Back to the future

Last week, as the circus sideshow that is the 2012 Republican primary process started to dance across TV sets and computer monitors, I couldn’t help but turn my thoughts nearly 11 months into the future to the presidential election.

Lord only knows what poor fool will eventually end up the Republican nominee, but there’s no doubt President Barack Obama will be the Democratic choice.

And there’s no doubt I will vote for him.

Of course, it won’t be with as much optimism, enthusiasm and, dare I say, hope as in 2008. Rather, this election’s vote comes with cautious conviction—the resigned realization, if you will—that change often comes in tiny dewdrops rather than gushing waterfalls.

It’s frustrating, sure, and it makes me feel more like an apologist than a passionate supporter, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to let my disillusionment let me lose sight of the bigger picture—or the smaller details.

Because what’s the alternative?

Vote for the eventual Republican nominee? Hell. No.

Too many conservative policies and mindsets forsake the poor, oppress minorities and use religion as an excuse to strip rights from those who deviate from the so-called norm.

So go rogue and vote for an independent candidate who doesn’t have the experience or political pull? Sorry, but no thanks.

Call me a cynic, but I’d rather give Obama another chance.

A recent Facebook picture meme perhaps best explains my underlining philosophy.

The image, which went viral in the last week, depicts a young woman, diagnosed with tumors on her uterus, holding up a piece of paper that reads “I am Obamacare”—a reference to the president’s much-maligned, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law as a means to reform the health-insurance industry and expand access to more Americans.

“I am 34 and my job does not provide benefits or health care,” the woman’s sign reads.

“Because it was a pre-existing condition, insurance companies could (and did!) turn me down for coverage … but because President Obama passed health care reform I was able to get [a Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan] and the surgery I needed to get well.”

Obama’s health-care reform is, certainly, not without myriad flaws. But thanks to its Pre-existing Insurance Plan option, this woman (and millions just like her) will have the opportunity for better health and, thus, a better life.

That opportunity is key.

In the last three years, President Obama’s committed numerous mistakes and missteps—some more alarming or perplexing than others: His decision to indefinitely detain Guantanamo Bay prisoners, overruling the Food and Drug Administration’s decision to make Plan B birth control options available to teens under 17 without a prescription, a foreclosure “rescue” plan that’s quite possibly done more harm than good.

But the president’s also made some notable impacts.

Unemployment numbers are slowly shrinking, and in addition to health-care-reform legislation, his administration ended “don’t ask, don’t tell” and successfully pressured Congress to extend the payroll-tax cut.

That latter accomplishment may seem small to some—it equals roughly $40 extra per paycheck for the average American worker—but for many, it’s huge proof that tiny changes can make a difference.

I don’t know about you, but losing $80 a month would hurt.

I plan to vote for President Obama in November, not with the whole-hearted conviction that accompanied my decision in 2008 but with a tempered hope that, at best, he may continue to have a positive impact on my daily life, however small.