By Chuck Herz
From the
Casper
Star Tribune, 1/2/2011
Over
President Barack Obama’s first two years in
office he and Congress have:
- Rescued our
economy from the free fall it was in when he
took office and laid the foundation for a much
sounder future economy.
- Enacted reforms
that make us safer in our health and our
finances.
- Extended individual liberty and
equality -- the hallmarks of American
democracy.
- Made strides to safeguard our
country and restore respect for it in the
world.
EconomyAs Obama took
office, we confronted economic collapse. People
were losing jobs, houses, and savings at rates
not seen since the Great Depression. Another
depression threatened.
The president,
Congress, and the Federal Reserve took action
to arrest the collapse and get the economy back
on track -- but a sounder, more sustainable
track. Sweeping financial reform curtails
practices that brought on or deepened the Great
Recession.
The Recovery Act stimulus
package, the rescue of the U.S. auto industry,
and other actions brought us back from the
brink and restored economic growth. Growth has
been sustained over several quarters, but
hasn’t yet gotten enough people back to
work.
The more recent extension of tax
cuts and unemployment benefits will sustain
those still out of work and further spur the
economy.
Stimulus was essential to make
up for curtailed demand from fearful consumers
and businesses, from banks cutting off credit,
and from strapped state governments, but adds a
lot to the record-setting debt piled up over
the previous eight years. Democrats had
introduced fiscal discipline during the Bill
Clinton years and left government well into the
black. Obama has taken steps to renew that
fiscal responsibility once the current crisis
is past, by restoring the "Pay-Go" rules Bush
and Congress had swept away, freezing federal
discretionary programs and federal-employee
pay, and asking a bipartisan Presidential
Commission to recommend tough fiscal measures
requiring sacrifice from everyone.
SafetyObama’s signature
accomplishment was the health care reform that
had long eluded us. It was clouded by
controversy and disinformation about what the
reform does. But the proof of the pudding will
be in the eating.
When fully operational
in 2014 "Obamacare" will ensure that millions
(thousands of Wyomingites) who’ve had no
insurance or insurance that covers too little
no longer need play Russian roulette with
family health and finances. It will secure us
from having to pay for those who choose to play
Russian roulette, forcing others to pick up the
tab when they can’t pay. Those with
"pre-existing conditions" will get coverage.
Preventive care will reduce risk of serious
illness and costlier care. Your insurer can no
longer cut you off just when you need expensive
care on grounds of some technical error. Trials
of promising ways to limit costs will begin.
And according to the nonpartisan Congressional
Budget Office, all this will reduce, not add
to, the federal deficit.
Those who
attack Obamacare owe an adequate alternative
solution to all these problems and a national
health care system that has cost us far more of
our GDP, and delivered poorer health results
(life expectancy, child mortality, etc.), than
the systems of other nations.
Among
other Obama accomplishments that safeguard our
families are credit card reform that puts a
stop to exorbitant or suddenly hiked interest
rates and fees and a major update of food and
drug safety laws.
Liberty and equalityUnder
Obama we’ve taken further steps toward
completing the bedrock American commitment to
liberty and equality. Repeal of Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell means that those willing to risk
their lives for us are not barred from military
service by their private personal behavior. A
new law aimed at equal pay for equal work
restores the rights of women to challenge pay
discrimination once they become aware of it.
Two extraordinary women have gone on the
Supreme Court, one of them the first Latina
there. And prejudice-induced violence will be
curbed by the Hate Crimes Prevention
Act.
National securityPresident
Obama has brought an end to combat operations
in Iraq. In the nearly impossible conditions of
Afghanistan, the additional troops he committed
and the new leadership he installed are making
tangible progress. The new Strategic Arms
treaty with Russia reduces the threat of
nuclear weapons and improves our credibility to
limit their spread. A new trade deal with South
Korea strengthens both countries and both
economies. America’s reputation and credibility
in the world, tattered and stained when Obama
took office, has recovered.
These are
but the high points of an extraordinarily cycle
in American history. If you look only at the
legislative record, one conservative scholar
concludes, "you really don’t have any rivals
since Lyndon Johnson -- and that includes
Ronald Reagan."
Chuck Herz is the chairman of the
Wyoming Democratic Party.
