This Friday we will say goodbye to the 44th president of the United States. President Obama and his family will pack their bags and move out of the White House to make room for our incoming president.
When Obama leaves, we will lose a professional, reasonable and polished man.
Though the Editorial Board doesn’t agree with much of the policy enacted during Obama’s two terms, we admire the grace and professionalism with which he led our country.
In short we feel the policies passed during Obama’s time in office were lacking.
Marijuana is still a Schedule I drug, the United States dropped more than 26,000 bombs in 2016 alone, and Obama’s health care law harms the lower middle class more than anyone else.
“Obamacare” has not been a smooth ride.
According to the Miami Herald, Consumers who were told they could keep their health care provider found that to be untrue, and the cost of insurance is going to continue to increase in 2017.
People with preexisting conditions could more easily find coverage, but it’s still cheaper for poor families to pay the fine for not having coverage than to insure themselves.
Under Obama we also expected a presidency that would foster peace in conflict-riddled areas of the world.
He even said he would end the war in Iraq on his first day in office.
Though we have far fewer troops stationed there than we did during Bush’s presidency, the majority of those 26,000 bombs dropped in 2016 targeted Iraq and Syria.
The Obama presidency was not as peaceful as we hoped it would be.
Despite the problems in policy during Obama’s terms we unquestioningly admire his professionalism and poise.
The Editorial Board fears that this air of civility will be lost on our next president.
In the 2016 presidential election we saw some truly nasty remarks and actions from both the Republicans and the Democrats.
President-elect Donald Trump won his primary by bullying his peers and talking over everyone who disagreed with him, and Hillary Clinton’s laughable attempts to be relatable made everyone cringe.
Think back to the 2008 and 2012 elections. They may seem comparatively boring when you pit them against our most recent presidential race, but the candidates involved showed much more respect for one another than we saw this past year.
Obama didn’t win his elections based on ad-hominem attacks or deception.
He won with civil debate and respect for the office.
No one can argue with that.
Throughout his entire presidency, Obama was a funny, smooth, relatable and respectable figure. When he gave a speech, people earnestly wanted to listen.
The U.S. is headed for a period of uncertainty.
We aren’t sure what we are going to get during Trump’s presidency, and that frightens us, so we look at the professional attitude Obama had during his time in office, and we admire how he’s carried himself for the past eight years.
Though much of his policy left something to be desired, Obama loves the U.S. and wanted to steer us in the right direction during his time as president.
He respected the office and his peers, and for that we are grateful.
