It is nearly the end of President Obama’s first term in office, and with his reelection campaign ramping up, it is important that we take a through look at both his accomplishments and failures before we head to the voting booths in November.
Healthcare:
When President Obama was elected in 2008, he promised to change the way D.C. politics are run, and change he did on the healthcare debate. In 1993, President Clinton proposed a universal-coverage healthcare plan, which was designed around the single-payer model. This is very similar to what can be found throughout Europe and Canada, and for that reason failed miserably in the US. Republicans at the time wanted a more market-based approach, which would allow health-insurance companies to compete for people’s business in a free market style. Republicans at the time determined that the only way to make health-care affordable was for each citizen to take personal responsibility for their healthcare purchase, and those who do not, should be taxed for their imposition on the American taxpayers.
This GOP approach might sound very familiar, because it is the exact plan that President Obama and the Democrats proposed and passed into law in 2010. President Obama fulfilled his promise to reform healthcare and lead from the middle. In doing so, he demonstrated what is so wrong with D.C. politics. Instead of a bipartisan support for this very moderate approach to healthcare reform, President Obama was faced with a Republican Party that changed their beliefs in order to oppose him. Even now, we see the GOP primary frontrunners Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich having to change defend their long-term support for the individual mandate. The truth is, they both believe that it was the right policy decision, but because their party has moved so far to the right since 1993, it is impossible for them to support that position and be elected their party’s candidate.
Stimulus:
The stimulus failed. Not because stimulating economic growth from supply-side spending failed, but because of the economic factors that have caused the stimulus dollars to be misused. The Republican Party has done an incredible job of demonizing debt. This fear of debt has led to the average household debt in the U.S. to be at its lowest point since the 1970s. The reality our economy is that a healthy amount of debt is actually a good thing. Debt is an investment. Whether it is a mortgage or a student loan, debt provides us with the ability to purchase valuables that appreciate in value over a long period of time. When the President introduced the first stimulus package it was small. In fact, if you factor in inflation, it was a fraction of the size of President Reagan’s stimulus package during the 1983 recession.
Taxes:
What we truly need in this country is demand. Companies do not hire new employees because they have extra money lying around. This is why no amount of tax cuts to businesses can truly stimulate long-term growth. In order for companies to begin hiring again, they need demand. When demand for their good or service increases, the need to hire becomes apparent and the economy begins to grow. Simply giving tax breaks to companies might allow for some small wage increases of current employees, there is no way for the government to offer enough tax incentives for companies to generate demand. That is simply not a function of economics.
If we truly want companies to expand and begin hiring again, we need to invest in consumers. When consumers have more dollars in their pocket, they have the ability to stimulate the economy. Since the stimulus only led to consumers using those extra dollars to pay off their debt, other such incentives must be introduced to help develop that type of demand growth. This is why President Obama found it so essential to extend the payroll tax break holiday. This will put thousands of dollars in the pockets of consumers during a time of the year when consumption is so important. This found income by consumers is largely responsible for this year’s holiday season being the most lucrative in American history for businesses.
The payroll tax but has always been the conservative economists tool to stimulate the economy in a business friendly way. But yet again, when the President embraced this very helpful tool, the GOP was forced to move even further to the right, proposing for their first time in their party’s history a need to pay for a tax cut. It is interesting how this idea of paying for a tax cut was never once brought up when it came to extending the Bush tax cuts, which went directly into the pockets of the nation’s wealthiest, and cost $1.35 trillion since its inception in in June of 2001. Again, this fear of debt has led to deadlock in congress. When the President moved to the middle, the GOP had to differentiate themselves by moving even further to the right.
Conclusion:
In conclusion the President has fulfilled many of his campaign promises. He left Iraq, he put an end to “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” he has made it easier for minorities and especially hispanics to go to college, he has reformed the healthcare system, and has taken a fiscally conservative approach to economic growth. All of these changes, he made from the middle of the road, which has forced the Republican Party to move so far to the right that the party’s moderate candidate Mitt Romney stands to lose the election unless he panders to the radical branch, and candidates such a Gingrich, Paul, Cain, and Perry have each been far ahead in the polls for a period of time in this primary. When it comes to the general election, the GOP nominee will have to answer to independent voters. The President’s record has been misconstrued, but the comparison between his first term policies and the suggestions of the GOP candidates will be stark in their differences.
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