Americas Rationality (view) for Electing Obama as President - Essay Example

Rationality (view) for Electing Obama as President Barack Obama was elected as the 44th President of United s in November 2008, by defeating the Republican John McCain. Barack Obama is regarded as the first black President. During the election campaign he was the most well-liked personality in America. There are many reasons behind his popularity and definitely Americans have shown their rationality in electing him as the President of the only superpower in the world. According to the exit polls, Obama’s share of National Popularity vote was 52% against his counterpart John McCain whose was 46%. In the history of US politics it was the first time since Jimmy Carter’s victory in 1976 where the Democrat Party won straight majority. Let’s discuss the different causes which brought Obama on the peak of popularity It is a long journey of victory of Obama. He declared his candidacy for the President of the United States of America on February 10, 2007.And throughout the entire campaign he was focusing on the major burning issues such as Iraq war, Energy independence, and the provision of universal health care, financial crises, any many others The American people are quite rational in selecting their president. Barack Obama became popular due to his service which was based around his resolute belief in the capacity to bring people together around a politics of purpose. Obama was elected to the state senate in 1996 and served the three terms. He especially supported the working families by cutting their taxes and he expanded health care program for children and their parents. The unpopularity of the Republican President was increasing because it was in his reign the economic crises started taking place. Previous President George Bush started his presidency with the worst and shameless attack by the terrorists on the land of America. His presidency ended with one more turmoil and that is economic meltdown. Many decisions he took had an adverse effect on America. Even if he was confident about his decisions the people of America disapproved his decisions. For example he waged the war against Iraq which American people were totally against of. When the decision of imposing war on Iraq was taken, Obama strongly opposed the policy of George Bush. On October 2, 2002, the day when the resolution of Iraq war was passed, Obama addressed the Chicago anti Iraq war rally and expressed his strong opinion against the war. As far as the popularity of Bush and Obama is considered, there is a significant contrast. Here is the Gallup Poll which shows us the popularity of Obama and Bush. This is the survey done from November 6 to 8, 2008. http://www.gallup.com/poll/111838/Obama-Bush-Contrast-Popularity.aspx Minority voters played a very substantial role in the victory of Obama. He bagged 95% of the Afro-American vote. 66% Hispanic American voters backed Barack Obama overall. According to the experts and analysts the Latin votes played a crucial role in the victory of the Democratic candidate in several states such as Florida, Nevada and New Mexico. The other states from which previously Bush had been elected, also backed Obama. They were Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, Colorado and Virginia. Obama also won the 60% of the Asian votes as well as he got support from the middle class Americans. Under the rule of George Bush the American people suffered a lot because of the different adversities. America started slipping down because of the financial crises. With the appearance of Obama on the political scenario, American people became optimistic about improving the financial condition of the nation. They are optimistic about booming the American economy once again. The Americans feel that only Obama can take perfect decision about the economic condition of the nation. They were confident that Obama is the right person for such a Herculean task of coping with the nation’s current situation and building United States a strong nation once again. This is the reason why the graph of his popularity is increasing day by day. According to New York Times/CBS Poll, “70 percent of respondents were very or somewhat concerned that someone in their household would be out of work and looking for a job in the next 12 months[ During the election campaign Obama has gained immense popularity and support from American people as compared to his counterparts such as John McCain. The new poll which was conducted by the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation, 55% of the voters were in favour of Obama for being the President of America as compared to 45% for John McCain. During the election campaign he also focused on the working families. He declared that the college would be made more affordable for all students for the higher studies. He said that he will encourage the retirement saving and assist the people in balancing the competing demands of work and family. If we take into consideration many points and compare Obama’s stance to that of John McCain we will realize that Obama’s policies are more rational and comprehensive than McCain. Let’s have a look at the stances of both of the leaders in different fields. Economy: Barack Obama along with the Vice President Joe Biden offered a very comprehensive plan to bring American economy on the right track. In this policy Obama mainly focuses on creating new jobs and thus lessening the burden on hardworking Americans. He offered the tax cut three times than the size of McCain. In contrast with Obama, John McCain’s policy was not in favour of middle class. His policy was the same as that of George Bush which has not at all considered the middle class people in America. He offered $200 billion cut in tax to the corporations and $4 billion tax breaks to Big Oil. While he overlooked the middle class and didn’t provide them any relief. Thus by implementing such policies he would have definitely added $3.4 trillion to the national debt. His policies were the big hindrance to the all round economical progress of the nation and it would have brought economic inequality in the nation. Education: Barack Obama gave preference to the child education on priority basis by investing in early childhood education. His policy was to make it sure whether the schools are sufficiently funded and led by caliber teachers. He insisted that no child should be deprived of the basic education. Obama planned the “Zero to five” plan to provide the support to the children and their parents. On the contrary here again McCain adopted the policy like George Bush by cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans instead of generating money for the children’s education and the facilities to the educational institutions. Energy and Environment: Barack Obama took major initiatives in investing in alternative fuels as well as renewable energy. He made a plan to enhance the energy efficiency of America and created five millions new “green” jobs. John McCain went up against renewable and alternate energy proposals and he promised the oil companies to give $4 billion consumption in tax. He planned to hire many powerful oil lobbyists to run his campaign. Ethics: As compared to the other diplomatic leaders Obama is quite transparent. He refused to take loans from lobbyists or PACs. He improved disclosure and created a database where the public can track federal contracts and earmarks. John McCain on the other hand had approximately 177 lobbyists who were working on his campaign. Among them many were the top advisors. McCain’s own manager was receiving money from Freddie Mac until August 2008. Thus the transparency had not been seen in the attitude of John McCain. Foreign Policy: Obama’s foreign policy also was very convincing as compared to John McCain who was following the same policy of Bush. Obama’s stance was to present Iranian regime with a clear option that if they support America in fighting against the terrorism, America would offer them an attractive incentive of being member in World Trade Organization. But if Iran continues to be an obstacle in America’s objectives, America will impose economic pressure on Iran and politically also Iran would have to face to the isolation. Obama also promised that he would take efforts to meet the challenges before the nation and rebuild their alliances. They will also keep good relationships with the other nations of the world for the advancement of America. Obama also promised to strive hard for banning the nuclear weapons from the world. On the contrary McCain’s policy seemed to be quite irrational. He adopted the policy of unilateral action which could put American troop into harm. He never adopted the diplomatic option. Health Barack Obama’s health care programme also was unique and attractive. He assured the plan will be accessible and affordable even for the ordinary citizens. Everybody would have the privilege to take advantage of the health care plan. His health care plan he claimed would reduce the health care costs for the families. According to his health care plan, health care cost would be reduced by $ 2,500. He also promised to be prepared to fight against the terrorism and the natural disasters. On the other hand McCain’s health plan was not at all beneficial and affordable for the common man of America. Homeland Security: Obama was quite aware about the major and burning issues like the homeland security. Obama basically focused on the security of airports, ports, and land borders. He assured to concentrate on the security of the infrastructure of the nation. Obama also gave assurance to the people to find out and destroy the strength of the terrorists groups such as Al Qaeda. He also assured about strengthening biosecurity by improving the strength of US intelligence. McCain disagreed the screening of Cargo entering in United States. Iraq: Iraq was the burning topic especially in America. Most of the people from America were not satisfied with the decision taken by Bush with Iraq. Barack Obama assured that he would end the war in Iraq. It was the stance of Obama about Iraq that he would support Iraq to establish stability and security in Iraq. He also showed his concern about Iraq’s refugee crises. John McCain had no specific plan for ending Iraq war. Even though the terrorists like Osama Bin Laden were active in Afghanistan and Pakistan John McCain propounded that Iraq was the hub of terrorism. Senior and Social Security: Barack Obama ensured the American people the social security. He also planned to eliminate the income taxes for seniors and made it less than $ 50,000 which would be beneficial for more than 7 million seniors. John McCain on the other hand was blamed for privatizing social security. Due to the plan of John McCain around 37 million senior citizens would have been deprived of much needed relief. Women: Barack Obama was also strongly supported by the women voters because of his serving attitudes and his urge to support women to solve their problems they are facing. He held up the women’s rights and gender equality in payments, works etc. He also expanded the child care tax credit. In one of his speech he states, “"From the first moment a woman dared to speak that hope -- dared to believe that the American Dream was meant for her too -- ordinary women have taken on extraordinary odds to give their daughters the chance for something else; for a life more equal, more free, and filled with more opportunity than they ever had. In so many ways we have succeeded, but in so many areas we have much work left to do." (Barack Obama, Speech in Washington, DC November 10, 2005) Barack Obama’s contribution for the upliftment of the women is remarkable. He has always stood up for the better life of women. In Illinois, he passed the Equal Pay Act which ensured the women the protection from pay discrimination on the basis of gender. He also passed the law which gave assurance to the victims of domestic violence. Obama also took efforts to prevent HIV /AIDS. Over the last twenty years the percentage of HIV affected patients are substantial in United States. In 2004 HIV infection was the major reason behind the death of many African-American women especially between the age of 25 to 34. The number of women HIV patient is dreadful all around the world. Approximately 7000 women are infected with HIV everyday in the world. Barack Obama is one of the active leaders in the world to fight against HIV. To fight against AIDS he introduced the Microbicide Development Act. This Act aims at the development of products that will be useful for the HIV patient to fight against AIDS. Ovarian cancer was is one of the major diseases among the women in United States. Obama was the first co-sponsor of Johanna’s law which will increase the awareness about this disease among the women. One of the four women has to undergo the domestic violence in United States. Approximately 1400 women in United States die as a result of domestic violence in a year. Obama introduced a legislation which aims at empowering the women to fight against the violence. Obama is very much conscious about the environment. Many environmentalists also were in favour of Obama. According to them he is the appropriate leader who will take