Yes, we can. Hope. A feeling of
the pendulum swinging towards a more just, fair, less scary world than what you
inherited from Bush. A few of the feelings I remember oh so well back in 2008
when you got elected as the 44th President of The United States,
even before that- as I was vehemently defending you as the obvious choice for
President when you were running, much to the chagrin of many friends/family.
Because, you know, you weren’t saying stuff like- I can see Russia from my
house. From the first time I heard you speak, I knew you were a man of
eloquence and intelligence. When I was fortunate enough to go to your
inauguration in Washington D.C upon your being voted in as President of The
United States in 2008, it still stands as one of the best things I have
experienced. 4 million people, not a single bad incident, and just an intense
energy of hope & happiness filled the air. It is almost indescribable. As
is the pain in my toes that day from how cold it was and not having the proper
amount of layering of socks on, haha.
I wanted to take the opportunity
to, actually more like felt like I needed to take this opportunity to, on the
eve of this crazy election night of Clinton vs. Trump (it’s hard to even type
it without cringing on the latter), to say thank you. Despite the disgusting
obstructionism you faced from the beginning from men who would of rather seen
you fail than America succeed (here’s a couple quotes of interest pertaining to
the Republican party’s plan when Obama first got elected- “we’re going to do
everything, and I mean everything we can do- to kill it, stop it, slow it down,
whatever we can”- John Boehner, “the single most important thing we want to achieve
is for President Obama to be a one-term President”- Mitch McConnell). I often
wonder how much more you could of gotten done without facing this kind of
inner-workings resistance. But despite this, among other obstacles such as the
birther movement, racism, a divided government, you still carried yourself, as
did your family, with nothing but grace & dignity. And you got a lot of
amazing things done for this country.
I am so proud of the President you have been to this country the last 8 years, and I want to say thank you for a few things mentioned below:
Thank you for evolving on
same-sex marriage. Once you did, your support was deafening and led to the
legalization in all 50 states. I particularly loved your quote that said “love
won.” It is of my opinion that only those with a certain level of intelligence are open to constant learning and evolving on things.
Thank you for passing the Health
Care Reform Act. It’s not perfect, but without it my Wife and I both couldn’t
have had health care due to having had melanoma.
Thank you for reversing the Bush
torture policies. They were disgusting, and not what America stands for.
Relating to this, thank you for improving our image abroad as well. I remember
traveling when Bush was President and being embarrassed to say I was from the
U.S. at the time. Thanks for putting my personal pride back into being an
American and what that stands for.
Thank you for being the first
and only President to brew homemade craft beer in the White House.
Thank you for expanding the
Wilderness and Watershed Protections, covering 2 million more acres of
wilderness and 1,000’s of miles of rivers.
Thank you for repealing don’t
ask, don’t tell.
Thank you for investing heavily
in renewable technologies, more than any previous legislation. $90 billion to
go towards the future of our planet and civilization. I’m gonna go ahead and
say thank you from future generations too.
Thank you for expanding hate
crimes protection- now including crimes based on one’s sexual orientation,
gender or disability.
Thank you for adding 13.7
million new jobs over a 69-month streak of job growth.
Thank you for making it so if I
travel to Cuba I can bring home as many cigars and bottles of rum as I want.
Thank you for ending use of
private prisons.
Thank you for speaking out
against conversion therapy. Quoted as saying “tonight, somewhere in America, a
young person will struggle to fall to sleep, wrestling alone with a secret he’s
held as long as he can remember. Soon, perhaps, he will decide it’s time to let
that secret out. What happens next depends on him, his family, as well as his
friends and his teachers and his community. But it also depends on us- the kind
of society we engender, the kind of future we build.”
Thank you for expanding stem
cell research.
Thank you for cracking down on
bad for-profit colleges (looking at you Trumph University).
Thank you for passing credit
card reform.
Thank you for recognizing the
dangers of carbon dioxide, so now the EPA regulates its production.
Thank you, with Michelle, for
improving school nutrition. The Healthy-Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 mandated
$4.5 billion to boost nutritional and health standards for kids school lunches.
Thank you for your humor and
candor.
Thank you for being a complete
and utter class act despite unprecedented obstructionism. There wasn’t a single
scandal pertaining to you or the first family the entire time you were
President. Thank you for being such great examples of a healthy, loving family
unit to so many people. You handled your post as President of The United States
the last 8 years with unmatched pragmatism, rationality, intelligence and, at
proper times, the best humor- not to mention some amazing dance moves.
As you did at the last White
House Correspondents Dinner, I’d say you deserve a ripple-effect mic drop that
I gage will last the ages. I will miss you and your entire family. I am so
proud to have voted for, supported and been alive during the time of your
Presidency.
YES YOU DID!
