President Obama laughs with his wife Michelle and his daughters Malia and Sasha after his speech to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., Sept. 6.
This editorial page, where The Charleston Gazette outlines its political beliefs, has made it abundantly clear that West Virginia's largest newspaper supports Democratic President Obama for a second term in the White House. Nonetheless, we want to offer this official endorsement.
We think Obama is a brilliant statesman who has uplifted America after the debacle of the Bush-Cheney epoch.
When Obama assumed the presidency in 2009, calamity was occurring. The U.S. economy was collapsing, shedding up to 800,000 jobs each month. Millions of homes were sinking into foreclosure because of Wall Street's fiasco with subprime mortgages bundled into flimsy securities.
Steadfastly, Obama imposed rescue measures to halt the hemorrhage. He clamped new policing on Wall Street and injected stimulus funds to save American industries from destruction. U.S. automakers were resuscitated. Millions of construction jobs were created.
Gradually, recovery has gained ground. The stock market has doubled in value since those dismal times. Although patterns of employment may be permanently trimmed by Internet-era streamlining, the growth of jobs this year is hopeful.
Aside from the economy, Obama has brought major advances to America. Some of them:
• He won a huge stride toward universal health insurance for all. His Affordable Care Act will cover 30 million more Americans who had no protection against disease or accident.
• He ended the Bush-Cheney bungle in Iraq -- a needless war started on untrue claims, costing more than 4,000 young American lives and costing U.S. taxpayers $1 trillion -- and now Obama is winding down the second Bush-Cheney war in Afghanistan.
This editorial page, where
The Charleston Gazette outlines its political beliefs, has made it abundantly clear that West Virginia's largest newspaper supports Democratic President Obama for a second term in the White House. Nonetheless, we want to offer this official endorsement.
We think Obama is a brilliant statesman who has uplifted America after the debacle of the Bush-Cheney epoch.
When Obama assumed the presidency in 2009, calamity was occurring. The U.S. economy was collapsing, shedding up to 800,000 jobs each month. Millions of homes were sinking into foreclosure because of Wall Street's fiasco with subprime mortgages bundled into flimsy securities.
Steadfastly, Obama imposed rescue measures to halt the hemorrhage. He clamped new policing on Wall Street and injected stimulus funds to save American industries from destruction. U.S. automakers were resuscitated. Millions of construction jobs were created.
Gradually, recovery has gained ground. The stock market has doubled in value since those dismal times. Although patterns of employment may be permanently trimmed by Internet-era streamlining, the growth of jobs this year is hopeful.
Aside from the economy, Obama has brought major advances to America. Some of them:
• He won a huge stride toward universal health insurance for all. His Affordable Care Act will cover 30 million more Americans who had no protection against disease or accident.
• He ended the Bush-Cheney bungle in Iraq -- a needless war started on untrue claims, costing more than 4,000 young American lives and costing U.S. taxpayers $1 trillion -- and now Obama is winding down the second Bush-Cheney war in Afghanistan.
• He advanced human rights by ending the military's ban on gays and supporting equality for the outcast minority.
• He has decimated the al-Qaida terror network and killed its worldwide leader.
• He extended fairness to Hispanics by halting deportation of young Latinos who were smuggled into the United States as tots.
• He provided air cover so the "Arab spring" popular uprising in Libya could topple ruthless dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
Last month, Newsweek predicted that Obama's second term may secure his status in American history. The national magazine said:
"He will emerge as an iconic figure who struggled through a recession and a terrorized world, reshaping the economy within it, passing universal health care, strafing the ranks of al-Qaida, presiding over a civil-rights revolution, and then enjoying the fruits of the recovery."
This forecast spells hope for America. We endorse the Obama-Biden ticket to keep the nation moving toward these goals.
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