President Barrack Obama Essay Example for Free

President Barrack Obama Essay Every politician makes promises of what he or she will do when elected president and many of them do not see their promises through. President Barrack Obama is no exception and he made more than 500 promises to the people of United States of America if elected president. People should not except that promises politicians make to be a 100% fulfilled. However, president Barrack Obama has fulfilled a number of the promises he made to the people while others are to be fulfilled. The paper focuses on some of the promises the president promised during his campaigns for presidency and their state in the present day, a discussion if Obama would invade Iran and the new Arizona Immigrant Bill and whether he should get involved. How well does President Barrack Obama live to the expectations of the people? President Barrack Obama Barrack Obama is the 44th president of America and won the elections on 4th November, 2008 by a landslide win of 52. 9% against his opponent from the Republican Party, John McCain who acquired 45. 7% popular vote. During his campaign, president Barrack Obama made more than 500 promises to the people which were to be fulfilled after he was elected president. It has been one year and seven months since his inauguration on January 20, 2009. Albeit speculations about his promises as campaign tools for presidency, president Barrack Obama has undergone both positive and negative criticisms based on the same promises that defined him during his campaign and has managed to fulfill some of the promises he made to the people of the United States of America, while others stand to be fulfilled (Janny, 2008). I would say that the Obama reign and governance still has time to fulfill the promises it made to the people of the United States of America. Either way, critics would still be made about him either carrying out Bush practices to his administration and of being a president who used vague promises to the people of the United States in order to be elected president. Some believe that president Obama is the most widely criticized president of the United States of America for all times. All in all, the president deserves a pat on the back for the promises he has managed to fulfill, the promises he is still fulfilling and the promises he is to fulfill. Time would tell if his promises were merely campaign tools by the end of his era, which till then, president Obama has a lot to live to the expectations of the people of the United States of America, the people who elected him believing that he was the new dawn for America, an era of the youths to rule (Janny, 2008). Some may argue that president Obama has continued to carry on the practices in the retired president bush regime while others believe that Obama has carried out recommendable efforts to change the country. President Obama made promises to the people of the United States, but the people should not expect the promises to be fulfilled overnight. Some of the things he promised are becoming harder and harder to fulfill for instance the promise of the united states government being transparent, accountable and allowing the press to have access to government records. He promised to end the blanket of secrecy the Bush regime operated under by making the government act responsibly and become more accountable to the people it is serving and thereby making him the most liberal president of the U. S. (Janny, 2008). The promise of openness was signed during his first day in office and to present day still remains making it easier for the Americans to scrutinize the government for there is no secrecy that has been typical of past American governments. However, this promise has been challenged after the high court ruled out publication of torture article for the Guantanamo Bay detainees. The position for not publishing is because the information, if it were to be published would make United Kingdom questions the intelligence of sharing information with the U. S. This has added to the doubts as to whether president’s Obama promises were merely campaign tools (Stolberg, 2010). In the article â€Å"Barrack Obama on the issues: what would be your top three priorities if elected? † (2008), during his campaigns, he made one of his major promises to withdraw the United States troops from Iraq and end the Iraq war. Many citizens embraced the idea with open arms for they believed that the U. S. interference with Iraq was costing the country a lot of money which could be used to salvage other countries’ priorities. He promised the people that he was going to make sure that United States troop’s combats were going to be out of Iraq within six months since his election as president. The promise to remove troops from Iraq came to pass during his first days as president of the United States of America when he ordered that United States military to start preparing to leave Iraq. Today, the president’s promise is getting closer to be fulfilled for he has already set the deadline for withdrawal of the troops as 31st August, 2010 for the promise to be executed on schedule. Alongside with the directives he issued in his first days as president, for the U. S. military to withdraw from Iraq, he believe that by withdrawing the United States military troops, the U. S. would be giving Iraq government autonomy and independence over the future of its people and country. Iraq government will have to deal with terrorist threats themselves and form their own government. This he said because he believed in the diplomatic way of solving conflicts and the U. S. as a mediator between the countries bordering Iraq for peace to be attained in the region. In the article â€Å"Barrack Obama on the issues: what would be your top three priorities if elected? † (2008), President Obama intended to close down the Guantanamo detention camp immediately he took over as president but this was hindered by a number of factors. The camp was to be closed within one year and terrorist suspects were no longer to be interrogated using torture methods. In addition, it was made illegal for the U. S. to have secret detention camps in other countries or for such camps to be built in the future. This involved the closure of CIA secret detention centers, further closure of the Afghanistan and Iraq detention facilities in the future. President barrack Obama, said that by closing the detention camp, it would allow the detainees who have been help up in the camps without fair trial the opportunity of fair trial or release. This was to ensure that the United States of America government practiced more ethical values of dealing with violence and terrorism other that the inhuman methods employed by the Bush administration. The promise still remains to be fulfilled as many countries have shown reluctance to receiving terrorists in their countries. Issues are still arising as to whether the terrorist after being delivered to other countries will be tortured. Arguably, some people believe that the terrorists are too dangerous to be released and therefore the promise stands to be fulfilled within the time that president Obama is in power. President Obama also promised that there would be no tax hikes for those people with an annual income of less than $250,000 which comprises of a large number of people because most of them barely make $100,000 along side his health care reform promise to include more people being insured. In the article â€Å"Barrack Obama on the issues: what would be your top three priorities if elected? † (2008), however, when tax on cigarette was increased, it made the promise during the campaign unrealistic because majority of those who use cigarettes barely make more than $250,000. Many people interpreted his promises differently for it is very