Barack Obama Mania

One of Barack Obama's strongest remarks in the keynote address at the 2004 National Democratic Convention was “ ...I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America - there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America...”

And so be it. And it was. Around 3 million Americans gathered last January 20, 2009 for this once in a lifetime event – Barack Obama's presidential inauguration. Democrats, Republicans, whites, blacks, Latinos, Asians, Christians, Muslims, Jews and even non-believers rounded up in the US Capitol in Washington, DC to have a glimpse of the now sworn president of the United States of America, the most powerful man in the world.

Barack Obama's statements are said to be beyond eloquent – it's a jarring harmony of reality and utopia.

One trait that Obama has that other politicians don't have is his exceptional ability to listen. A great writer is often said to be a voracious reader, as for Obama, he's got a strong faith in listening to people from all walks of life – the very thing that makes him a remarkable politician.

Here are some of malignant issues that are continuously spreading problems in America, in which the antidote is no other than, Obama -

 

Our Nation Is At War

“As president, I will end the war in Iraq, a war that I opposed from the beginning and that should never have been authorized. I will finish the fight against Al Qaeda. And I will lead the world to combat the common threats of the 21st century - nuclear weapons and terrorism; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease.”

It all started in September 9, 2001 after four American airplanes crashed simultaneously at the World Trade Center, Pennsylvania and (the most flabbergasting of all) in the United States Department of Defense, The Pentagon.

The 2,974 who died in the despicable 9/11 attack was surpassed by the almost doubled casualties of the Iraq war as of March 26, 2008 – It was rounded up on 4002 deaths and still counting. The government spent almost $597 billion as of January 2009. More than enough money to recover from the devastating 9/11 incident, if was properly spent.

We can't afford to lose another billion dollars for armaments anymore. More importantly, we can't waste precious lives of brilliant kids that will be the next leaders of their generation. We are facing a recession and we must, for one thing avoid wasting money catching up from casualties of pointless wars that are going nowhere.

 

Our Economy Is Badly Weakened by Lobbyists

“I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists – and won. They have not funded my campaign, they will not get a job in my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am president.”

We should learn from the past and the past's clear and detailed pictures of corruptions, abuses and greed are all pointed into one origin – lobbying. One great example is the king of the Bush cronies – Dick Cheney. The no-bid Halliburton contracts will tell it all - the “don't worry about the price” company, “it will be overcharged”. But don't forget the secret meetings of gas lobbyist with Cheney's Energy Task Force of oil to develop a national energy policy. How can a government who deals with such clandestine conferences solve the predicaments that in the first place, made by no other but them?

Another controversial issue is the Blackwater deal - the September 2007 shooting in Baghdad's Nisoor Square that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead and Blackwater guards responsible for the incident not condemned. Without formal license since 2006, Blackwater manages to still operate in Iraq as of the moment. The State Department allowed Blackwater's contract to continue despite the controversial shootings.

One more obvious distress of lobbying is the Enron's loophole - Charlie Black is McCain's senior advisor and also a lobbyist for the act containing the Enron loophole in 2000. Wayne Berman, McCain's finance co-chair, recently lobbied more frequently against legislation that would prevent price cuts. It was said that if the Enron loophole is removed people can get at least a 25% drop in the cost of oil, some would estimate it to drop at 50%.

National policies are for people, therefore the people must be the one to be benefited by such policies, not lobbyists. The government is never a business, rather it's an advocacy for the nation to move forward.

 

Our Health Care Is Too Costly

“I’m in this race because I want to stop talking about the outrage of 47 million Americans without health care and start actually doing something about it”

Giving affordable health care to all Americans is an idealistic act. It's pretty hard to achieve. The nation is currently fighting the epidemics of obesity and chronic diseases, not to mention the new threats of pandemic flu and bioterrorism. But do you know that less than 4 cents of every health care dollar is spent on prevention and public health?

But it will not end there. There are several national health issues that's needed to be prioritized like improvements of outdated facilities and systems, medical records and the plan to make our hospital safer – the eighth-leading cause of death in our country in no other than medical error.

 

Our Schools Fail Too Many

“I don’t want to send another generation of American children to failing schools. I don’t want that future for my daughters. I don’t want that future for your sons. I do not want that future for America.”

This is the dream of every parent to their children. But how can they give it too them if there's a limited educational opportunities and an ineffective curricullum that focuses more on the ease of teaching, not the ease of learning?

The NCLB or No Child Left Behind program of the U.S. Department of Education should be giving our country and our schools a cutting-edge education improvements positioned on higher accountability for results, more responsive to change of the states, stressing on proven education procedures, and more options for parents. But there are huge problems in the funding that hinder all of these. School closures, teacher shortage, academic program cuts, schools that need major repairs – these are only few of the tangible effects of the drop of the state education funding.

The future of America lies in the hands of the youth – what if those hands are not skilled enough to mold and restore what our ancestors toiled hard for us – a nation of freedom, peace, and prosperity. Without proper education, the next generation could lead America to futility.

The Planet Is In Peril

“...each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.”

Millions of years ago, in time of Triassic period there is no such thing as global warming because there are no such thing as factories, smoke-belchers, and mountains of wasted plastics and styrofoam either. So, what else could you think the reason for El Ninos, La Ninas, Tsunamis, and other calamities that threaten next generation's planet?

Our economy spends extravagantly an estimated $1.4 billion a day on 20 millions of barrels that we consumed everyday alone. On 2006, we drained $500 billion for foreign fuel – a budget that could be invested on much more important projects such as enhancing our education system or giving assistance to those people in the suburbs that would like to start a small backyard business but lacks capital to begin.

Melting glaciers, shrinking polar ice caps, trees that blooms earlier than what should be normal, people dying in heat waves, migrating species, and impending extinctions – these are the devastating outcome of global warming. If we think that it's not our problem now, maybe we can think of our sons' and daughters' future with half of Earth's continents at the bottom of the seas.

Obama's Promise: Pursuit of Happiness

“Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.”

“The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose a better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.”

Very well said. Very clear and firm. But the president can't make it happen without everybody's cooperation. It is everybody's job to achieve their “full measure of happiness.”

 

Two solutions to fulfill this promise:

Invest in Rural Areas: Obama will invest in rural small businesses and fight to expand high-speed Internet access.

Globalization. America will only lead the world if it will survive the cruel battle in the flat world. Americans are said to be natural entrepreneurs. We lead the market for centuries and we will if we stay indispensable hence the need for high caliber technologies to run our businesses.

Seek New Partnerships in Asia: Obama will forge a more effective framework in Asia that goes beyond bilateral agreements, occasional summits, and ad hoc arrangements, such as the six-party talks on North Korea. He will maintain strong ties with allies like Japan, South Korea and Australia; work to build an infrastructure with countries in East Asia that can promote stability and prosperity; and work to ensure that China plays by international rules.

In other words – Offshoring. Giving birth to a new business is as difficult as what our mothers endured when we were born. But by having assistance from partners in Asia which offers low manpower costs, pursuing our happiness is definitely within our reach.