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Jack Slack (Disclosure: that’s his name, not a pseudonym) is a writer living in Florida. When he’s not diving for sunken treasure or fashioning gold jewelry he gives some thought to politics. Right now he’s mighty annoyed at liberal Democrats and other left voices criticizing President Obama. As Jack says it…
I refuse to jump on the progressive bandwagon bashing Obama because he didn’t deliver 100% of his campaign promises.
As far as I’m concerned, he carried out some of the big promises of his campaign such as getting us out of Iraq, providing health care reform, and promoting alternative energy programs. In fact, he exceeded his promise to leave only 50,000 troops in Iraq; currently we have only 12,000 troops in there. On top of that, he banned permanent U.S. bases in Iraq.
Today, most Americans probably want us out of Afghanistan too, but Obama’s campaign promise was to send more troops to the conflict in Afghanistan, which he and the rest of us, at that time, thought was our only legitimate war. We may no longer like the escalation in Afghanistan, but he did what he said he would do; furthermore, he provided the US an exit strategy, one that is still on schedule.
What really infuriated me were the progressives who bashed his health care reform. This was the only president in modern history to get such a bill passed. True, it didn’t have the public option most of us wanted because he didn’t want to endanger the entire bill for it. Of course, it’s not universal health care either, but Obama never promised it would be; he said he supported universal health care, but didn’t think he could get it past Congress at this time.
What we did get was a vast and incredible improvement in US health care. For the first time in our history, insurance companies have to insure you even if you have a pre-existing condition, and they can’t charge you a higher premium because of that condition. Millions of American women who are survivors of breast cancer are beneficiaries of this. (Disclosure: my wife is one) People who had a dermatologist remove minor sun skin-damage, such as basal cell carcinomas, can now be insured with the rest of Americans against the deadly melanoma skin cancer. (Disclosure: my ex-wife is a melanoma survivor)
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Gene Mirabelli writes most of the posts here, so we're very pleased to announce that his recent novel, Renato, the Painter, has won a first prize for Literary Fiction in the 2013 Independent Publisher (IP or "IPPY") Book awards.
The Awards program was created to highlight the year’s most distinguished books from independent publishers. Award winners are chosen by librarians and booksellers who are on the front lines, working everyday with patrons and customers. Some 125 books competed for the literary fiction Gold Medal. These books are examples of independent publishing at its finest.Publishers Weekly says "In prose as lusty and vigorous as Renato himself, Mirabelli captures the feeling of coming to terms - ready or not - with old age." For more about the writer and his book, turn to our contact page or to the author's web site.
