President Obama remains in a tight race--that he will ultimately win-with Mitt Romney, and despite considerable achievements across several areas of political and social endeavor. But the battle continues because of three factors:
A) Conservative and religious voters cannot see beyond their legitimate religious belief that both abortion and homosexuality pose special threats to society and raising children.
B) That people believe economic change can come somewhat instantly, and anything that takes longer smacks of incompetence or corruption.
C) A general willingness in some voters to believe lies that conform to certain conscious or subconscious perceptions about the capabilities, motivations, and worthiness of black people.
The President has tried to counter both (B) and (C), while largely concluding that he will not convince those with social issues in group (A). He likely calculated that he could offset the ultra conservative religious vote with more animated support from women, progressives and gay individuals.
The tendency on the left is to dismiss those concerned about social issues (or the "wrong side" of social issues) as being largely inferior if not outright wrong. We are always sure that such dismissal--the trivialization of the other--does nobody any good. Everyone's concerns need to be considered, and some decent compromise found within the law.
However, if we are to look at the policies centered around broader American life and the struggling economy, it's hard to dismiss Obama's efforts as inadequate. Even today just days before the election on November 6th we see signs of continued economic health. It is not robust, and the indicated job growth, like in the ADP report released today, certainly is not enough to make people feel secure. And yet when combined with upticks in consumer confidence and increases in manufacturing, it's hard to ignore the positive trends.
We are better off than we were four years ago. Primarily because we set on the edge of worldwide financial collapse that could have brought down our entire way of financing life and paying for those things that we need.
The assumption from many in the population at large is that asset values (in their homes) should have remained as they were, inflated, and the thus the deflation now is somehow a sign of things not being quite right or normal. The belief is that you can take a major financial collapse and work out the kinks in a year or two, or that such things can be quickly resolved via lowering tax rates, prosecuting bankers or letting various sectors of the economy (cars/banks) collapse under their own weight.
Reality reveals otherwise, and that the choices thus made were the right ones, with an economy slowly coming out of the doldrums. Concurrent with the economic effort came the implementation of healthcare reform, which, despite critiques, actually exists as an additional initiative that will prove long terms gains in encouraging both mental security and entrepreneurial freedom down the road. The spread of economic efficiency and innovation in that sector, while improving people's access to life affirming healthcare, represents a massive focus on moving the economy into robust growth. When you are not worried about your health coverage, or keeping some job merely because it provides the best insurance, then you are free to travel, to try new things, to take more ambitious economic actions. Taking different approaches to healthcare opens doors and moves us all forward.
Four years ago we were headed off a cliff. Now we are not. President Obama has spent four years trying to mend the tear in our economic and social fabric. He has been hampered most robustly by those in group (C) who have sought diversion and untruth and hate as weapons of combat. And yet, forward we go. The President has gone out of his way to ignore the cheap tricks and Trump cards and those who would seek to suck him into some perceived racial or ethnic battle. He has approached policies that benefit all Americans, and from a variety of angles and approaches.
That broad and focused look forward is what will continue to serve us well.
