By, Caryn Freeman
Now that November has arrived and the presidential election is less than twelve months away voters are starting to look back on Obamas first term and what they were promised in 2008. The president has definitely had some wins and losses but the past few months in particular have been rough on the Obama Administration. The Solyndra solar panel manufacturer scandal that cost taxpayers half a trillion dollars after the company filed bankruptcy less the two years after it received a 535 million dollar loan funded by Obama’s Stimulus plan. Attorney General Eric Holder has been subpoenaed by Congress to answer more questions about when he first became aware of operation Fast and Furious, the gun smuggling operation run by the Department of Justice and the ATF that left Arizona border patrol agent Brian Terry dead from an untracked firearm that U.S. officials let fall into the hands of Mexican gun runners. As if that’s not enough, the president is still working to revitalize an economy that nearly collapsed in 2008. All of these matters and much more will have to be explained to voters by the president as he asks them to put their faith in him once more as commander and chief.
Barack Obama has found himself in a cleft stick having
to explain what happened to the hope and change he promised voters in 2008. The
same voters who have watched the political process become increasingly dysfunctional
in his first term. The change some thought they could believe along with the “yes
we can” campaign that stirringly landed Obama in the oval office just three
years ago have become fallacious mantras simply used to persuade voters they
had met their political savior. Recent polls suggest he has a lot of explaining
to do and to a lot of different groups. All of whom are asking Obama to show
them more of what he promised in 2008.
In a new Black Planet/News One poll, it was reported that 88 percent of African-Americans believe that President Barack Obama deserves a second term and only 12 percent of those polled believe he should be a one-term president. Compare those poll reports to the findings in a new USA Today poll that revealed half of the country believes Obama doesn’t deserve a second term while 47 percent believe that he does and a notable disparity between black and white voters is revealed. The USA Today poll was gathered from a mostly white caller-list compared to the predominantly African-American base on Blackplanet.com. While the majority of African-Americans polled believe that Obama hasn’t done enough to focus on the record number of unemployed African-Americans, they also believe they would be better served by a second Obama presidency than by any Republican candidate.
Vertulie Pierre-Louis whose first ever vote cast in a presidential election was for President Barack Obama believes the president came into a difficult situation but still must show voters more if he expects the same level of support he received in 2008. “In the next year something has to be accomplished in order for him to gain enough support to make it in the next election,” she said. “I would like to see some of the things he promised from the beginning. Not so much talk of the yes we can campaign I would like to see him put in place policies that I can have faith in and make me more comfortable with him in his second term as president. I don’t have that kind of faith right now.”
That seems to be the general sentiment amongst some of Obama’s most ardent 2008 supporters. All the more so the Hollywood community who fervently supported the president in 2007 and 2008 has been very vocal about their disappointment with the president in his first term. Michael Moore documentary filmmaker made famous for his scathing political documentaries told the BBC he finds the president’s first term “heartbreaking.” Actor Matt Damon, another celebrity who campaigned heavily for the president in 2008 has said that he will not campaign for Barack Obama in 2012. Damon also said he is “no longer hoping for audacity.” Damon is referencing the best-selling autobiography “Audacity of Hope” written by the president and released just three months before he announced his candidacy in 2007.
By and large it seems that the president’s re-election campaign will be an uphill battle. This time around Obama will have to work a lot harder explaining exactly how he plans to bring about the change he promised voters in 2008 while at the same time defending why they haven’t seen more from him in his first term.