Progressive Oasis

OMAHA, NE – As the elections of 2012 start to accelerate with the Obama campaign’s attacks on Romney, some people are left wondering, “Does Obama really deserve a second term?”  After revisiting some of Obama’s accomplishments in his first term, that answer may be a resounding, YES!  From his first day in office, Obama has been working the midnight oil to implement an economic recovery program that has created nearly 3 million jobs, he has worked to end the war in Iraq, and he has worked to expand healthcare access to all Americans.  While all his opponents  could do was whine and beat their fists to the floor demanding to see the President’s birth certificate as if this was Dixieland after the Civil War. The President has accomplished much in his first term, and will do considerable more if he is re-elected with a decent Congress to go with him.

First and foremost, the President is committed to American women and their families. Obama supports Equal Pay for Equal Work and displayed this by signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to help ensure women get paid the same as men for the same work.  Obama is committed to improving women’s health. Starting in 2012, new health insurance plans will be required to cover women’s preventative services such as mammograms, domestic violence screenings, and contraception without charge. Obama reversed the Global Gag Rule which banned government from providing aid to international family planning groups. Obama stood up to Republicans trying to derail a woman’s right to choose and defund planned parenthood, thus protecting all women’s right to choose.

President Obama is committed to Healthcare reform, and displayed this on March 23, 2010, by signing the Affordable Healthcare Act into law. The law contains many beneficial measures, including ending insurance company abuses by prohibiting insurers from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions or from cancelling coverage when someone gets sick. The new law will also help keep premiums low by making insurance companies justify rate hikes.  Insurance companies will also have to provide rebates if they don’t spend at least 80% of consumers premiums on care instead of overhead, marketing and profits. The ACA will also expand access to care by allowing 32 million Americans to be able to afford healthcare insurance for the first time.  Under the law, 95% of Americans under 65 will have healthcare insurance.  What is now known as ObamaCare will also close the so-called Medicare Prescription Drug Donut Hole by 2020.  So far, over 2.6 million seniors have saved an average of over $550 on their prescription drugs.

Obama committed from day one to putting Americans back to work and rebuilding economic fairness for the middle class. On job creation, the POTUS supported an economic recovery program that supported as many as 3.6 million jobs by cutting taxes, investing in clean energy, roads and bridges, keeping teachers in classrooms and protecting unemployment benefits. Obama saved the auto industry from collapse by preventing the loss of more than 1.4 million jobs.  The private sector has created nearly 3 million jobs during 21 straight months of private sector growth.  There is still much to do about the economy, which is why the President is fighting for The American Jobs Act which would put even more people back to work now  and put even more money in people’s pockets.

President Obama believes in an America with an economy built to last, meaning Americans should have the opportunity to earn enough to raise a family, send their kids through school, own a home and have enough to put away for retirement.  To do this, our great nation must out educate the rest of the world by making college accessible to hundreds of thousands more students by ending billions of dollars in subsidies to banks and using savings to double funding for Pell grants. We must out innovate the rest of the world by making substantial investments in clean energy manufacturing to create the jobs of the future here in America  and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. The POTUS believes everyone should play by the same rules and demonstrated this when he signed into law Wall Street reform to protect American families from unfair lending practices, rein in Wall Street excesses and prevent future financial crises.  Obama believes everyone should do their fair share, and he has called  for the closing of tax loopholes to ensure millionaires and billionaires don’t pay less in taxes than the middle class.

Barack Obama, who has supported LGBT issues from the beginning, has helped pass LGBT inclusive hate crimes legislation, repealed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and now openly supports Marriage Equality. Obama has also helped pass other legislation that will benefit the LGBT Community.  Obama has done what he could for the LGBT Community in first term, its time we help him get a well deserved second term.

President Obama kept his word on Iraq by bringing the war to a responsible end and brought our troops home. Obama believes in honoring the service of our troops by ensuring our troops and their families get the help earned and enacting new tax credits to encourage businesses to hire unemployed and disabled veterans.