Yesterday, President Barack Obama officially began his second term as the leader of the United States. Over the last few years, myself and many of my conservative colleagues have criticized the President for not only his policy goals, but also the extremely political manner in which he attempts to accomplish those goals. I firmly believe that he has led this country astray and has prolonged the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, and has trampled the U.S. Constitution along the way.
But at the end of the day, if the country is on the best path to prosperity, I couldn’t care less who occupies the Oval Office. It’s about our nation, and its citizens, succeeding.
So, while I personally believe that another four years under President Barack Obama will be absolutely devastating to this nation–possibly spiraling us into a Greek-like debt crisis–I hope and pray I am 100% wrong. As the walking, talking recession Governor, Ted Strickland, might say, I’m my own “cheerleader for failure.”
Yet, while I may hope I’m wrong, I know I’m not. And you don’t have to look too far to know why. Just look at the facts:
The national economy is struggling to keep up with government. President Obama’s response? More regulation and costly mandates on job creators. The result? An economy that’s “recovering” at the slowest rate in history.
As you can see from this chart, taken directly from the BLS website, there’s normally a “V” pattern. The numbers drop during a recession but then quickly bounce back. That hasn’t happened during this “recovery,” and that’s something that can be blamed on the President’s policies. Millions of jobs have vanished. But most of these lost jobs don’t even show up in the official unemployment rate data because workers have left the labor force. (Read the full article here.)
Our budget is a mess, spending 35% more than what we take in. Translated to the average Ohio family making $45,000/year, that’s the equivalent of that same family spending $60,750. A third grade student can tell that’s unsustainable. President Obama’s response? Putting forth a budget that garnered no support from a single member of Congress–Democrat or Republican–and promoting a do-nothing “fiscal cliff” deal. The result? The new taxes under the fiscal cliff legislation barely covers the new spending, with new revenue being able to operate the federal government for, wait for it, less than 6 days.
Oh, and that budget? We still don’t have one… Almost four years and counting…
Facing these tough issues, America needs real leadership. President Obama’s response? While Democrats control the Executive Branch and half of the Legislative Branch, he continues to play politics, telling Republicans in the U.S. House to lead. The result? Obama’s rejection of almost every single piece of legislation, while dozens of jobs bills languish in the Do-Nothing Democrat-led U.S. Senate.
That’s what the United States is facing, while our economy struggles to overcome the devastation that seems to follow these policies. Yet if these policies and ideas were the way out of this mess, I’d support the President, just so long as our country was on the right path. But it’s not.
In Ohio prior to 2011, our economy was struggling, our budget was busted with an $8 billion structural deficit, and we had a serious lack of leadership in the Governor’s office. Enter Governor John Kasich. Two years of serious, dedicated leadership, our state outpaces the national unemployment rate by a full point, is not only a leader in the Midwest in job creation, but is a top state in the entire nation, we’ve balanced our state budget and are headed toward a more than $500 million surplus, and we finally have a Governor who isn’t afraid to lead, even on the tough issues.
He’s dubbed the successes here in the Buckeye State, The Ohio Model. And it works.
Here in Ohio, we have the leadership that knows exactly what it takes to bring an economy and its citizens back from economic turmoil. The policies speak for themselves. But it seems like the folks in Washington, D.C., are bent on doing the exact opposite. Ohio continues to outperform the nation in almost every measurable category. You think President Obama might take a look at what works elsewhere and give it a shot?
So as President Obama begins his new term as Commander-in-Chief of the greatest nation in the world, I sincerely wish him the best of luck. I truly hope he succeeds and our nation is better off for it, even if it turns out I’ve been wrong about the man and his policies all along.
But I know I’m not.
