President Obama has made the statement that were he to lose the Presidential Election Of 2012, he and Michelle would do just fine, and that is certainly true.
After all, he has been President, will go down in history as a President who had some positive effects on the nation, and will be able to spend the rest of his life with great earnings potential, and rising popularity over time, and would be mourned when he dies, with a state funeral, and always be part of the story of American history.
Being a one term President, he would be likely to have a lower ranking in the list of Presidents, as Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush have had, along with William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, and Gerald Ford, the five Presidents of the 20th century who lost reelection.
Obama has had a record deserving of being listed higher, but he needs a second term to reach the ranks of the more outstanding Presidents.
But, ultimately, the biggest loser if Obama is not reelected, are:
Women–who will see their movement toward equality and dignity stalled or reversed in massive ways.
Gay men and women–who will likely lose the advancements on gay rights and gay marriage, and true equality in all ways.
Hispanics and Latinos–who will see more anti immigrant backlash, and will lose the advancements for young Immigrants under the proposed DREAM Act.
African Americans—who will see greater racism and discrimination, and setbacks in the promotion of equality and fairness of treatment.
Labor–who will see more attacks on workers rights, favoritism toward corporate employers, loss of collective bargaining rights, and setbacks in the lives of ordinary, struggling Americans who have no union representation.
Environmentalists–who will see more oil drilling, air pollution, refusal to understand the dangers of climate change, and allow economic development that endangers the health of millions of Americans, all for the motivation of profit over health concerns.
The poor–who have rough lives, will see a lack of concern or action to deal with the reality of child poverty, homelessness, hunger, the lives of single mothers, and further condemnation of the poor, reminding us of the Gilded Age and Social Darwinism.
The Middle Class–who will suffer further degradation, loss of opportunity to advance, and the potential for their children to succeed being lessened dramatically.
Young People–who will have fewer opportunities to advance in education and work, and will be embittered and disillusioned about the American Dream, which will be unfulfilled for millions.
Senior Citizens–who will have to live in fear of dangers to Social Security and Medicare, and will lose the sense of security and contentment in their older years.
The Disabled—whether young, middle aged, or old, who will see a loss of concern and support, as through Medicaid and other government programs.
Civil Libertarians–who will see further erosion of the Bill of Rights, and the promotion of narrow minded views of Muslims and Hispanics-Latinos by government policy.
The Peace activists–who will see America engaged in more wars, because of the power of Neoconservatives who will promote further foreign adventures.
Military Personnel and Veterans–who will see more soldiers killed in the future, and more ignoring of the needs of veterans who are fortunate enough to come home alive.
Educators and Intellectuals–who will be less appreciated and admired, and will be labeled “Communists, Socialists, Terrorists” by people in the Republican Party, who will do everything they can to attack education and freedom of thought, and call critics “unpatriotic”.
So Barack Obama will do just fine if he loses, but we, the American people, will lose so much, and it will transform our lives in so many negative ways that most people cannot conceptualize or imagine!
Professor? More like purveyor of partisan hogwash. You make it all too apparent that our educational system is in big trouble. Obama should have never been president in the first place. He had absolutely no qualifications for the job and it shows. He should just go and be happy he BS’ed his way into the first term. He won’t be getting a second one. America is tired of his expansive list of broken promises and self serving pandering to various groups that he only kisses up to when he needs them. It will take some time to recover from the class warfare and racial warfare he has waged. The great uniter (NOT). Go back to sleep in your liberal fantasy land the unicorns are calling you.
Please do explain why you beleive Mitt Romney to be the better alternative. I challenge you to do it without using Obama’s name once or mentioning a single one of his policies. If Mitt Romney is indeed the man for the job you should be able to do this without a problem.
Dr. Feinman, this goes down as one of your finest blogs. You have your opinion Patrick, but I completely disagree. I cannot vote for Gov. Romney because I do not know where he stands. He agreed with the President’s foreign policy at the last debate, he thinks cutting Sesame Street will fix the budget, and I don’t know what his five point plan is. Does anybody? If you know, please sum it up for me, I would seriously like to know. Gov. Romney talks about a balanced budget when he was Governor, but he does not talk about that his House and Senate was Democrat. And the only reason that he was able to do the Olympics is because of Federal money. I also have friends with pre-existing conditions and I do not want them to go back to where they cannot get insurance. Once again, I respect your opinion, one of the things that makes this country great is that we have a choice, but I disagree. Well done, Professor!
Mike I couldn’t agree more about respecting other people’s opinions. I just don’t think there is any reason to respect what is said when that person does not actually offer their opinion. When people offer generalizations and hate without a single reason as to why they even say that, it’s not an opinion, it’s mindless rhetoric, and I am not sure about most people but I personally ignore rhetoric whenever possible.