strong initiatives to make the entire world cleaner, healthier and pollution free place to live. He tried to make the people aware about reducing energy consumption, which would naturally reduce the electricity bill. His awareness and his participation in the global warming issue also were significant. He was not ready to wait until January 2009 when the new President takes the office. At that time many environmentalists predicted that When Obama had to choose between the two options, high salaried job and social service, he chose the second one. His contribution in assisting the poor people was really remarkable. There are 37 million people who are suffering from poverty in United States. Among them the majority is the single women who are raising their children. It is very difficult for the poor even to make both ends meet. Obama shifted to the South Side of Chicago and worked there as a community organizer. There he worked with the Churches and, Chicago residents and the local government to conduct job training programs for the unemployed. He also helped to set up after school programmes for kids. It is not only the urban region but Obama carved his name on the minds of rural people of America also. He very well knew that along with the urban area the rural sector also needs to be developed with all the facility and infrastructure. In one of his speech he urged about the development of the rural sector. In his speech he said, “"We are at that critical and urgent moment. If Washington continues policies that work against Americas family farmers, our rural communities will fall further behind - and so will America. But if we reject the politics that has shut ordinary folks out, we can create a new story for rural America ... The dreams of rural Americans are familiar to all Americans - to make a good living, to raise a healthy and secure family, and to leave our children a future of opportunity. Its time for real leadership for rural America to extend that American dream. Thats the dream of opportunity that Ive spent my life fighting for. And thats what our rural agenda will do." (Barack Obama, Speech in Fairfax, IA, October 16, 2007 ) While taking into consideration the rural are Obama didn’t forget the contribution of the urban sector which are the major asset of United States. The urban sector has a lion’s share in developing the nation. Obama was aware of the fact that the cities and metropolitan regions are the major factors in the prosperity of America. So he assured to utilize and strengthen the asset of the urban centers. In future Obama will be one of the most influential leaders. In the book entitled “Obama Leadership for the 21st Century” by Victoria C. DePaul, it is described what made Barack Obama a superior leader. She says, "There has been a quiet, hidden desperation in America as citizens without a voice and nowhere else to turn, retreat in despair. Household budgets have been stretched beyondthe limit. Far too many are denied affordable healthcare. Schools are underfunded, overcrowded and understaffed. Jobs are being lost to an overseas market and the insecurities of the Middle East crisis make us wonder if world peace can ever happen. And yet as I hear story after story I also heard the voice of hope. For the firs time many American are haring and speacking hope. For many, hope means change. Obama has mobilized a grassroots movement that spans all ages and generations. And from this hope comes passion, a passion to do more, to have more, to BE more. It is this passion that drives any organization. It is this passion that drives America." Victoria DePaulIn this book uses the term “intrapreneur” with regards to his exceptional grassroots organization. It is because of his vision and his mission. He is the leader whose image is there in each common man’s mind. He has the volunteers who have come from the grassroots. He has the volunteers who will not only contribute to the financial resources but they will give their valuable service to the nation. Barack Obama has become successful in establishing the culture of resourcefulness, zeal, infatuation, and teamwork. America has a long history of great leaders such as John Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, and Robert Kennedy etc. Barack Obama is among these few leaders who know that human force is the basic source of energy and power for the growth of any organization. He very well understands the difference between the inspiration and motivation. Inspiration means awakening people and motivation means moving the people. Accordingly during his election campaign he constantly inspired as well as motivated the people. His doctrines say that individual empowerment is the definitive stimulus of all the hard work and behavior. Thus he was a democratic in real sense who gave first priority to human beings who are the real asset of any nation. Obama becomes successful in understanding the psyche of the entire mass. He understood what moves ordinary people from self righteousness to positive actions which originated in positive energy. He also realized how to utilize the tremendous human strength. He was the leader of the grass root organizations. And his positive leadership once again brought the hope in the minds of American people. In December 2008 he was called by the Time magazine as its “Person of the Year” for his historic popularity as a presidential candidate. He is described as the “the steady march of seemingly impossible accomplishments.” (Drehle, David (December 16, 2008). "Why History Cant Wait" (Cover article). Person of the Year 2008, Times Magazine, Dec 17, 2008) Thus the secret of his success lies in his strong leadership, his comprehensive vision, and his ability to understand the common man. Sources 1. (http://womensphere.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/us-voters-sign-up-for-rainbow-coalition/) 2. THE ADMINISTRATION • PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA) http://www.whitehouse.gov/ 3. http://www.gallup.com/poll/111838/Obama-Bush-Contrast-Popularity.aspx 4. http://www.barackobama.com/issues/education/ 5. (‘Minority’ voters key to Barack Obama’s victory, 07/11/2008, http://www.nationalia.info/en/news/312) 6. (Obama Popularity Reaches Record Level – Report,) http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=97667 7. (WOMEN, www.whitehous.gov/agenda/women) 8. Barack Obama, Speech in Fairfax, IA, October 16, 2007 9. “Obama Leadership for the 21st Century” - Book 10 http://www.barackobama.com/issues/ 11. http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/personoftheyear/article/0,31682,1861543_1865068,00.html?cnn=yes. Read More