It has been an eventful six years for President Barack Hussein Obama.

From the moment he burst into the political arena in 2004 with his electrifying keynote address during the Democratic National Convention, his rapid ascension from senatorial candidate to the highest office in the land has been fraught with strident opposition and racial tension.

The election of the first African-American president in U.S. history peeled back the superficial layer of harmony in this country and exposed the bitter dregs of slavery and Jim Crow, as black and white citizens alike wrestled with inner prejudices and presumptions ingrained in the fabric of our society.

Yet, after grasping the reins from a flailing Republican Party left diminished in the wake of the immoral actions of George W. Bush, Barack Obama has overcome a level of intense adversity previously unseen in American politics to accomplish the majority of his campaign agenda in two brief years.

These include Senate approval of the ratification of S.T.A.R.T. (a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia), the repeal of the discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" -- allowing gay and lesbian troops to serve their country openly, an $858 billion deal to extend tax cuts and unemployment assistance for suffering Americans, and the approval of $4.3 billion for 9/11 First Responders facing illnesses stemming from the wreckage of the World Trade Center.

That's just in the last thirty days.




Since his historic election in 2008, the Obama Administration has also saved the auto industry from the brink of ruin, diverted the country from a second "Great Depression" with an immense stimulus package, passed the largest health care legislation since Lyndon B. Johnson's Medicare, ensured through student loan reform that millions of students have the opportunity to seek higher education, and suppressed the reckless and negligent greed on Wall Street with a sweeping reform bill.

In a Bloomberg article, Alan Brinkley, a historian at Columbia University, said the last two years has likely been "the most productive session of Congress since at least the '60s" while in a Rolling Stone article earlier this year, Norman Ornstein, a scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, noted that "If you're looking at the first-two-year legislative record you really don't have any rivals since Lyndon Johnson - and that includes Ronald Reagan."

Rachel Maddow added to this chorus on The Rachel Maddow Show, by listing several accomplishments achieved by our 44th POTUS that fly under the radar, including:

"The fair pay act for women... new hate crimes legislation they said could not be done, tobacco regulation, credit card reform, the largest investment in clean energy ever, the improvements to the new G.I. Bill, and the most expansive food safety bill since the 1930s."

Radical right-wing opponents can spew their vitriolic hate-fueled speech from Dixie to the Heartland attempting to discredit his achievements, and radical left-wing opponents can attempt to decimate his character, but the facts cannot be denied.

President Obama has accomplished more in two years than most presidents achieve in two terms.

His faith has faced unprecedented scrutiny, and everything from his place of birth to his choice of pet, has been dissected and found lacking. His young daughters have been mocked by conservative paragons such as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, and his wife has been portrayed as either an Amazon ape, or a radical, afro-wearing terrorist. Obama himself has been depicted as an illegal immigrant, gambler and homosexual all in the same Colorado billboard, and his entire family has faced death threats.

Yet, when lesser men may have wavered, our President never lost his focus.

It is true that Obama has flip-flopped on oil drilling, failing to further energy reform; he has also reneged on a major campaign promise not to extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich. He has softened his stance on the removal of ground troops in Iraq, while increasing the number of troops in Afghanistan, and still wavers on the closing of Guantanamo Bay.

At times, he has appeared inept and unprepared for the political warfare pervasive in D.C. and his poll numbers have slipped as a result. The President underestimated the strength and cunning of those dedicated to the status quo, and he has undermined his own achievements with a blatant disregard for the political games as necessary in Washington as breathing.

Yet, he has succeeded in spite of the fickle, unreliable support of his base, and the strategic opposition of a Republican Party committed to his failure, even if it means voting against legislation they originally introduced, such as the DREAM Act. Winning by a landslide margin of 9,124,522 votes in 2008, the largest ever by a non-incumbent, President Obama's epic progress has proven that America got it right.

However, what I find disheartening is the unprecedented shift of African Americans to the GOP for fear of being seen as a supporter of Barack Obama. Many of them regurgitate Conservative talking points, painting the liberals of today with the same brush used to color the Dixiecrats of the 50s and 60s. They conveniently forget that due to Nixon's Southern Strategy, the racist, closet Klansmen prevelant in the Democratic Party defected to the GOP in opposition to Civil Rights legislation introduced by President John F. Kennedy.

Perversely, it was acceptable to be a Democrat when a white man was president, because then it was just opposing ideological philosophy, not racially motivated or influenced. However, once Conservatives formulated their point of attack, craftily labeling Obama the "Affirmative Action" president, black Republicans fell in line like dominoes.

African Americans are not all of one mind, and I would never suggest that we collectively support a politician based on his ethnicity. There are those of us who disagree with our president's politics, and that can be respected. However, it speaks ill of our brothers and sisters who are so uncomfortable in their own skin that supporting Obama is not even an option. The Sambo mentality didn't elevate our status during slavery, and it's even less beneficial to us now.

On a blistering night in Chicago during Obama's acceptance speech, he spoke of the "setbacks and false starts" and the fact that all citizens would not agree with "every decision or policy [he would] make as president." He spoke of the cynicism, doubt, and fear that forced us for so long to believe that change was impossible, and that politics as usual would always prevail, and for two years he has challenged our self-imposed low expectations paving the path for America's return to greatness.

We should continue to support our president when we agree, and challenge him when we do not, because he has proven that he will listen, compromise when acceptable, and stand firm when it is not. As Maddow stated, "Whether you agree or disagree with what Democrats have done in the first two years of President Obama's presidency, they have freaking done it."

That, they have, and on the grandest scale this country has ever seen. If this is what the first two years of Obama's presidency reflects, the possibilities and potential for the next six years are limitless.

Job well done, Mr. President. I salute you.