Hope for compromise

Barack Obama has officially been elected to his second term as president of the United States.

Although Obama was not my preferred candidate in the 2012 presidential election, my reaction to his re-election is filled with feelings of hope.

Sitting around and dreaming what it would have been like if Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney or anyone else were elected would be a complete waste of time. You have to play the hand you are dealt.

My hope is that Obama, now that re-election and pleasing constituents is no longer a top priority, focuses on doing as much for our country as possible.

The only way Obama will be able to achieve this goal is if he crosses partisan lines that have torn apart our country.No plan, proposal, regulation or bill presented by either party is the perfect answer to any dilemma with which Washington is forced to solve. Concessions must be made by both parties in order for our government to work as the well-oiled machine that we all desire.

NFL fans pouted and whined more when the NFL Players Association and the league’s owners could not reach a new collective bargaining agreement than when Democrats and Republicans couldn’t agree on the debt ceiling crisis of August 2011.

If we as citizens care enough and pay enough attention to the stalemate in Congress that has crippled the legislative process during the last two years, then hopefully Obama can bring the two parties in Congress together to give America what it wants: a functional and productive government.

If both parties work together under the leadership of Obama acting as a steward to the American people, not a political party, then everyone who voted in the 2012 election will reap benefits from decisions made on Capitol Hill.

The decisions might not be the exact ones that you personally want. But America isn’t about you, personally. It is about the American people.

If both parties work together throughout the next four years, legislation can pass that pleases all American citizens.

Once again, all I can do in reaction to the results of the 2012 presidential election is hope that Obama brings the Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill together towards a united cause.

Then American people can benefit from his last term together.

­— wfgryna@indiana.edu