Accomplishments aplenty

In a letter to the Citizen just prior to Barack Obama’s first inauguration, I wrote, “I hope that he can achieve the change and hope that he has come to epitomize. I do fear that his biggest challenge will be meeting all of the expectations that so many people have placed upon him.” The fact that he has been inaugurated for his second term shows that most Americans must think he has accomplished that near-impossible feat.

Yes, there are many who are disappointed in what he has accomplished, but the fact is, he has accomplished many positive things. In 2009, nobody thought that he could bring in a law that would offer health-care benefits to the millions who were without. You may not like the resulting law, but despite the battles he had to fight, there is such a law in effect. It will now be up to Americans to improve that law over time.

Obama was smart enough to appoint his political rival, Hillary Clinton, as secretary of state, much as Abraham Lincoln populated his cabinet with a “Team of Rivals.” U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton has travelled the world mending fences and facing crises, many of them a legacy of Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush. Clinton and Obama have managed to impose American influence in foreign affairs without committing the U.S. to new wars, a noteworthy feat in itself.

Obama has accomplished many things, including an election win for a second term, despite having had a running fight with his political enemies over the American deficit and budget. In so many ways, he has met my hopes for his presidency and I once again wish him the best as he enters another four years of leading our greatest ally. This time, nobody is talking about his colour.

GORDON FORBES, Orléans