A history topic one day in class.
There was nobody raising a hand, but a lot of us were hard at work thinking while my history teacher stood in front of the class at his pedestal watching us think. He probably wanted to make a suggestion or two, but it was a question for us to answer and not himself, haha.
Everyone came up with many answers to this, even myself, but I'm too shy a girl to raise her hand during class discussions, so my opinions never get heard, even if I've a few good ones.
Anyway, back to the original topic, what should the people expect from their presidential candidate and then, if they make it, leader? In a class of freshmen with the exception of one junior and one sophomore, we all thought about it. We would want our leader to be an all around good person for starters with good decision making abilities, we would want them to be able to debate well but be rational too. What about leadership? That's a quality we want in someone that will be in charge of our country for a good four years. The people would nonetheless want them to be personable, smart, and educated. How about reliable, how many reliable presidents have we had in the past? Wouldn't they need to have a good reputation as well? No criminal records, we would hope, right? Nothing they are trying to hide from us, right? Confidence. They are going to be speaking out in public and in front of hundreds, if not, thousands of people. On the television, broad casted through radios, their speeches will be heard by many, they need confidence. What about the present war going on between the United States and a few other countries, should our presidents have some experience with the military? A few of the past ones did... Now, those are all good points in a person that people would expect from their presidential candidates, am I correct? How about this one, believe it or not, what I am about to say is the absolute
last thing my class came up with, this thought did not even come from any of my peers, but from the teacher himself, honesty. Why did none of us think about this? Wouldn't we want our president to be honest? To speak nothing but the truth and to withhold the words he spoke of in his campaign speeches and also at the inauguration? I should think so.
Would it shock you that my class forgot about the quality of honesty in a person? It sure did surprise a lot of us and the teacher, no doubt. Have our presidents really been
that deceiving to us all that we have completely forgotten that we might want an honest president? Or have we just given up and now think that our presidents won't be honest and we're all just going to deal with it? What about those promises made to us during their campaigns, do they ever really follow through?
As an example, let's look at our Current President, Barack Obama. He promised everyone, "change" and what did we do, well, many went with that, of course. Yet, what kind of change was he talking about, did he really highlight his main focus in becoming president? If you ask me, everyone was so hyped up about this so-called "change" that some were probably willing to believe anything anyone said about making a change happen, after all, after the father and son Bush Administration, the public was pretty much ready for someone new to come into the picture. The war with it's death toll, the taxes being placed, the current financial situation, and so much more, "change" was needed. Well, who wouldn't strike now, after all, if one says they are going to "change" America, would you believe them and run with that idea, well, I probably would. However, what has Barack really changed? The economy still sucks, more troops are being sent into Iraq and other countries, war is still going on, more people are losing jobs, my state recently increased it's tax up one percent (6% in Massachusetts now, everyone), and there is still that issue about healthcare for people and what should be done about it... It looks like he's got his hands full, haha, because it doesn't seem like much of that change he was talking about has come through, and if it has, it seems it came through in a way different from that of the way people around him had imagined it would, but he's still got a few more years. At that time, I'll be able to vote and I'll have matured and will definitely have a better grasp about what is going on...who knows, maybe I'll even elect him, it really depends though. I'm interested to see how the current state of things pulls through.
What about our past president George W. Bush(preferably the second election)? I was much too young then to remember too much of what he said he was going to do, but times were pretty okay back then when I was a happy ten year old living with her family in a small, average town in the Eastern part of Northern America. From what I can gather, it started out in an okay state, the second election, but by the time he was nearing his end with that eight year term, times were going bad and things were sour. People wanted him gone, and quite frankly, with all that press and the tarnished reputation, I'm sure he didn't wish to remain within the White House any longer. Well, he left and we got the young Barack Obama instead of the aging John McCain...now what? Well, only time will tell how things end up and what happens to America. I hope everything turns out okay...Though America has a way of prevailing through tough times. We're pretty strong as a country. :) Let's hope for good times ahead and for a bright and shining future!
Now, to clear things up, I'm 15 and DO NOT claim to be a politcal wizz, because I'm NOT. I don't plan to know and don't claim to know everything about America's current state, because again, I do NOT. These are just my views as your average teenage living in the modern day United States, nothing much else really. There was no offense intended in my posting of this, just some thoughts I had, so please don't flame, it's not polite. I'd love to hear your opinions, but let's stay away from those nasty hate posts <3
-Kristen Leigh
