Second: The Two Paths for Obama

The similarities between President Bush's re-election and President Obama's are notable: relatively unpopular presidents dealing a country that feels it is drifting off course and in the wrong direction.  Both managed to re-energize and turn out their base, much to the chagrin and incredulity of the opposing side.  Both were disliked by the opposition to the point that loathing might not be too strong a word.

We know what President Bush did.  He felt he had earned a mandate, and decided to push ahead with programs and policies he felt he could expend his 'political capital' on.  That combined with the draggings on of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and an eventual financial collapse contributed to abysmal approval ratings by the time he left office and a reputation today that one of the few bipartisanly held opinions in the country.

Wednesday morning, while trying to search for a way to feel positive about a second Obama term, and to determine why our nation had decided he would make a better President than Mitt Romney, I came to the following conclusion: America, ever an optimistic nation, has decided to give hope another chance.  While I do not agree with the conclusion that President Obama offers a brighter future for us, and I do not understand how we as a nation could had arrived at that decision with so much record and rhetoric to the contrary, I do sincerely hope that President Obama will be able to leads us in a positive direction.

And so I hope he learns from from the mistakes of President Bush.  As Mitt Romney was so fond of saying, we face enormous challenges as a nation.  Our deficits and debt, a stagnant economy, threats from abroad - our course in the 21st century will be heavily impacted by the decisions we make over the next decade, and especially the next four years.  My view is that President Obama was given another chance at hope - to be the President he told us he would be in 2008.  That candidate was not a left wing ideologue, he was unifying figure for a bruised and battered nation.  Four years later our still hurting nation is just as in need of a hero - President Obama, be that hero.

So many crucial decisions await us as a nation, we really cannot afford partisan bickering over the next four years.  That does not mean either party can or should abandon its principles - but it does mean we should have an honest and open dialogue that leads to honest and durable solutions.

That President Obama can be that leader, one I do not believe he has been, is my sincere hope and prayer.