What Has Barack Obama Done?

Dear Madame L,

I don't know why you keep supporting Barack Obama, since he hasn't kept the promises he made during the 2008 elections.

Don't you think someone else could do a better job?

Sincerely,

Questioning Obama's Accomplishments

Dear Questioner,

Madame L thinks --- and knows you won't be at all surprised to read this --- that Barack Obama has done an incredible amount in his first three years of office, and, what's more, has done almost all of it in spite of continued Republican efforts to block his accomplishments, even in areas that they would have supported if anyone else had been president.

In spite of the Republicans' admitted primary goal of denying Pres. Obama a second term (cf. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky), Pres. Obama has accomplished these things (and this is just a partial list):

Passed health care reform;

Passed the stimulus;

Passed Wall Street reform;

Ended the war in Iraq;

Began drawing down the war in Afghanistan;

Eliminated Osama bin Laden;

Turned around the U.S. auto industry;

Recapitalized banks;

Repealed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell";

Toppled Muammar Qadaffi;

Told Hosni Mubarak to go; and

Reversed Bush torture policies.

Please read "The Incomplete Greatness of Barack Obama" and "Obama's Top 50 Accomplishments" in The Washington Monthly for more information.

Madame L doesn't think anyone else could have done so much, and she's looking forward to seeing what Pres. Obama can accomplish in his next term.

Sincerely,

Madame L