On one defining day, both centrists and liberals put their faith in a candidate with a funny name and changed the way the world looks at the U.S forever. I live in Europe (Ireland, to be exact) and because of the actions of Democrats, people all over Europe said "You know what; maybe people in the U.S aren't that bad after all. Maybe Bush was just a really dumb mistake. And you know what else, in the middle of the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression; those guys picked the best guy for the job". Almost 20 months on, it’s easy to forget how big a deal that victory was and neither the world nor you guys should ever forget the importance of that victory.
But now, 20 months and on the eve of an election that will most likely define the rest of President Obama's first term, you are at each others throats over the most petty, inane and frankly stupid squabbles. I mean, are you guys trying to screw things up? You are all in the same party and you are making it far easier for the GOP than it needs to be.
Just look at the differences between the parties on the key issues and see the damage a GOP in power could do.
Health Care
Democrats want to supply good, affordable health care to all citizens. If you get sick, you should be able to get health care without having to take a huge financial hit. The HIR bill passed earlier this year entirely by Democrats was far from perfect, but it was a good first step.
In comparison, the GOP has a more 19th century outlook on health care. They desperately want to repeal HIR and want to return to the days of "You sick? Tough shit, it ain't my problem".
The Economy
When President Obama took office in January 09, the world economy was circling the drain. The U.S was on the very verge of complete economic oblivion. Yet because of President Obama's and Democrats Stimulus package, the U.S avoided economic destruction. The Stimulus package will probably go down in history as one of the most under appreciated bills of all time and advanced the liberal agenda more than any other bill in recent memory. Yes, the economy still sucks and the stimulus was probably too small, but isn't averting Great Depression number 2 a worthy achievement?
I don't know whether the GOP have done this on purpose or not, but the current GOP are complete economic illiterate. Even the most conservative economist understands that you need to extend unemployment benefits in the current economic climate yet because of GOP obstruction, it took Democrats to pass unemployment benefits and thus, keep the recovery alive. Yet even though the GOP hates unemployment benefits, they love tax cuts for the rich. I wonder why?
Education
One of the greatest mistakes people have made over the past few months is that that they have completely disregarded the incredible advances made in education during this Congress. Once again, all these reforms were passed by democrats. March 30, 2010, President Obama signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, which ended the role of private banks in lending out federally-insured student loans. By directly lending to students, the government is projected to save taxpayers $68 billion dollars over the next several years. The law also increased the amount of Pell Grant awards given each year, doubling its current funding. Starting in 2014, the law permits borrowers to cap the amount they spend on student loans each year to 10% of their discretionary income and have their balance forgiven if they have faithfully paid the balance of their loan over 20 years. It is nothing less than a scandal that these reforms do not receive more credit.
Of course, the GOP has no public education policy. Why should they care about education, or health-care or the economy when they have more important things to worry about? Like trying to launch investigations to make sure that President Obama isn't Kenyan or trying to spread the horrendously stupid lie that democrats are "socialists". Now those are the important issues of today.
Yes, there will always be divisions in the Democratic Party and it will never be perfect, but every time another pointless row erupts it makes it that much easier for the GOP to win in November. So cop yourselves on, give credit where credit is due and stop acting like children