bracket on ESPN. Are his excellent speaking skills the only thing that separates him from Bush?

Another thing I have been disappointed in was the loading of an extra 30,000 troops into Afghanistan, something Obama said numerous times in the past he would not do. As the war escalates, resemblance to the Vietnam War in the 60′s becomes more and more apparent. Even those who were advocates for the deployment of more troops were disappointed because of how long it took. Also angering me was the president’s “mild” response, as said by Norman Finkelstein, to the Palestine flotilla attack. Obama showed us through his response that he, like Bush, is only concerned with America’s alliance with Israel, and he has not even condemned the attack. Definitely not something I expected from him.

Today, we are dealing with what has been called one of the greatest environmental disasters in U.S.  history with the oil spill in the Gulf Coast. What about Obama’s response to that? According to recent reports, 30 countries from over the world had offered aid to the crisis with a chance to clean the spill up in a matter of months, but the president had turned all but 12 of them down. And now, he is saying that the crisis could take years to solve. Though it is true that many of those nations offered ships in support only if America paid for them, Obama should have seen more urgency in the situation and done more to help the cause.

To conclude, in my opinion, President Obama has not shown good decision-making, nor has he backed up his talk over the past eighteen months. I think he is starting to see how difficult it really is to completely turn things around from a previous presidency. America voted for this man because he had a lot of optimism in moving this country forward, and I do believe that he still has that ability if he truly believes in what he speaks. He’s done some good with health insurance and going against Arizona’s new law on immigration. However, a lot of work needs to be done with the economy and international relations. Let’s hope Obama gets things right soon, or by November of 2012, the U.S. may be calling for another man to step to the stage.

-Noman