I ’ve been receiving emails forwarded from right-wing friends of mine that are, shall we say, less than honest. It is especially troubling because I am an honorably discharged Marine sergeant who spent six years serving my country on active duty. I just don’t like it when people spread hateful, damaging lies about the guy I still refer to as my commander in chief.
It is also troubling to me because I am a Republican.
I don’t like lies; I’ve had a belly-full from those in my party who believe the ends justify the means.
But at the Republican convention a short while back I heard the question, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”
So now I decided to write my own little email.
This is is a heck of a question. Many Marines and soldiers who were in Iraq four years ago and now home will tell you they are much, much better off now.
Many troops lucky enough to come home four years ago came back to diminished retirement accounts and foreclosed homes. Some are undeniably doing better now.
Why don’t you ask them?
Perhaps we should rephrase the question: Are we better off now than at the beginning of 2009. Chew on that while you realize that in the five or six months before the president’s inauguration, the economy did a a nose dive. How many jobs was America hemorrhaging every month? Now we’re adding jobs every month. I like the here and now much better.
Maybe you should ask yourself how the financial markets looked in the beginning of 2009. I’d say things look a lot better than now, wouldn’t you?
How would Michigan look right now if GM and Chrysler had failed? I don’t want to think about how abysmal this state’s economy would look.
Four years ago, the economy was in absolute free fall; now it has stabilized. It’s not climbing as much as we’d like, but since it took eight years for us to get into this mess, I’d say it’ll take a little while longer than 3 1/2 years to fix it up.
Four years ago, you couldn’t get a loan to save your life, now you can.
Four years ago, Osama bin Laden was vertical, now he is certified fish food.
Do you remember the days when our commander in chief looked like he knew what he was talking about?
Oh yes, that’s now again! It’s called confidence, and boy is it contagious. Right now we are on the road to recovery.
Do you really want to switch? I certainly don’t.
