Four years ago, I left the Republican Party of which I was a lifelong member and became an independent. Not long after, I supported Barack Obama in the 2008 election for president. I made this decision determined to look at the issues not as a Republican or a Democrat, but as an American.
It is through that lens that I consider my choice in the 2012 election. Like many other voters who crossed party lines to vote for Barack Obama in the last election, I have watched the 2012 campaign carefully and listened closely to what the candidates have said. I believe that President Obama should be re-elected.
Very few American presidents have been truly prepared to assume that job. Four years ago, Obama, a relatively inexperienced public servant, became the 44th President of the United States during one of the most difficult times our country has faced. The nation’s economy was on the brink of collapse. Our image overseas was tarnished, and our military was bogged down in two unpopular wars. I supported Obama then because I thought that he was unflappable. I saw him as a man with a keen intellect and a cool analytical head. I believed he would also be able to inspire those who had suffered most from a recession unparalleled since the Great Depression. In doing so, I reasoned, he would go a long way towards reuniting a nation deeply divided.
Obama was elected and took office, building on a number of stabilization programs initiated by the Bush administration. He took many other vital steps that reestablished our economic footing, including saving America’s automobile industry.
In the last four years, and despite the global downturn, America has come back from the brink. While pain is still being felt in far too many sectors of the economy, from a macroeconomic standpoint the situation in the United States is better than it is among our allies. According to the International Monetary Fund, today the United States is poised for 3 percent growth, which would make our economy the strongest of the other richest economies, including Canada and Germany. Other influential studies, cited in a recent column by Fareed Zakaria, show that debt in the U.S. financial sector, relative to GDP, has declined to levels not seen since before the 2000 bubble. And consumer confidence is now at its highest levels since September 2007. The housing market is also slowly coming back. While there is still an enormous amount to do to assure a recovery, the president deserves credit for a steady hand during this dangerous and unpredictable time.
In the last four years, President Obama has also had to contend with a rapidly changing international environment. He ended the war in Iraq, was the first Democratic president to ratify an arms control treaty with the Russian Federation, and rallied global leaders to put nuclear security at the top of the international agenda. The Obama Administration has also been responsible for decimating the top leadership of al-Qaeda and introducing biting sanctions on Iran. Today the president has significant experience in managing foreign relations, experience that GOP candidate Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, do not have.
As a result of this campaign I am more confused than ever about what Mitt Romney stands for. I know little of his core beliefs, if he even has any. No one seems to agree on what they are, and that’s why I do not want to take a chance on finding out.
Given Romney’s shifting positions, he can only be judged by the people with whom he surrounds himself. Many of them espouse yesterday’s thinking on national defense and security, female/family reproductive rights, and the interplay of government and independent private enterprise. In this context, Barack Obama represents the future, not that past. His emphasis on education is an example of the importance he places on preparing rising generations to assume their places as innovators and entrepreneurs, workers and doers, and responsible citizens and leaders. He recognizes, as many of us do, that access to opportunities must be open to every American, regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. This is not an entitlement, but a sound investment in the future.
Barack Obama’s record as president has not been perfect, and there have been frustrations for all of us during this time. Nevertheless, I believe that he deserves four more years in the White House. If the voters on November 6 give him that chance, we should expect and demand, if necessary, that members of both parties work closely with him to find a way to avert the “fiscal cliff” and other pressing and possibly destabilizing problems.
As I said in 2008 and will say again: “Unless we squarely face our challenges as Americans—together– we risk losing the priceless heritage bestowed on us by the sweat and the sacrifice of our forbearers. If we do not pull together, we could lose the America that has been an inspiration to the world.”
SusanEisenhower 
Reblogged this on The ObamaCrat.Com™ and commented:
YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! Thank you Ms. Susan Eisenhower.
You might want to update your “class picture” heading your web-page. We all age over time,
how are you related to general Dwight Eisenhower?
LRM, US Army, retired
Obama has been Extremley dissapointing in his 4 years.He has no leadership skills and 4 more years of him he will put this destroy America.We gave hime 4 years and he failed.Romney has leadership Skills and many feel he is the Answer and the people
will vote him in on Nov 6.Just look at the Polls and you can see obama has been dropping in
the polls each week.Americans will also remember how he handled Benghazi.He lied to the
American people and they will respond next week.
