Obama's First Year: A Success

Despite the rhetoric that many are hearing in the mainstream media, I would strongly say that President Obama had a wonderful first year. Let's examine some of the highlights of his nascent administration.

The first piece of legislation President Obama signed into law was the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. This authorized equal pay for women in the workplace. It's a bit of a shame that it took until 2009 to enact such legislation, but it was much needed nonetheless.

The next was expansion of SCHIP to cover an additional four million American children. As many of you may remember, this was one piece of legislation that passed both houses back during the end of the Bush Administration, but was sadly vetoed by the last President. Its a shame that the previous leader of this nation decided that helping sick children was not worth the additional $32 billion, but spending over a $12 billion a week in a war we were lied into, was more important.

Then came President Obama's first big victory, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or more commonly known as the stimulus package. Surprisingly, this recieved bi-partisan support in the Senate, and has created or saved roughly 640,000 jobs, while providing this nation with much-needed infrastructure improvements and helping to offset many of the loses to state budgets.

President Obama also nominated the first Hispanic-American to the United State Supreme Court, once again recieving bi-partisan support in the Senate. On August 17, 2009 Justice Sonia Sotomayor cast her first vote as an associate justice on the US Supreme Court.

One of the grievances I hear is from the LGBT community and about Obama's inaction for their causes. In my opinion, President Obama has done two great things for that community, both occurring in the month of October. On October 28, Obama signed into law the The Matthew Shephard and James Byrd Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which finally extended federal hate crimes law to include sexual orientation. A mere two days latter, Obama signed an extention of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Act, an afflication that unfortunately affects a misproportionate amount of members of the gay community.

President Obama also had the political courage to stand up for what is right in relation to the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan, calling on December 1st for an additional 30,000 troops to that conflict. He showed that he is taking a hardline stance against terrorism and understands the investment we've already made in that conflict and the need to stabalize before withdrawal.

Finally, to end the first year off right, the Senate managed to muster a filibuster-proof 60 votes passing a landmark comprehensive health care reform bill. This is the largest piece of social legislation since the New Deal during the Roosevelt Adminstration. He has done something Democratic administrations for years have tried to do, and in his first year.

Despite what many people would like to say about the first year of the Obama Administration, I would applaud the President for a highly successful first year. Hopefully President Obama can add 2010 as another successful year. I think many, especially those on the left, want to see change quickly, but must also realize that change doesn't come overnight. We can quickly get disillusioned when we don't get exactly what we want, when we want it, but remember folks, we still get three more years (maybe seven) and there is still plenty left to change. I trust President Obama to make the right decisions.....let's just hope that Congress keeps delivering good bills for him to sign. One thing the left does not have to worry about with this President, is the threat of a veto on any of their issues, and that's something we can all be proud of.