Politics as usual in Washington

Politics as usual in Washington

Have you been paying at- tention to the politics coming out of Washington lately? It is mind boggling watching the tea party Republicans lead the way in inundating the public with all this Watergate-style politics. If the intent is to demean and discredit the Obama presidency it’s not working.

It’s a fact that this president has significantly affected the way Americans think more so than any other president in modern history. In other words, these years will make the inception of a new epoch; a span of time in which Americans began to think differently in reference to health coverage, immigration practices, gay rights, gun laws and most importantly, how we deal with our friends and foes abroad.

In December of 2009, columnist Joe Klein said that the legacy and success of the Obama presidency would depend on the passage of the health care bill and troop withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan. The president has gone beyond that. His leadership led to the capture and death of Osma bin Laden. 62 percent of the American electorate re-elected him to a second term. And even though the president has influenced the passage of key legislation and demonstrated time and time again that he is presidential, John McCain and the extremists continue to bury their heads in the sand.

Reading Richard Haas’s book, “Foreign Policy Begins at Home, getting your house in order” gives a good picture of what Barack Obama’s vision entails. Obama is not a chump. No one gave him the presidency. He fought for it. He is a champion. It is his vision of America that will set the guidelines for our children.

It is my contention that if President Obama can sidestep the so-called Benghazi and IRS scandals and resist the lure of the John McCain faction calling for our military involvement in the Syrian civil war, it is probable that he will go down in history as one of our greatest presidents since Abraham Lincoln.

Alfred Spencer, Warren