This was a beautiful and thoughtful speech that should be publicized more. This is the type of thought process that everyone should use when selecting anyone no matter which party they support.
Gary, Obama hasn’t had a budget in 4 years.
a vote for johnson is a vote for obama
George W. Bush inherited a strong economy, a budget surplus, and a nation at peace. Eight years later, he left Obama with a shattered economy, a trillion dollar deficit, and two useless wars, massive unemployment. Obama saved the country from another Great Depression, rebuilt GM, reformed healthcare, reformed Wall Street, doubled the stock market (DJ 6,700 –> 13,100 from 03/09 to today, it was around 10,600 when Bush took office), created 12 straight quarters of GDP growth (the last negative was 2Q09), created 30 straight months of private sector job growth, got Bin Laden, got Gaddafi, got us out of Iraq, and avoided getting significantly embroiled the Arab Spring. Housing values nationawide are back to where they were in June 2003 quarter, and up 2.6% since Obama’s inauguration (back at Jul 04 levels in DC, 14% rise since Obama’s inauguration). And now with the automatic spending cuts and the expiration of the Bush tax cuts in 2012, Obama has solved the deficit problem he inherited as well. And on jobs, a net total nonfarm payroll loss of 61,000 jobs nationwide between February 2009 and September 2012, i.e. from the month following his inauguration (there was a 4.46m net job loss in the prior 12 months). Big government? No, a net decrease in government employment of 575,000 jobs under Obama, vs. a 1.2m increase in government employment from February 2002 to January 2009 under Bush. Don’t believe me? Go look at the BLS website:
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0000000001?output_view=net_1mth
All of this despite that fact that Democrats had a 60 seat Senate majority from September 24, 2009 thru February 4, 2010 – a total of four months; not two years as some would try to mislead you into thinking. Of a possible 94 legislative days during that period, the Senate was only in session for 71 days, while the House only labored for 54, give or take the weekend (see legislative calendar here: http://www.thepragmaticpundit.com/p/congressional-calender.html). Republicans controlled the House, Senate and Presidency (Bush) between 2001 to 2007, for four consecutive years. Budget deficits during Bush’s eight years totaled $3.55tn, and remember his war appropriations were off-balance sheet, a position which Obama reversed because it’s false accounting, like Enron. Obama’s four years to date will rack up $4.8tn, having inherited tax breaks, the full costs of two wars, and a recession. But he’s grown the economy. Winding down the tax breaks and wars, and the end of TARP, gets deficits back to under $700bn from 2014 onwards (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals).
Obama has done a very good job. http://pleasecutthecrap.typepad.com/main/what-has-obama-done-since-january-20-2009.html and obamaachievements.org/list
Romney’s ‘success’ in business was due to raising prodigious amounts of cheap debt to leverage up corporate cast-offs, strip them of assets and jobs, and walk off with a bucket of money for himself while enjoying tax breaks the rest of us can’t access. In 77 Bain Capital deals between 1984 and 1999, $2.5b was generated from $1.1b invested – not bad, but 75% of those gains came from 10 of those deals (four of which subsequently went bankrupt), the rest made a 12% return (the S&P returned 17% during the same period). Quite the gambler, when it’s other peoples’ money. Leverage got lucky, rather than Bain being the highest form of capital endeavor, or a training school for a presidential aspirant. (Don’t believe me? Read this, from the architect of the Reagan Revolution: http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Deformation-Capitalism-Democracy/dp/1586489127/ , summary available here: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/10/14/david-stockman-mitt-romney-and-the-bain-drain.html). By the way: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/22/1112637/-Democrats-crush-Republicans-as-capitalists-in-the-White-House
Romney = fail for America, Obama = America keeps winning
Thank you Susan, you beautifully articulated how I feel too. Four votes here in Colorado already cast for Obama Biden! I too will share your wise words.
emilie w. – What cracked glass are you looking through is the question? the Congress blocked him at every turn-amazed he got done what he did—your congressional members-u know those guys who worry more about your uterus than passing jobs legislation or…the list goes on…your support speaks volumes about you, the woman voter…
Thank you for supporting Barack Obama, again. I have voted for him and will share your message with others. President Obama is the most trustworthy of the candidates. He’s demonstrating strong leadership in the crisis that our country is in right now. His focus is on the east coast hurricane disaster, working together with Governors, Mayors, etc. to respond to the situation. He’s been demonstrating steady Presidential leadership all along and we need to support him in continuing to help our country stabilize the economy; 100% of Americans, not 47% of them. Thanks for sharing your thoughtful position.
