This week, President Barack Obama celebrated his 55th birthday. The Republicans may call him a "lame duck" president, but he has a 52% approval rating amongst the citizens of the United States. That's a big deal.
Gallup pollsters began measuring end-of-term approval ratings after World War II. Of the 14 U.S. presidents since then, only five other presidents have ended their term with an approval rating over 50%: Bill Clinton (66%); Ronald Reagan (63%); Dwight Eisenhower (60%); George H.W. Bush (56%); and Gerald Ford (53%). [Note: George W. Bush finished at 34%, and that was his highest rating in his last 12 months in office.]
As I reflect upon President Obama's two-term presidency, I am proud that he made history as our first African-American president. I am proud that he succeeded in passing and implementing the Affordable Health Care Act (or "ObamaCare," as it has come to be known.) Thanks to ObamaCare, 20 million more Americans are insured. Now that's a legacy! He fought hard to accomplish his Democratic goals, against a Republican-dominated Congress that preferred gridlock to progress. I am especially proud of President Obama for taking the high road.
As the American public is exposed, more and more, to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, they will come to appreciate the level-headed, mature, thoughful statements, actions and demeanor of President Obama. Amidst the name-calling, the rudeness, and the often ridiculous criticsms aimed his way, President Obama has taken the high-road. He has set an excellent example of leadership, respect and decency for our nation, and he has lived up to the tenets of the Nobel Peace Prize he received in 2009.
The Nobel Peace Prize, first awarded in 1901, is awarded annually by a committee selected by the Parliament of Norway. Specifically, President Obama was awarded this international honor "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." He is only the fourth U.S. president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, after Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Jimmy Carter.
President Obama sets a high bar, but it won't take much to be more civil than Donald Trump. There are some who believe that you can only win by acting aggressively. However, when aggression starts to look like the bully on the schoolyard playground, voters get turned off. Trump's behavior may have worked in the Republican primary, but his downward trend in the General Election polls show that voters don't want a bully in the White House. They especially don't want a president who would bully Gold Star families who lost a son or daughter who died, fighting for our country, no matter what religion they happen to be.
It now appears that Trump is running scared, and he is trying to find a way out of debating Hillary Clinton. There is a reason for that. He has not done his homework and he never will. He doesn't know the facts, so he makes stuff up. That's why FactCheck.org has awarded him the title of "The King of Whoppers." Assuming Trump's handlers (his family) are able to push him into the debates, I have every confidence that Hillary Clinton will be civil, respectful and very firm. In common day parlance, "She's going to turn him every which way but loose," but she'll do it without name-calling or vulgar language.
For the rest of us, the test will be how we treat our fellow Dallas County citizens. There is no need to argue with a Trump supporter. Don't waste your time. They're too far gone. Instead, we must have civil conversations with more Democrats, independents and the mainstream Republicans who have been abandoned by their party. These folks might not want to vote Democratic, but they don't want to vote for Donald Trump. If we treat them respectfully, I predict that their conscience will cause them to distance themselves from Trump.
No matter what, don't give up. The Republicans have given us a gift, and that gift is Donald Trump. This is our chance to elect the first woman president of the United States, who happens to be the most qualified candidate, and a Democrat!
As President Obama said in his closing remarks, while accepting the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize: "Let us live by ... example. We can acknowledge that oppression will always be with us, and still strive for justice. We can admit the intractability of depravation, and still strive for dignity. We can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace. We can do that - for that is the story of human progress; that is the hope of all the world; and at this moment of challenge, that must be our work here on Earth."
