When President Obama was first elected, there were Republican outcries that his presidency would be the one to destroy family values. However, now that his years as a president have drawn to a close, it is becoming clear that the exact opposite is happening. Instead of harming family values, his presidency seems to be the one responsible for restoring family values to the United States instead.
The First Family seems to be a prime example of Obama’s support for family values. The families of other presidential candidates in this time period, such as the Palin family, have been filled with scandals of people preaching abstinence and then having children out of wedlock. In contrast, not a single real scandal has attached itself to the Obamas. The president has not been cheating on his wife, and the family’s children are not having wild, drunken parties. Instead, Sasha and Malia have grown from cute little kids into intelligent and mature young women while Barack and Obama’s marriage seems to be stronger than ever. Instead of having a bad family, the Obamas are actually the first presidential family to be scandal free in the past 30 years of the nation’s history.
This sense of integrity also seems to be evident within Obama’s administration. During the years of the Bush presidency, seven officials of cabinet departments were convicted of criminal behavior during a corruption scandal, and 11 U.S. attorneys appointed by Bush were fired because they did not follow his party’s goals. In contrast, the Obama presidency has been remarkably free of scandal and corruption.
In addition to promoting strong levels of trust and integrity, the Obama administration has been promoting the growth of families nationwide. As of 2016, forty states have been able to decrease the welfare handed out during the 2008 economic depression. In just the past year, median household income has increased by over five percent while the poverty rate has lowered. The amount of people without health insurance has also decreased by 45 percent. Altogether, more families can now support and care for their children, which ought to be the very definition of promoting family values.
Bush’s disastrous foreign policies that were tearing apart families across the nation have also been turned around by Obama’s presidency. In addition to finally getting Bin Laden, the man responsible for the September 11 terrorist attacks, Obama has also halted the wars in the Middle East. Instead of getting involved in other nation’s fights, he instead influences them positively by just imposing economic and trading sanctions against them until they comply. Most of the troops have now been brought back home, reuniting families everywhere.
Despite evidence of all the ways that he has supported family values, detractors of the Obamas continue to claim that he has been singlehandedly responsible for destroying values nationwide. What are they referring to when they mention this? They are talking about the president’s continued support for LGBT rights that led to the landmark Supreme Court decision to allow all couples to marry. Sadly, it seems that family values for Republicans seem to be based in hatred and denying rights to others, instead of supporting positive family growth like President Obama has. Altogether, the average American family is now much better off than it was eight years ago.