A Year of November

November 2008

The crowd standing in Chicago’s Grant Park roared as Barack Obama finished his victory speech. History had been made. The first African American President of the United States had been elected. Change had come to America. In the midst of international and domestic problems, Americans believed change had finally come.

November 2009

The Obama administration ran its presidential campaign with the slogan “Change.” To a country with high expectations, the six letter word meant that everything Americans had known for the past eight years was about to be different, about to improve -- The War on Terror, taxes, the economic crisis, healthcare...America was on the path to change, on the path to greatness. A year after Obama’s election, we ask ourselves: What’s different? What’s changed?

Obama started out his presidency in sync with the people’s hopes -- during his first few days in office, the president issued executive orders to withdraw troops in Iraq and ordered the closing of Guantanamo Bay; things were looking up.

However, it’s naïve to deny that not everyone is pleased with Obama’s promise of change. A year after his election, the president’s rates have fallen significantly. CBS NEWS reports that Obama’s ratings are now down to fifty percent, even lower than Bush’s falling rate to seventy-one% after invading Iraq in 2003.

Moreover, the President was just awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October for his efforts to improve international relations and his potential for successfully doing so. Yet the international community, as well as Obama himself, paused to question the decision by the Nobel Committee. The word peace was not ringing in the minds of many Americans, as troops are still being deployed overseas.

It’s no secret, America is still at war. But having been given a prestigious award such as the Nobel Peace Prize, the world anticipated great changes in the future from the President. Thus, with Obama’s decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, we’re left to question his plans: Is the world a safer place now than it was last November before Obama’s election? It’s difficult to see the correlation between sending more soldiers to “secure” an area with establishing peaceful relations. After Obama’s Nobel award, many have been left to wonder whether sending more soldiers is the answer to establishing peace overseas. Furthermore, Americans have become doubtful as to whether they can keep their faith in Obama and believe that troops will withdraw by 2011.

Moreover, many criticize the president's failure to improve the economic recession. People are asking two things: When will it end, and how is Obama going to fix it. The answer is far from clear -- USA Today reports unemployment in the U.S. hit 10.2% this November, and that currently, only a third of Americans believe the administration's stimulus package will benefit their families. American's anticipated a fast solution to the economic crisis; however, increased unemployment rates have led to skepticism and declining faith in the president's promise.

Obama’s slogan “Change” has stuck. Even so we’re left in doubt. Have we changed for the better? By 2011(Obama’s set goal date for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan), Obama will be in his third year of presidency. Can we expect the “good change” to have taken place by then?

As critics and citizens alike approached this November ready to look at the progress the U.S. has made since Obama’s election, they’ve found that America’s problems are still at large. Obama promised troops out of Iraq, but American and allied forces are still fighting overseas. America anticipated an economic revival, but unemployment and failing businesses are still a major domestic problem. Is that change?

True, it’s unfair for us to blame Obama for not changing the numerous issues, many of which predate to the Bush administration, in a year. Yet, with a slogan of “change” what can be expected other than high hopes and high chances of disappointment? Perhaps the question is not whether the U.S. has taken the path to change, but whether Obama is pushing us in the right direction. After eight years of the Bush administration, who knows how Americans, and the global community, will react. Can America do it? Can we finish fighting two wars overseas and fix the economy? Will Obama be able to lead the country towards success, and change things for the better? “Yes we can,” Obama stated in his victory speech last November; yet it seems like we’ve spent the past year waiting for something to happen.