Welcome back. I know I’ve got at least one reader so I’m going to continue with my blog. My third entry will attempt to assess President Obama’s work on environmental issues. Has he stood by his “change” platform or conformed to the political paradox of unfulfilled promises? Has he been in office long enough to make change? Does he even have the power to really make a difference?
I’d like to take a moment here to preface this entry by saying that President Obama’s election victory was one for the textbooks. Not only did the man run a flawless campaign, he was able to capture the majority vote of many states that hadn’t gone blue in decades. Also, we as a nation elected the first African-American President in the history of our country. Such a huge step for mankind! Now that I’ve gotten that little rant off my chest lets talk about the platform Obama ran on.
With America in shambles because of a faltering economy and a drawn-out war effort people were ready for a change. We had stood by President George W. Bush’s side for 8 long years and we were ready for something new: a change. This change is exactly what President Barrack Obama promised if and when he got elected.
If you talk to two different people and ask them what they think a promise is one might say, “promises are meant to be broken” while the other may say, “promises are meant to be kept.” I believe that when any President is elected it is his duty to keep as many promises as he has made (or try to the best of his ability). I am a realistic person and I do have reasonable expectations when it comes to fulfilling these promises so, Mr. President, I haven’t jumped ship just yet…I’m going to continue with my blog format in laying out three relevant environmental promises Obama has made and discuss why these particular promises have been kept. First, let us talk about President Obama’s pledge to increase funding for national parks and forests. This can be seen as an extremely salient issue because the preservation of these national parks and forests means less displaced animals and more natural resource conservation. Obama was able to execute this promise by signing a bill to increase funding (sounds pretty simple—oh if only all legislation required the stroke of a pen). Next, lets take a more complex promise such as encouraging water conservation in the west. He was able to tackle this promise by including it in a 175 million dollar stimulus pledge that listed water conservation (specifically w. regard to western states) as a priority. Lastly, President Obama told his supporters that he would push farmers to use more efficient and renewable resources when farming. Obama stood by this pledge by proposing new energy initiatives and increasing funding for the hopeful creation of hydroelectric powered sources.
Above, I’ve mentioned only three environmental issues that Obama pledged to change and successfully followed through on. Not every promise is going to be executed and I’m ok with that. When a baseball player goes up to the plate is he expected to hit a homerun each time? When a student takes an examination will they get each question correct? When a comedian tells a joke will the entire audience laugh? I think, we as citizens of the United States have unrealistic expectations. We must prioritize issues most salient to the nation and realize that the President only serves a four-year term. Which leads me nicely into my next topic of discussion. How much power does the President really have?
Every piece of legislation, especially large bills, takes time. Its not just as though President Obama can say, “I think that there is too much pollution, therefore all companies must stop polluting,” and bam a law banning pollution is created. There is order in the legislative branch. Each bill must get approved in the house and the senate before making its way to the President’s desk, which can take years. This time, limits the power the President has. If a bill proposed by the President never makes it past the house, is he responsible for his promise not being kept? He wrote the legislation, didn’t he?
I’m going to go out on a limb and tell environmentalists to cut President Obama some slack. He entered office in an economic recession and has been dealing with removing our troops from the Middle-East. He HAS gotten a decent chunk of legislation passed with regards to the environment and if re-elected I feel he will continue to fulfill his promises. Just give him some time. As I’ve said before legislation isn’t born overnight just as change takes more than a few years. Environmentalists talk about not taking the quick fix when it comes to using the Earth’s resources—well guess what give the guy some damn time. Maybe change over time should have been his motto—would have saved us all an ear, no?
Post was a little harsh? You guessed it---go sleep in a haystack.
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