A Short List of Barack Obama’s Major Progressive Achievements Thus Far
Our main achievements list is being updated, and will be released in the spring of 2012. You can read about the effort here. In the meantime, you may find the following useful as you try to educate people about the realities of the Obama administration, as opposed to the many myths, rumors, and allegations made about it.
The Broad Strokes in Just 2 Minutes
Highlights
In a very pointed essay about how wrong some libertarian-left bloggers can be, Booman Tribune (@booMan23) outlined a very good summary of just some of the major progressive achievements of the Obama administration.
- Obama has overhauled the food safety system
- Advanced women's rights in the work place
- Ended Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) in our military
- Stopped defending DOMA in court.
- Passed the Hate Crimes bill.
- Appointed two pro-choice women to the Supreme Court.
- Expanded access to medical care, including snoring and sleep apnea devices, and provided subsidies for people who can't afford it.
- Expanded the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
- Fixed the preexisting conditions travesty [and rescissions] in health insurance.
- Invested in clean energy.
- Overhauled the credit card industry, making it much more consumer-friendly.
- While Dodd-Frank bill was weak in many respects, it was still an extremely worthwhile start at re-regulating the financial sector.
- He created a Elizabeth Warren's dream agency: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
- He's done a lot for veterans
- He got help for people whose health was injured during the clean-up after the 9/11 attacks.
None of these things were priorities for Republicans. They actively opposed, directly or indirectly through obstruction, every single item on this list. In fact, they succeeded in killing a Cap & Trade bill in the Senate after it had passed through the House.
All of these things are improvements that would not have occurred under a McCain-Palin administration. Moreover, a McCain-Palin administration would have moved in the other direction on most of these issues, or come up with even worse compromises.
Booman then concludes with:
The president has achieved a tremendous amount under the circumstances. And it matters greatly that he not be replaced by Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, or Michele Bachmann. Or even Ron Paul.
Of course, since that time…
- He's killed Osama Bin Laden
- Eliminated several other Al-Qaeda leaders
- Ended the War in Iraq
- Begun the drawdown of forces from Afghanistan
- End-run Republican obstructionism by recess-appointing Richard Cordray to run the Consumer Financial Protection Board.
To fully understand the Stakes of the 2012 election, please read…
For much larger and more detailed list of achievements…
For a much more recent list of achievements…
Please see a few of these lists (which will soon be assimilated on the coming update of this site).
Other lists
Related Information
- How Barack Obama Left John Boehner Holding the Teabag, Again.
- Obama as Chess Master: 'Think of Him as Bobby Fischer (James Fallows, TheAtlantic)
- rel="nofollow"More Politics 101: Obama is Smarter Than Us (by Milt Shook)
- 3 Big Victories for Obama & Dems in Debt Ceiling Fight – Republicans Just Trying to Save Face
- Barack Obama and the myth of the progressive ‘majorities’(by The Reid Report)
- Why Americans are Fed Up with Armchair Beltway Talking Heads
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