Thank you for that wonderful endorsement of President Obama.
My Great Uncle Val (Valores) Washington served your Grand Father as the first Minority Affairs Director of the GOP beginning in 1951. He really enjoyed working to help President Eisenhower obtain a huge percentage of African Americans in 1952. He also assisted with the 1952 & 1956 GOP Party Platform. Uncle Wash enjoyed so much working with President Eisenhower! They both must be so very disappointed in the party!
I am not sure what is happening to the Republican Party, but I hope that the ciaos eventually leads to a coherent direction eventually.
I don’t know how one person could be so mis-guided and just plain wrong about a person. I read your article twice and couldn’t find one good reason to vote for Obama still. I don’t think you’re dad would have liked Obama at all.
Thank you.
FYI – Ask Canadians how they would feel if Romney is elected as opposed to Obama, see what they say. Over half of our population can’t stand the super conservative nitwit we have running our country, but people are so apathetic now they don’t bother to vote.
I sincerely hope for the good of the US and their neighbouring countries that Obama is elected for a second term and allowed to make the changes unopposed by Republican members of congress.
If only Americans were willing to listen to the voice of reason. So many are duped into voting against their own interests.
Susan,
A good friend of mine sent me this column because he knows MY STORY reflects yours BUT HERE IS WHY I AM NOT VOTING FOR OBAMA.
I’ve been independent for my entire life… so I never feel “let down” by ‘my party’ and I have never understood how many Americans can choose based blindly on ‘their party’. True independent voters then will decide this election.
I agree that few are ready for the job…but it is a wash between the two. Surely Mitt with his political and business experience is equal to Obama with his including the last four years, maybe you give a slight advantage to because he is the President. Not an independent view when they are both so equal or should we say lacking?
Until a few weeks ago I was inclined to give the guy another four years directly because of the mess he inherited on taking office. I voted for him, then I believe he made some tough decisions and managed it all well enough. I gave him lots of credit and a total pass the first 2 years based on the mess. I do NOT understand how blame is laid at the feet of George Bush in one breath then Obama is given ALL the credit for ‘saving the auto industry’ in the next. Independently, I sense there is some bias towards Obama, why?
Sincerely, Micheal
Before Obama was elected president, the shopping centers were practically a ghost town. No one was buying. The stock market was super down. The housing market was down. The USA was in the verge of collapse. On top of that, the USA was in 2 wars. Are we better off today? Yes! Do you think he can solve the problems of this country in 4 years? No! He needs another 4 years. He knows the problems of this country better than the other guy. I will vote for Obama because I want him to finish the job.
I share your conclusions & appreciate your speaking out publicly. By the way, my parents were Eisenhower Republicans; I began as a Republican, have been an Independent for the past 25+ years, & finally registered as a Democrat about 2 months ago.
Susan, I was very happy to have read your Obama endorsement, which a friend posted on Facebook. My personal thanks to you for your honest commitment to the values that so many of us hold dear.
A thoughtful and articulate endorsement. Many thanks for your contribution to the public discourse.
By the way, I believe your grandfather’s legacy as President has (like President Truman’s) grown considerably over the last few years. The interstate highway system; sending in the 101st Airborne to protect the students integrating Little Rock High School; appointing distinguished Justices Warren, Brennan, Harlan and Stewart; presciently warning about the military/industrial complex. Impressive stuff.
This was a pleasure to read. I remember enjoying chatting with you in Grant Park four years (minus one week ago). Lovely to see you haven’t changed your mind. It’s been a first term of impressive accomplishment against daunting odds; the nay-sayers seem unable to recognize both what was achieved and what the opposition prevented the president from achieving.
Neither democratic or republican party is truthful. Wow! How naive this article is because our government has “We the People” in the mess. All these political leaders do is talk the talk but the don’t walk the walk. This current president has not done anything but male it worse. We are $5 trillion more in debt, $1.2-$1.5 trillion more in deficits, a jobless recovery and has voted for the Patriot Act and the National Defense Authorization Act along with many executive orders that are UNCONSTITUTIONAL. “We the People” are going to feel the wrath and the effects of our government very soon, because the only thing that these politicians really do is take care of their buddies and bailout the ones that got them elected. There are only a few political leaders that that actually tell us the truth and one of them is not Obama or Romney.
