Obama Trumpets Killing of Bin Laden, and Critics Pounce

On April 27, 2012, The New York Times printed an article, regarding President Obama using the killing of Osama Bin Laden, as a campaign tactic. As Vice President Joe Biden has stated the new campaign for the upcoming election will be: "Bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive." But not everyone is on board with Obama's camp and their campaign approach. Former opponent John McCain feels this "diminishes the memory of September 11." I cannot say I agree with McCain, in fact I feel quite the opposite.

September 11th brought pure panic and fear into America, all while uniting us as well. We all wanted Bin Laden to be caught and held responsible for all the people-innocent people-who lost their lives. That day is still fresh in every one's mind, and if asked, they could tell you exactly where and what they were doing when the news broke. This is not the first time a President has boasted about the death of a foreign threat in order to get votes. George Bush did it with Saddam Hussein in 2004 and defeated Kerry as a result. But so many republicans want Obama to fail that they’ll imply the death of a terrorist should be treated the same as a death of a saint would. I’m not buying it. If this is the route Obama wants to take to the polls, I'll follow him there. 

The Increasing Need for Jobs

I came across a blog title "The increasing need for Jobs," by Whitney, and I was highly impressed with her interest on the subject, as well as her ability to clearly convey the information. She composed a blog on how difficult it is for our veterans to find a job once they return home. This has been somewhat of a misconception by the civilian workforce. Before reading Whitney's post I was not aware of President Obama's 5 billion dollar proposal. She goes into further detail concerning the jobs that were in the center of this proposal (law enforcement, firefighting, in public parks, etc). From there she went into how difficult it is for anyone to get a job, must less our veterans returning home.

When my husband was honorably discharged from the Marine Corp. he found it extremely difficult to find a job in mediocre positions, if any at all. Considering this was a man who was a fire fighter while deployed in Iraq, his patience began to wear thin. Eventually after four months of applying to various positions and jumping through hoops-placed by the unemployment office- he decided to write a letter to Governor Rick Perry. In the letter he explained all he had done for his country, and how he was unable to collect unemployment due to the employees there not "receiving" his letters. Within in 6 days, a check was deposited into our account, along with retro pay for the two months prior. The relief and appreciation we felt is still present as I type this. 

Our veterans should not have to worry about health, well being, or a job when they return home. Their time would be better spent on getting reacquainted with the families they were apart from for so long. Deployments put a lot of stress on a family and the one who feels it the most is often the children. It's horrible to imagine the children of veterans who offer their parent-or parents in some cases-to a country and returns them full of worry and stress; it just doesn’t seem fair. Hopefully in the years to come more will be done for our veterans; I believe we are already on our way.