Since President Barack Obama stepped into office three years ago, his time spent in the hallowed halls of our nation’s capital has been filled with faux pas and a lack of respect for his constituency – the American people.
In going out of his way to demonstrate respect for the wrong people and prioritizing the wrong things, Obama has simultaneously made a joke out of this country and himself. He began his reign with a series of foreign policy snafus (an iPod for the Queen?) and the hypocrisy of holding more respect for enemy combatants’ religion than that of his own predominantly Christian country was simply absurd.
But now, by apologizing to those affected by the inadvertent burning of Qurans but not to the more than 68 million Catholics in his own country for the proposed contraception mandate (which essentially spat in the face of religious believers), Obama’s apologetic behavior is becoming downright intolerable.
He has apologized for our great country every time he has been given the opportunity. And, just like a person who apologizes for their family to others, such behavior shows shame, disloyalty and an inability to lead our country as he was elected to do.
The one universal issue Obama seems to care about is jobs. As college students who have just invested (or had our parents invest) tens of thousands of dollars toward education, this should be one priority that unites us behind the president. It should be one thing that draws those worried about their employment future toward his campaign.
Not so surprisingly though, Obama cannot follow through on this either. When choosing between a massive number of jobs, cheaper cost of living and lessened dependence on the foreign countries he loves to apologize to on our behalf, Obama chose an entirely different option – the environment.
Now, I love sitting outside in the sunlight, surrounded by fresh air and beautiful trees as much as anyone else.
I think all God’s creations are beautiful and precious, including animals that could be damaged by work like the Keystone pipeline. But being the president of these United States, a.k.a. leader of the free world, is a job where making tough decisions comes with the territory. When you consider the good of your people who have spent your entire presidency in a recession with gas prices skyrocketing, involvement in two major foreign conflicts and high unemployment rates, is this really the time to say no to such a project?
There are other steps that should be taken to help the environment, such as further research in the field of clean energy, and I’m fully behind those steps.
This, however, is not the time to reject something that will create jobs, reduce living costs and reduce dependence on foreign energy. There are now reports that Obama has begun to reconsider his previous rejection of TransCanada’s plans. Even if, as the reports say, this is only consideration of a partial approval of the plans, it is finally a small step in the right direction.
If this does occur, I have to say it’s about time. With all the mistakes so far, I’m beginning to think the president actually wants our country to fail.
Laura Frost is a junior government and politics and journalism major. She can be reached at frost@umdbk.com.