Reblogged this on Dragon Deliberations and commented:
Just another reformed Republican showing that her party has truly left her by becoming so extreme.
President Eisenhower was probably most forward thinking Republican presidents we have recently had. I grew up in a Democratic household and have always voted as a Democrat because current Republicans don’t seem to care what their policies do to the people in this country or around the world. Your article is very well written.
Reblogged this on Ron's Coffee and Chocolates.
How can anyone use the work integrity and Oboma in the same sentence?? I am a first grade teacher and I find his foul language disgusting. The many doesn’t know the meaning of the word integrity! He stands for everything I have raised my children to not believe in. It will be a sad day for our country if he is reelected. I am ashamed to call him our president.
Ike is only turning over in his grave because of the way his Republican party has been hijacked by the Christian Taliban and the Teabaggers.
Lets see, Stock Market up 7000 points, Too big to fail banks alive, GM\Chrysler Alive, Bin Laden Dead, Iraq war over, Corp profits most in history, yes I know, he did nothing…
You are very well spoken! I am very glad to see people give such well thought out reasons for who they support for this election.
I agree with you! Obama has done nothing for this country, we need him out of office!
Ike did things that president Washington or Lincoln would not have done. Times and society has changed so much. I would be floored if we were still doing business the way it was in the 30s and 40s. People need to grow up with this superpower pride stuff and realize we are no longer respected as we were in 1976 or 1946. Foreign relations need mending and be glad someone has that on his mind instead of starting wars with every nation that does not like us.
Your grandfather in his last speech in 1961 warned us not to go down the path Mr. Romney is proposing. And yet, many Americans want to do exactly that. There are no more moderates left in the Republican Party.
Jackie is spot on. All of that debt you see was inherited by Obama in the 2009 fiscal year. That debt belongs to Bush. If you actually paid attention to the facts, Mary, you’d see that, while slowly, America is brushing herself off and standing back up. I thank Obama for that effort.
Thank you so much for such a very thoughtful and well presented endorsement of the President. The reasons listed are so true and much the way that I have felt about our President. He genuinely cares for all Americans and it shows.
Governor Romney did NOT successfully run the Olympics. He hired illegal immigrants for labor, then after working them for 90 days without pay, had them deported, without pay. This is how he “saved” the Olympics. This is the man you want for President? He’s talking out of both sides of his mouth. He will set American women back half a century or more…consider the remarks of his own wife on women’s rights!
Outstanding, articulate, and insightful. How refreshing! I completely agree with Renee McMillian. Everyone should give such careful thought to the individual they endorse to run our country and be the leader of the free world. Thank you, Ms. Eisenhower!
Some years ago I saw you on a television program and was impressed by your great demeanor and intelligence. Now you’ve written an endorsement replete with good sense and measured words and I must confess to being enthralled anew. I believe I have signed up with you, and look forward to the comfort that comes when I sense the universe is not devoid of rationality.
GRACIAS!
RE: Bowing to a Saudi prince
— so what? He bowed because it is social convention. In some cultures, you do not shake hands, you bow. In India, you give a slight bow and don’t shake hands, you put your own hands together in front of your chest as if praying and say “Namaste” which means “I greet the God in you.” Indians believe a little piece of divine exists in everyone. I don’t know the social convention in Saudi Arabia, but I’m sure the Protocol office would have guided him. The question is – have other presidents done the same?
RE: Apologizing for America
— there’s a reason there is the term “The Ugly American.” Americans are not liked in most places, and this sentiment came about long before Obama was in office. I was in Spain in 2004 (Bush era), and was speaking French with a couple from Lichtenstein, the man said “I don’t like Americans, but I like you!” which I hope I made an impression that Americans are generally decent people. In the Bush era, we came down on France pretty hard, but you can’t slam the Prez on foreign policy out of one side of your mouth, and slam him on repairing foreign relations (wounds that were made by other administrations) out of the other side of your mouth. That’s hypocritical.
RE: Commenting on police matters in other States
— He’s Prez of the UNITED STATES, not just DC. When you say “other States” you better mean some state in some other country, because as Prez of THIS country, he has a right to involve himself wherever he likes, especially if he sees injustice being done.
