Barack Obama's History Of Brilliance

     When this nation was founded, every president came from an impressive background. George Washington, John Adams, Thomas, Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe were founding fathers. John Quincy Adams was John Sr.'s son and a diplomat and secretary of state who negotiated the purchase of Florida, drafted the Monroe Doctrine, and later became a leading abolitionist. Andrew Jackson, William Harrison, Zachary Taylor, and Ulysses S. Grant were war heroes, and Martin Van Buren founded the Democratic Party.

     Unfortunately, a later trend has been one of electing men of questionable morals and beliefs who come from sensational backgrounds on sensational platforms. Barack Obama, while surely not on the level of the Founding Fathers, has a fairly impressive background.

     Born to a senior economic analyst for the Kenyan government, he was the only president born outside of the continental 48 states. A graduate of Harvard, he became the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review. From 1992 to 2004, he taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago. He also worked as a civil rights attorney and a community organizer in job training, college prep, tenants' rights, and voter recruitment groups. He wrote Dreams From My Father, which was named in the 100 Best Nonfiction Books by Time, and The Audacity Of Hope, which was a New York Times bestseller. He served as a state senator for Illinois from 1997 to 2004 and a U.S. senator from 2005 to 2008. 

     In 2004, he delivered an impressive keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, which earned him national praise. He won the 2008 presidential election as well as reelection in 2012, and he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize as the first African-American president. 

     During his time in office, he pulled the U.S. out of the 2008 recession and passed reforms to stop another; provided affordable healthcare to 25 million people; legalized gay and trans marriage, blood donation, and military service; ended the war in Iraq; normalized relations with Cuba; signed nuclear reduction treaties with Russia and Iran; destroyed ISIS, Gaddafi, Al Qaeda, and Somali pirates; created the most wilderness protected area of any president; entered the U.S. into the Paris Climate Agreement; and nominated three justices for the Supreme Court.

     We have a duty to return this collected and directed type of leadership to the White House.