Every time I hear the Republicans say something crazy (well, not every time since that would be perpetual) I bop over to Barackobama.com and make a small donation. This makes me feel a lot better. Wanting to give my friends an opportunity for the same kind of satisfaction, I built a Grassroots Fundraising page on my Dashboard https://donate.barackobama.com/.... To help get them stoked, I put together a list of the President's accomplishments over the last four years. Actually, many folks had already created lists of accomplishments (See sources at bottom). So, I simply consolidated them, added some unique categories, and made sure all were footnoted. The results of this labor are below. My dashboard fundraising page will refer them to Daily Kos and this diary. Feel free to reuse the list as you wish, especially if you choose to build a Dashboard Grassroots Fundraising page of your own. It's easy.
BTW, my dashboard fundraising page is named "PocketChangeForObama" because I thought it would be fun to pit my friends' pockets against the Koch brothers checkbooks! My contribution began by pulling my wallet out, totaling the available bills, and making a contribution of that amount on the Dashboard to kick off our group's fundraising campaign. Change is in our pockets. Voila!
One final observation about the President's accomplishments. We are all aware that the Republicans will be just as uncooperative in the future as in the past four years. In reviewing these lists I was struck by how much the President accomplished with Executive Orders and other specified constitutional powers. If the President wins again, much more will be possible even without a dance partner in Congress!!
President Obama Improved the Economy and Reduced the Debt
1. 3,680,000 private sector jobs created since the end of the Bush Great Recession ref ref
2. Expanded government’s fight against fraud in Financial ref, Federal Contractor ref and Health Care areas ref
3. $2,000,000,000,000 in deficit reduction ref
4. He saved the economy from ruin (until the Tea Party took over Congress) with a stimulus that was as large as possible given the political realities ref
5. Saved the US Auto Industry ref, ref
6. Health Care Reform ref
7. Reduced military spending by $500,000,000,000 ref
President Obama Reigned in Wall Street Excesses
8. Wall Street Reform ref ref ref
9. Leaned on the banks to recover almost all “bailout money” with interest ref ref
10. Saved the world from global financial collapse ref ref
11. Ordered 65 executives who took bailout money to cut their own pay until they paid back all bailout money. ref
President Obama Made America Safer
12. Killed Osama Bin Laden ref
13. Killed a whole generation of al Qaeda leaders ref
14. Stopped numerous terrorist attacks in this country ref ref
15. Authorized and oversaw a secret mission by SEAL Team Six to rescue two hostages held by Somali pirates. ref
16. Unified the world against Iran and brought unprecedented united international pressure against Iran's nuclear bomb potential ref
17. More deportations per year than Bush ref
18. Hired more border patrol agents than Bush ref
President Obama Reduced Taxes
19. Tax rates for average working families are the lowest since 1950. ref
20. Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, cut taxes for 95% of America's working families. ref
21. Reduced Social Security Taxes for 2011 and 2012 ref
President Obama Brought More Efficiency to the Federal Government
22. Smaller Government ref ref
23. Fewer regulations than Bush ref
President Obama Strengthened Personal Liberties
24. Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act; Instituted equal pay for women. ref, ref, ref
25. Expanded funding for the Violence Against Women Act. ref
26. Support’s states’ right on medical marijuana ref
27. Repealed “Don’t ask don’t tell” refref
28. Appointed more openly gay officials than anyone in history. ref
29. Extended benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. ref
30. Changed HUD rules to prohibit gender and sexual orientation-based discrimination in housing ref
31. Publicly expressed support for the right to enter into a same-sex marriage. ref
32. Implemented much of Dream Act via Executive Order ref
33. Appointed two pro-choice women to the Supreme Court ref
President Obama Helped Make the World a Safer, More Democratic, and More American Friendly Place
34. Ended the war in Iraq ref
35. Established a date for transferring Afghanistan fighting to Afghanis. ref
36. Toppled Gadhafi without an American casualty ref
37. Fired the first salvo of the Arab Spring with his address in Cairo no less ref
38. Has the Arab League watching Syria ref
39. Presided over democratic revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Bahrain
40. Helped to restore America's reputation around the world as a global leader that does the "right thing" in world affairs, at least according to the rest of the world. ref ref
41. On his second day in office, he signed a detailed Executive Order that banned torture, reversed all Bush torture policies, and put the United States in compliance with the Geneva Convention. ref ref
42. Three new trade agreements ref
President Obama Increased Respect and Public Support for American Soldiers
43. Increased veterans/benefits every year ref ref
44. Along with Congressional Democrats, not only reauthorized families of fallen soldiers to be able to visit when the body arrives at Dover AFB, but also provided funding for it. Ended the media blackout on coverage of the return of fallen soldiers. ref ref
45. Signed the Democratic-sponsored Post-9/11 GI Bill, also known as GI Bill 2.0 ref
President Obama Invested in Education
46. Invested in college students: 1) by repeatedly increased funding for student financial aid, and at the same time cut the banks completely out of the process. ref ref ref 2) by reforming student loan program, to make it possible for students to refinance at a lower rate. ref and 3) by overseeing an expansion of the Pell Grants program, to expand opportunity for low income students to go to college. ref
47. Invested in primary education: Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act , invested heavily in elementary, secondary and post-secondary education. ref
48. Oversaw major expansion of broadband availability in K-12 schools nationwide ref
49. Oversaw major expansion in school construction. ref
50. Also through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, he put $5 billion into early education, including Head Start. ref
President Obama Protected What We Eat, Drink and Breathe.
51. Strengthened environmental protection via new laws and policies. ref ref ref ref ref ref ref.
52. Fast-tracked regulations to dramatically increase fuel efficiency standards ref ref
53. Strengthened the bond between clean energy and commerce by overseeing establishment of an Energy Partnership for the Americas, to create more markets for American-made biofuels and green energy technologies. ref Oversaw the creation of an initiative that converts old factories and manufacturing centers into new clean technology centers. ref
54. Pushed through a tax credit to help people buy plug-in hybrid cars. ref
55. Obama EPA reversed a Bush-era decision to allow the largest mountaintop removal project in US history. ref
56. Turned America toward native sources of renewal energy Ordered energy plants to prepare to produce at least 15% of all energy through renewable resources like wind and solar, by 2021. ref (As you can see, Republicans are trying hard to kill it.)
57. Created a program to develop renewable energy projects on the waters of our Outer Continental Shelf that will produce electricity from wind, wave, and ocean currents. ref
58. Bypassed Republican opposition in Congress and ordered EPA to begin regulating and measuring carbon emissions. ref
59. Oversaw doubling federal spending on clean energy research. ref
60. Reengaged in the climate change and greenhouse gas emissions agreements talks, and proposed one himself. He also addressed the U.N. Climate Change Conference, officially reversing the Bush era stance that climate change was a “hoax.” ref ref ref
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SOURCES:
http://pleasecutthecrap.typepad.com/...
http://obamaachievements.org/
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/...
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/...
http://www.addictinginfo.org/...