My Hope for President Obama

Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

-- Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne in Shawshank Redemption

Over the past eight years America has gone through a lot. We have seen over 3000 Americans die in the worst terrorists attack ever on American soil. We have witnessed our economy sink to one of its worst recessions since the Great Depression. We have watch our sons, daughters, wives, husbands, fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters leave for months at a time to fight in a war. We have seen over 4000 of them die with thousands more returning with missing limbs, scares all around their body and scares on the insides as well. We have seen our prestige and influence throughout the world decrease so badly that a lot of the world believes we are a greater threat to peace than radical religious groups who have stated they want to destroy peaceful nations. We have seen a President show contempt for the rule of law and a disregard for our civil liberties and rights under our constitution. But all is not lost...hope remains.

Hope remains. Hope is a great thing. It lifts the spirit up. It puts a smile on your face. A couple of the definitions of hope are: "To wish for something with expectation of its fulfillment" and "To look forward to with confidence or expectation." After eight years of watching our beloved nation go down a path of destruction, I have hope. I have a wish for America that I have always had. However, it is no longer a dreamer's wish; something that will never occur. I have an expectation...a confidence that the wish will be fulfilled.

My wish for America is at times a simple one...yet it is also a difficult one to achieve. I want America to live up to its idea. What defines America more than any other nation in history is that it is not defined by a specific group or culture or religion, even if we are dominated by one group or another, we do not define America through them. America is an idea. It is an idea that all men are created equal. That no matter which social class you come from, you have the same inalienable rights as everyone else...those of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Is this such a terrible wish? Is it something that is unattainable? It seems like it has been, yet I still have hope that we can change.

I have hope, that President Obama will live up to his promises. I have hope that he will begin to recognize that defending liberty is not just done on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan...but in the court system of America. It is not just won through military might, but through treating prisoners with a respect that ALL people, regardless of what they have done, should be treated. It is not won by being a bully to the rest of the world and threatening them...but it is won through treating others with respect and the natural rights that we all are endowed with.

I hope that President Obama will realize that the prosperity of America should not just be limited to those who are already prosperous or to those who come from a background that has allowed them comfort and stability...that it is also for the steel worker in Pittsburgh, the farmer in South Dakota, the teacher in Chicago and every hard-working person in America. I hope that President Obama will remember that when America has been at its best, it has worked to eliminate the lower classes and help build up those in the middle classes.

I hope that President Obama will recognize what war does to families. I hope that he will see how many war veterans are coming home without hope. That they are coming home and realizing that they no longer are the same person and no longer want to live the lives they were living before their sacrifice. I wish that all of our soldiers, who put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms were able to come home without the emotional scares that they carry with them. But that is a wish, not hope, because I do not expect them to. I only have hope that we can recognize what war does to people. I have hope that President Obama will give our veterans the service and access to the health care and social services that they have so rightly earned.

I hope that President Obama will remember the constitution. I hope that he will remember that the President is suppose to be the weakest part of our government. I hope that he will remember history and that we threw off the cloak of a monarchy and that our representatives, the people's voice, is the strongest part of our government. I have hope that things such as Executive Orders and Signing Statements will become a thing of the past.

Will all of this happen? I am not sure.

But I hope that President Obama will live up to those promises. I hope that we will see a return to a better America.

I hope.