unrealistic not to tax anything that the poor man uses. In addition, increase in tax on cigarettes leads to a decline on those people who use them especially the under aged since they cannot afford it. For a non dictator president like Barrack Obama not to dogmatically impose his ideas on the people, I tend to think that people are being unfair to him and are judging him too harshly. He has done a lot in light of the promises; he is being pushed from all sides by people who are wishing that he fails in his reign as president and also compressed to meet both the republicans and democrats demands of the government. When pushed too much, both internationally and domestically, Obama has ended up not doing anything and this has contributed to the down fall of the United States economy but there is time for him to correct his mistakes and carry on with the promises. What the United States of America people and politicians should be doing is to lend him a hand and not expect him to put the country on track single handedly. President Barrack Obama is also working with people who did not promise anything to the people of the United States of America and therefore they do not feel compelled to help him attain his goals (Janny, 2008). Speculations arise as to whether president Obama could invade Iran after it announced that it has started converting uranium into gas. It is believed that Iran is a step away from making nuclear bomb even after the suspension of such activities in Iran by the International Atomic Energy Agency. President Obama has considered asking other countries to request Iran into giving up through international community and solidarity into pressuring Iran give up its nuclear interests. When diplomatic efforts fails to make Iran cease its nuclear efforts, I think president Obama will result into invading the country through the military striking the productions sites of nuclear in Iran. Invading Iran will no doubt create bad relations of the U. S. with the Arab Emirates but president Obama considers it better than having a liberal Muslim state possess nuclear weapons. In addition to his country’s troops been in Iraq, Obama is left with no choice than to invade Iran if international sanction do not compel the country to stop its quest for nuclear weapons (Janny, 2008). The new Arizona Immigrant Bill is believed to be one of the toughest bills on immigrants. Upon the enactment of the bill, immigrants will be identified, prosecuted and deported back to their home country if suspected to be in Arizona illegally. Immigrants in Arizona are to carry immigration documents which make it an offense not to have the immigration documents in the country. The police will have the power to arrest and detain those people who are in the country illegally. Many people are opposed to it feeling that it opens up the right to harassment of foreigners and any person suspected of being a foreigner thereby undermining the rights of people. Others are for the bill to be enacted and strict penalties be imposed on employers who hire illegal immigrants imposed. This is in line with the belief that most immigrants are taking up the rights of Americans in the workplace while Native Americans continue to suffer for they lack job opportunities which have been grabbed by the illegal immigrants. The bill is also anticipated to build a lot of racism and ethnic outline. Furthermore immigrants will fear reporting anything to the authority for fear of being deported to their country, which is not in line with combating crime in Arizona. Various organizations are opposed to the immigration bill and calls for its revoking for fear that it may spread from Arizona to other states and therefore jeopardizing public safety. President barrack Obama is opposed to the immigration bill in Arizona terming it as misguided and poorly conceived. I think the president should get involved in coming up with immigration reforms but only when he conjures up the democrats together with the republicans into putting in place immigration laws that are not unethical (Janny, 2008). President Obama health care plan was among the promises he delivered during his campaign. He sought to end the way insurance companies abuse the rights of the citizens of America. In the bill, the president aimed at creating and enacting rules that saw everybody being treated fairly when it came to health care and creating health care insurances for the people which are affordable. It was a concern for the president that many Americans could not afford health care insurance and thereby incorporated a promise on health care to broaden the number of people under insurance in the country especially those who are poor. One of the ways that affordable insurance is being maintained is through the tax increase on cigarettes. A large percentage of the money is being channeled to poor families specifically those families that have been victims of tobacco and could not afford health care insurance (Stolberg, 2010). I strongly agree with president Obama’s health care plan. Through his plan more and more people are assured of obtaining medical cover. The move to provide the middle class with tax cuts ensures that those people who were never covered will be covered and afford health care in the united states of America. In as much as critics are arising as to whether universal health care is possible, what Obama is doing to provide affordable medical services affordable is commendable. Insurance companies will also be more accountable for they will have rules that are governing them not to deny health coverage to the people of America. The era where poor American could not afford the similar choices of medical insurance with prominent members of parliament are long gone through the Obama health care plan. The plan aims at providing leverage in terms of insurance with competitive prices of health care insurance and no longer will Americans be discriminated in light of provision of health care. With such propositions, it would be very unwise not to fully agree with what president Barrack Obama is doing for his country (Stolberg, 2010). â€Å"Yes We Can† was the slogan during the campaigns for presidency which saw Obama defeat McCain and become the 44th president of America. Being a young presidential candidate, many youths believed in him and they voted him to bring about reforms in America. Obama widely campaigned and made more than 500 promises to the people of America. Some of the promises have been attained; others are in progress while others may seem to have been forgotten. It is however myopic to discredit what the president has done for his country and what he is trying to do. President Obama has many promises to fulfill and this is worsened by the way he is being judged on a daily basis. It is as if he is walking through the hawk eyes of a people that is relaxing and watching what one man alone can do for his country. By the mere fact that he promised to bring about reforms in the government and move away from practices that were during the Bush era, it does not mean that he will do it alone. The slogan â€Å"Yes We Can† I tend to believe incorporated every individual who is an American citizen to work together to bring about changes in the country. In addition, his time as the president of America is not yet over and the president will do the best he can to fulfill his promises to the nation for the promises are geared towards the development of America and its citizens (Janny, 2008). References Janny, S. : â€Å"The story of Obama, written by Obama†. (2008, May 18). The New York Times, p. 1. â€Å"Barrack Obama on the issues: what would be your top three priorities if elected? † (2008, April 14): Washington post. Stolberg, S. â€Å"Obama Signs Landmark Health Care Bill†: (2010, March 23): The New York Times.