It seems like longer than 3 years that the United States was deciding over Obama or John McCain. I will always remember that election specifically since it was my first election in college. Seeing things from another angle, and meeting people who have different perspectives gives you a sense of what everyone else sees. It was really a cool treat to see my family discuss the candidates differences and what they wanted in the next president, and my new friends discuss the same issues and wants but from a million different points of view.
I remember that John McCain’s image was centered on security, homeland security. It was almost as if he was the old Uncle Sam that if you voted for him, he’d protect you from harm. For, at that time, we were engaged in 2 wars- one in Iraq, and the other in Afghanistan.
A few days ago I was in class, and a conversation came up about the upcoming election. A friend of mine in that class took a strong stance against the action to re-elect President Obama because of how he handled and carried the wars that he inherited from the Bush years. It was a very confusing conversation. This friend has been dating, and is now engaged to a man in the military who is currently serving in Afghanistan. She became very vocal about voting for the opposite party, not because she felt Obama is a bad president over all, but because he prolonged the pull out of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite his words in 2008. What’s overall confusing with the conversation is that she voted for Obama in the 2008 election.
How long is too long? How much time does a soldier need to spend overseas before it becomes a concern? When there is a pull out of troops, she felt, why did her loved one’s company have to stay for an extra tour when they should be out of there to begin with?
These kind of questions are circling around, not only my friend’s head, but millions of other relatives and loved one’s of US Soldiers. Now, I’m not downplaying or ignoring that in Obama’s time in office, he did succeed in securing the life of Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, and officially call an end to the Iraq War. I personally feel that the events happened in a way that time allowed them to, securely.
What I’ve been struggling with this week is trying to determine whether or not my friend fell victim to the “Obama Syndrome” that spurred from the 2008 campaign. I define “Obama Syndrome” as “if I vote for him, he will do something for me.” I mean, it’s a key component of the Democratic Party for over 100 years. Certain people felt they’d get tax cuts, welfare, jobs, college tuition regulation, etc. You name it and someone probably voted for him so they could get that out of Obama like he said he would give out. For my friend, and millions like her, they felt their loved ones would be home much sooner than later with Obama in office, and since his failure to deliver in a large capacity, how much will his campaign suffer for people looking for the security of their nation, and their loved one’s back home?
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