"Ronald Reagan used to ask the question 'are you better off (today) than you were four years ago?'" President Obama told Steve Kroft of "60 Minutes," during his interview that was aired on Sunday, September 28.
Indeed, President Ronald Reagan's question became the dart that pierced and destroyed Jimmy Carter's campaign. Why? Because the majority of Americans answered that question with "no," so they rejected Jimmy Carter and they elected Ronald Reagan.
Now, President Obama posed this question rhetorically in his answer to Steve Kroft in order to simply, though in a deep sense, state the obvious which is being ignored even by media outlets such as "network" channels (ABC, CBS, NBC), which used to be somehow neutral and balanced, especially in regard to what the American President has accomplished. Steve Kroft was not only ignoring the incredibly numerous accomplishments of this president, but he even was disrespectfully interrogating President Obama, challenging him even when the president presented facts that are known to all who are honest.
"In this case, are you better off than you were in six?" President Obama followed up following his reference to President Reagan. "Is America today better off than six years ago when I, Barack Obama, took office?" And President Obama answered his own question with "the country is definitely better off than we were when I came into office."
Now, AMERICA, what is the TRUTH? What do the facts tell us? Is America still in the gutter of the 2007-2008 economic collapse or is America better off today than in 2008? In Minneapolis, Minnesota on June 27, 2014, the President made an assessment as to the progress the US has made since he took office.
Most US media, these days, follow whoever screams the loudest and, as of now, the Republican lies about the state of this country and about dismissing the President's accomplishments are the loudest and the media networks have embraced them and have been acting like they are prosecuting President Obama rather than interviewing him (just watch Steve Kroft's interview one more time), as if this man is an illegitimate and unqualified president of this country.
Not only the media act like they are Republicans' propagandists, but they are even consciously making sure that no credit is given to President Obama so they will not speak about anything positive the president has accomplished. For instance, during "CBS evening news" of 10/7, Nancy Cordes reported that "36% of Americans say that the Obama administration policies have made the country less safe from terrorism". She made this statement, after showing Republican candidates running despicable ads using ISIS and blaming President Obama for the presence and the growth of these groups.
How disingenuous is the above statement which leaves in the minds of the American viewers the impression that the Obama administration "has made the country less safe from terrorism," especially when piling it up on top of Republicans' lies about ISIS?
Consider that CBS's own poll states that it is ONLY 36% of Americans who believe that the Obama administration makes the country less safe. Consider that CBS left out the view of the majority of Americans or 64%? This is BIASED journalism. This is reporting with a political agenda which, in this case, is to imprint in the minds of the viewers a negative image of the president.
By the way, fellow Americans, the 36% being exhibited by CBS to undermine President Obama is less than the 47.2% who supported Mitt Romney in 2012 (51.1% Obama) or less than the 45.7% that supported John McCain in 2008 (52.9% Obama).
Clearly, the majority of Americans trust president Obama to keep the homeland safe since it's only a minority, 36%, that do not. We can even say that most of these 36% are victims of Republicans lies and distortions that have been going on since Obama became president in 2008, beside the media bashing of the president of the United States..
All in all, fellow Americans, our nation is better off today than 6 years ago in spite of Republicans' opposition to any policies that would spread around the wealth from the recovery to the American middle class; policies such as funding the US infrastructure projects; and the policies that could help everyday's Americans such as "raising the minimum wage, enacting fair pay, refinancing student loans, extending insurance for the unemployed".
Republicans, media, and their Arabic and non-Arabic experts keep defying military logic claiming ad infinitum that "American bombings aren't achieving anything" (as long as America does not include killing or bombing Assad, or putting American boots on the ground) as if the US and its allies are dropping these bombs in the empty ocean water or on the empty desert, in the same manner they keep defying economic logic by trying to convince Americans that all the progress America has made during the last 6 years is not progress at all and it has nothing to do with them, the American people. Deranged logic!
Some of what Obama has achieved these last 6 years:
1.The smallest deficit since 2008. In only 6 years we've cut it by MORE THAN HALF.
2.Unemployment is now below 6%, from above 10% in 2008
3.We, Americans, are producing MORE energy than we ever had before so that no foreign nation can ever blackmail us over its oil.
4.We, Americans, are producing more CLEAN ENERGY that we have ever produced in our history.
5.Funding in Education to educate our kids and protect teachers' jobs.
6.President Obama achieved Health Care Reform (after 5 presidents over the past 100 years were unable to do it). With the Affordable Care Act, Americans' finances beside their health, become, in the long run, HEALTHY.
7.Peace. President Obama has kept America from going to war or invading some other countries. He ended the Iraq war and is ending the war in Afghanistan. Plus, though he doesn't brag, let's not forget that he got Osama bin Laden and numerous other terrorist leaders just as he is now, in his intelligent and wise ways, countering the terrorism of ISIS. Yes, HE HAS KEPT AMERICA SAFE!!!
Fellow Americans, you can read, for yourself, the 50 major accomplishments of our Commander-in-Chief or, in case you have time, you can go over the 262 accomplishments of our President and the American people.
So, fellow Americans, we can tell the world and President Obama's blind enemies that this nation, America, is indeed better off today than 6 years ago when he became president. And, I sense and suppose that when the votes are counted this November 2014, Americans might surprise the liars, the racists, and the Koch Brothers by giving President Obama a majority in both houses of Congress so that he may finally make this prosperity accessible to ALL Americans...