I was taken to task by a reader over the last column I’d written about Mitt Romney. She let me know that it was trash and that I should have written about why I was going to vote for President Obama instead. I don’t think that who I vote for is necessarily anyone’s business. However, since I made it clear that I would never vote for Mitt Romney, I’ll oblige and tell you why I think President Obama deserves another term.
Let me start by giving this caveat; I don’t think that President Obama is a God. I don’t think he’s perfect and I don’t worship him. Yes, he’s helped save our country from the brink of ruin, but I don’t see him as a savior in the sense that he can do no wrong and will deliver us from all evil, bless us, oh thou Almighty Obama. I know he won’t always make decisions that I agree with. But I like what he’s accomplished in spite of having a wall of opposition from Republicans who vowed from day one to block any progress he wanted to make.
President Obama has been a strong supporter of women’s rights. Living in a houseful of women, I’m sure he gets a lot of input in the matter. He believes women should get equal pay for equal work. He supports Planned Parenthood because he knows without it some women couldn’t afford to receive reproductive health care. He understands that women are intelligent enough to make decisions about their own bodies. It’s important for me to have a president who doesn’t think it’s anyone’s business what I do or don’t do with my lady bits.
The homosexual community also has an ally in President Obama. He signed the DADT Repeal Act so that gay and lesbian troops could serve without having to hide who they are. He came out, in a manner of speaking, in favor of gay marriage because he believes that it’s important to “treat others the way you would want to be treated.”
President Obama believes in community and knows that it takes people working together to progress. He thinks we all deserve a fair shake and that we should help each other achieve our goals. He doesn’t care if you’re Baptist, atheist, Muslim or Jewish. It doesn’t matter what shade of skin you have, or how expensive your clothes are. It doesn’t matter if you live in a split level with a two car garage in the suburbs or a crumbling, inner city apartment. He cares about all of America, from the youngest to the oldest, from the poorest to the richest. He doesn’t split our country into percentages and brush off almost half of the population. He believes that our government should be by the people, for the people. Job growth has remained steady under his watch. A crashed economy is picking up again. We now have a healthcare act that will help us get healthy instead of helping the insurance companies get wealthy. Manufacturing is starting to see an increase. America is back on track and getting stronger.
Finally, I like who our president is as a person. He’s warm, genuine and when he smiles he doesn’t look as though he’s trying to pass a cactus sideways like another unmentionable presidential candidate does. He loves his family and cares about our country. I have been proud to call him my president for the past four years and I hope I will be able to continue that for the next four.
Rachel Birdsell is a freelance writer and artist. You can drop her a line at rabirdsell@gmail.com
My President
By Rachel Birdsell
I was taken to task by a reader over the last column I’d written about Mitt Romney. She let me know that it was trash and that I should have written about why I was going to vote for President Obama instead. I don’t think that who I vote for is necessarily anyone’s business. However, since I made it clear that I would never vote for Mitt Romney, I’ll oblige and tell you why I think President Obama deserves another term.
Let me start by giving this caveat; I don’t think that President Obama is a God. I don’t think he’s perfect and I don’t worship him. Yes, he’s helped save our country from the brink of ruin, but I don’t see him as a savior in the sense that he can do no wrong and will deliver us from all evil, bless us, oh thou Almighty Obama. I know he won’t always make decisions that I agree with. But I like what he’s accomplished in spite of having a wall of opposition from Republicans who vowed from day one to block any progress he wanted to make.
President Obama has been a strong supporter of women’s rights. Living in a houseful of women, I’m sure he gets a lot of input in the matter. He believes women should get equal pay for equal work. He supports Planned Parenthood because he knows without it some women couldn’t afford to receive reproductive health care. He understands that women are intelligent enough to make decisions about their own bodies. It’s important for me to have a president who doesn’t think it’s anyone’s business what I do or don’t do with my lady bits.
The homosexual community also has an ally in President Obama. He signed the DADT Repeal Act so that gay and lesbian troops could serve without having to hide who they are. He came out, in a manner of speaking, in favor of gay marriage because he believes that it’s important to “treat others the way you would want to be treated.”
President Obama believes in community and knows that it takes people working together to progress. He thinks we all deserve a fair shake and that we should help each other achieve our goals. He doesn’t care if you’re Baptist, atheist, Muslim or Jewish. It doesn’t matter what shade of skin you have, or how expensive your clothes are. It doesn’t matter if you live in a split level with a two car garage in the suburbs or a crumbling, inner city apartment. He cares about all of America, from the youngest to the oldest, from the poorest to the richest. He doesn’t split our country into percentages and brush off almost half of the population. He believes that our government should be by the people, for the people. Job growth has remained steady under his watch. A crashed economy is picking up again. We now have a healthcare act that will help us get healthy instead of helping the insurance companies get wealthy. Manufacturing is starting to see an increase. America is back on track and getting stronger.
Finally, I like who our president is as a person. He’s warm, genuine and when he smiles he doesn’t look as though he’s trying to pass a cactus sideways like another unmentionable presidential candidate does. He loves his family and cares about our country. I have been proud to call him my president for the past four years and I hope I will be able to continue that for the next four.
Rachel Birdsell is a freelance writer and artist. You can drop her a line at rabirdsell@gmail.com