America never stopped being great

After watching Sarah Palin’s endorsement of Donald Trump while he maintains GOP-leading numbers across the nation, it’s evident that many Republicans trust the wily businessman to “make America great again.”

Finally, I’ve realized specifically why Trump’s promise is so bothersome: when was America ever broken? Over the course of President Barack Obama’s tenure, how can anybody argue that this country was so weak that it desperately yearned for a tactless tycoon with no practical political background?

I would never suggest that the United States is infallible. Since 2008, the United States has struggled with a polarized Congress, police brutality, stagnant wages and a faltering education system. Obama’s time in office has seen Russia storm Ukraine, the Islamic State group’s rise to relevance in the Middle East, and the devastating effect of volatile oil prices. Critics of Obama can cavil over sketchy decisions in foreign policy and the participation rate’s 3% dip, but to say that this administration is ruining the country is fallacious.

Since 2008, the unemployment rate has dropped to 5 percent and the economy has recovered – albeit, slowly – from the recession. Obama has guided this country through a strenuous era in politics, and, if anything, he’s kept us afloat.

I often imagine trying times in the United States with Trump in the Oval Office, and doing so becomes a self-induced nightmare. What would he tell Americans the next time Russia puts pressure on Eastern Europe or when another mass shooting finds its way into the news? Obama, if nothing else, displays an eloquence in his speeches and a poise that Americans yearn for in desperate times.

Donald Trump has exhibited only divisive rhetoric with a lack of substantive policymaking suggestions. The world is on edge: South America is economically unstable, the European Union is searching for its true identity, and the Middle East is more complex than ever. Maintaining a stable U.S. economy and global presence is key, so the unpredictable nature of Trump threatens to make an already unclear future a dangerously temperamental one as well.

Critics will always find major flaws with the current president’s time in office, although current issues facing the U.S. seem outside of Obama’s realm of control. Coming into his presidency, Obama displayed professionalism, an acute understanding of middle-American struggles and a relatability that charmed countless people across the globe. He’s faced great tasks fearlessly, and whether or not each citizen can identify with his political ideology, it’s evident that he hasn’t diminished this nation’s greatness.

“Make America great again.” It’s a clever slogan and ploy that reaches out to voters who might be struggling under Obama’s presidency, but the slightest knowledge of the current world and its happenings would suggest that his administration has thrived in a challenging political landscape. America hasn’t slipped from its seat of power, so Trump might need to start explaining where it went catastrophically wrong.