CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The presidential election of 2012 is quickly drawing to a close, and the contest is in a dead heat according to some polls. Our president has accomplished much over the past four years, while having to combat an obstructive Republican controlled House of Representatives and a filibuster-prone minority in the Senate.

The president has had to defend his birthright and religious beliefs, while combating racism. Yes, I will continue to use the term racism when so-called Democratic voters voted for a white convict serving time in Texas, over the bi-racial President of the United States? What ever happened to judging a man by the content of his character and not the color of his skin?

But through all of these distractions, President Barack Hussein Obama has managed to stop one war and start the drawdown on the second conflict. Because of the determination of this president, today we have the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, if you like. In a nutshell, all citizens, young, old and those with preexisting conditions will be covered under this act. Women still have the right to choose what happens to their health in the area of reproductive rights, and they have a champion in their corner in the struggle for equal pay for a equal day's work, as well as access to a good education that will assist them in breaking the glass ceilings of corporations, well maybe not with the Bain Capital. But GM may be looking for a few good women, and yes General Motors is still making cars, and bin Laden is still dead, but more on that later.

Unemployment numbers are falling below 8 percent. Student loans are more affordable. Happily, the homophobic order "don't ask don't tell" has been rescinded and now all citizens have the right to love whoever they choose and still defend our country. Veterans' benefits for disability and education have been increased under this administration. Social Security is just that, secure. Medicare and Medicaid will not become voucher programs. Both are still assisting those who have fallen on hard times, particularly children and the elderly.  

I was not in West Virginia on May 1, 2011. I was in Iraq in the process of finishing my 12th aid mission for the U.S. Department of State. I was having breakfast when a colleague informed me that the previous night, President Obama had ordered a Navy Seal team to please put a bullet in the head of this madman Osama bin Laden. Trust me on this one. A capture and show trial was not the plan called for by our commander-in-chief.

Good news for the world, and what was better was the fact that none of the Navy Seal Team was injured, and that a quick Islamic service had been held at sea and Osama bin Laden was sleeping with the fishes. Thank you, Mr. President.

I was not in West Virginia on that rainy day in Beckley when my state honored those miners murdered by Massey Energy in their Upper Big Branch Mine. No, I shed my tears here at home in Guatemala, but there was a tall, skinny and sad black American in the crowd that day. Guess you may have missed him. Yep, it was the President of the United States of America Barack Hussein Obama. He spoke and said he had our backs and stood tall for West Virginia. Guess some people missed that, huh?

Evans, originally from Kanawha County, is a Vietnam veteran who now lives in Antigua, Guatemala.