RE: Attacking the Press
— well it’s about time someone got the cajones to call out the Press for being vulgar tabloid muckrakers, just like Teddy Roosevelt referred to in a speech where he called out “the Man with the Muck-rake” that rejected salvation to focus on filth.
RE: Making an enemies list of his opponents contributors
— I’d like to see a list that says at the top “Enemies List” (and an evil laugh track with Snidely Whiplash snarking “he he he” in the background)
— The question is, why don’t SOME people want to know who is buying/tying strings to a candidate? I want to know who expects favors, and when those favors are called in, what do we do about it? And they WILL be called in. People with money like that don’t expect to give without getting something back.
RE: Partying with Pop Stars in the wake of an American Ambassador being killed
— you mean, keeping commitments in the face of adversity? I’m not sure what Pop Stars you’re talking about; if you’re referring to The Daily Show, well, the Prez is allowed to campaign. He DID hold a press-conference BEFORE he continued on the campaign trail
How dare you try to put words in Ike’s mouth. If he is like all great men, he would see the value in dissenting opinion, even his own granddaughter. As he was exiting office, he said: “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” We have a candidate who fawns and caters to big money, defense contractors and the military industrial complex.
These days, an Eisenhower Republican is simply known as a Democrat. As one who considers himself a moderate conservative, a life-long Republican until 2004, and a proud supporter of the President, I applaud this essay and will circulate it as best I can. Thank you for articulating so well what must be said.
Please fill me in– where have you received information that Obama supports third trimester abortion? In fact, President Obama does not believe in abortion at all, but has stated that because this is due to his personal religious beliefs he cannot, as POTUS, deny others with different beliefs these rights. That is what makes a leader.
Well written and eloquently stated. I find the idea of approaching an election choice with rationality and objectivity to be one of the best ways to cut through the chaff, and it is refreshing to see someone who has identified as a republican to take such an approach, regardless of where it led them. The hyper-partisanship of the GOP over the last ten years has reached a crescendo, and I truly hope that what we are seeing now is nothing more than the final throes of obsolete and irrelevant credulous partisan beliefs that if we are lucky, will lead to rebirth of the republican party in a more rational form. The opposition Obama faced before even officially taking office combined with the multitude of problems left by the previous administration represented possibly one of the most daunting and voluminous crisis’ a president has ever had to contend with, including the great depression. Not only has Obama done an acceptable job and brought a lot of prestige and grace back to the office of the President, but he did so against incredible republican determination to refuse him any success whatsoever. President Obama has not just done ok, what he has done has been nothing short of amazing given his position.
And that’s why no one judges by the polls.
Romney has leadership skills? What “skills?” Flip-flopping his views to meet those of whomever he must please? That is not a leader. That is a liar.
Thank you so much for putting into such eloquent words how so many of us feel. This is greatly appreciated.
I also come from a family of Republicans/ex-Republicans and my husband is also a Republican voting for Obama. His list of achievements is more noteworthy of a Republican than of a Democrat, which I think indicates how much both parties have changed. When in the 3rd debate, Romney could do nothing but agree with Obama on foreign policy, we had to laugh. It makes me sad to read such Fox News gibberish under the guise of being “informed”. One thing is for certain… from the way he has run his campaign, Romney would be nothing but a puppet for his corporate sponsors and lobbyists.
God bless you. I’m a pro-Obama former Republican, too: They just aren’t my grandfather’s party anymore, either.
I would like to point out that when President Clinton left office and President Bush took over, we as a nation had a surplus. President Bush spent that surplus on 2 wars, tax cuts for his rich buddies, and let Wall St run amuck, this caused one of the worst financial crushes our nation has ever seen. President Obama came into office with a nation in trouble. He has accomplished a lot when you consider the obstructions put in the way by Republicans who decided that he should be a one term president, they put political game play over the well being of our nation. They as a group decided to vote against their own, fully funded bill for the creation of jobs for Veterans, so that President Obama couldn’t claim any new jobs. To this I say “Shame on you! I quite proudly voted for President Obama. He doesn’t see me as a second class citizen because I am a woman, nor does he believe that rape is just another method of conception, and all the other sick rape rhetoric coming from the GOP. And finally Susan I personally think your Grandfather would be very proud of you and your eloquence of thought and reason.
welcome to the fold, susan. a well thought out, intelligent reason to vote for our president. i shudder to think how your grandfather would feel about the current republican party. i do not think he would be pleased.