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When I filled in the bubble next to Barack Obama's name on election day I wasn't just voting for a single person, I was voting for the future of this nation. I did not agree with Obama on every issue when I voted for him, but he made it clear during his campaign that he wanted to hear our disagreements and he would listen to them.
Those supporters of Obama who are now telling us to be quiet and not criticize Obama's cabinet appointments or his positions on the issues are really going against Obama's primary message. Obama believes that every person should have a voice in this country, and he made it clear in virtually all of his speeches that he wanted to hear from people who disagreed with him.
We know that Obama is going to hear plenty of disagreement with his policies from the right, we need to make sure he also hears disagreement from the left. Obama knows that he is going to have to make compromises while in office, now ask yourself what kind of compromises do you want to see? If Obama is being pushed from both the left and the right then his position will be viewed as the middle ground and he will not have to move very much. If he is being pushed by only the right side of the spectrum however then there will be a lot of pressure on him to compromise with the right, and they will prevent him from doing everything he needs to do. If we want Obama to be a progressive leader then we need to publicly express our disagreements when he is wrong just as much as we need to rally around him when he is right.
It is our duty as American citizens to stand up for what we believe in, and we need to stand up and challenge the people in power no matter who those people are. Obama has been wrong on at least a few key issues. He was wrong on the FISA legislation, and now that he will soon have the power to stop the wiretapping of innocent Americans we need to get him to reverse course and work to repeal the very legislation he voted for. He was also wrong about Afghanistan, I know that he probably had to say we needed more troops in Afghanistan in order to get elected, but that doesn't make it the right position. More troops in Afghanistan will not make us safer, we don't even know where bin Laden is and sending troops to a nation that is in extreme poverty and has no military force to speak of is not going to prevent a terrorist attack. When it comes to civil rights Obama opposes gay marriage, a position that is just plain wrong. I disagreed with Obama on these issues even while I was out campaigning for him, I supported him despite our disagreements because I think he will support me despite his disagreements with my views.
I don't expect any candidate to agree with me on everything, but I do expect them to allow me to voice my disagreements without being shouted down. Obama has shown that he will listen to my disagreements, and I hope that one day all of his supporters will recognize that it is a good thing that Obama receives some criticism from the left.
We can support Obama and still be able to criticize him when we think he is wrong. Ultimately we are not working for him, he is working for us and we need to have a say in our government. I will be criticizing Obama on the issues, and I will be criticizing his cabinet picks. That does not make me the enemy, it only makes an American who recognizes that real change is not brought about by Presidents but by ordinary people who stand up for a cause much greater than the White House. Just because we have a new President does not mean that we should stop fighting for what we believe in, if we want to see Obama give us what we want then we need to stand up for what we want. The future of our country is what's at stake here, and I don't want to leave that future in the hands of a single person no matter who that person is.
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