As President Barack Obama comes the end of his second term as President of the USA, this blog will reflect on his historic presidency as the 1st African American president.
When he was on the brink of becoming the president many in America, and around the world were surprised that America was going to change track after 200 plus years. His subsequent election and the mixture of euphoria and disbelief it created, was something, which for me, as a black man, will stay with me forever.
Moving past the inauguration, the job in hand was to bring ‘change’ to the country, as depicted in his campaign slogan.
As a lawyer by profession, he advocated diplomacy to resolve/solve both domestic and international issues. He was reluctant to use force or military action, or only as a last resort.
One of the main problems he faced was that America ,by its very nature, is an aggressor. They solve all issues with military aggression or domestically by using the services of the FBI, CIA, the Police etc.., with arms and by force.
So when he wanted to exhaust diplomacy, he was depicted as soft by many, both in his own party, and the Republican party.
He also wanted to close down Guantanamo Bay camp which held many suspected terrorists and enemy combatants.
The problem was the Guantanamo has been used for many years, and the military long held the belief that it was necessary to the security of the country. So again he had more obstacles placed in his way.
By far the biggest issue of his presidency was the fact that he was the first ‘black’ president which in itself resulted in the republican party’s determination to oppose anything he wanted to do, or any laws he wanted to introduce from day one. The party by its own admission said they would oppose him ‘every step of the way’
Many Americans interviewed on TV openly said that they would never support a black man.
14-Facts-About-The-Obama-Presidency-That-Most-People-Dont-Know
This article I found on the internet details 14 things which Obama has done well. There are probably many articles which will contradict this one, so I am not saying that this article is the holy grail of information, but it seems to suggest that President Obama did better than many would like to give him credit for.
Draw your own conclusions, or wait for history to judge him. However you look at it, with the electing of Obama, America has shown that it’s people are willing to take a chance on change.
