For the better part of three years I have received emails from friends who are quite critical of our President. In many of these there is a glaring observation and that is our President is black and many of these emails presented as jokes are just racist rants professing to be funny.

When elected I think many were taken by this man's ability to speak and speak well and for many he wasn't as black as he is now. What has happened?   Is this country still largely a racist one or is this country disillusioned by the leadership of this, otherwise, brilliant thinker and speaker?

I, for one, will vote for Obama again this November. The alternative frightens me.

Robert Brooks

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Mr. Brooks, I could not agree with you more. While the alternative to reelecting President Obama is indeed a frightening one, I would vote to reelect this President regardless of any Republican nominee.

There is disillusionment among Democrats and Independent voters; however, I believe this disillusionment comes from the state of politics in general. It is beyond understanding how America has come to the point of allowing Corporations to be considered people. How is it that in America we, of all Nations, are witnessing the disenfranchisement of voters at the same time we are sending our sons and daughters to fight and die for democracy in other Nations?

President Obama has my respect, my admiration, and my vote.

Cecilia Lewis

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Mr. Brooks, I too was one that believed in the hope and change approach and was excited during the 2008 campaign of what then Senator Obama spoke of. That is why I made a easy decision to vote for him. However it was not long after he took office it was easy to see that he was over his head. While having complete control of both the House and Senate his first two years in office he was unable to balance the budget which was a main promise during his campaign. Not only was he not able to balance it, he could not even get one member of his own party to vote in favor of it. To me that spoke volumes about his leadership or lack thereof. 
In his inaugural address, Obama promised “not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth.” He promised to “build the roads and bridges, the electric grids, and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.” He promised to “restore science to its rightful place and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost.” And he promised to “transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.” Unfortunately the president’s scorecard on every single one of those bold pledges is pitiful. The other main concern I have is not only has the unemployment figures stayed above the 8% mark that he set as being unacceptable, if you add back in the positions his administration has taken out that every other administration before him counted the true unemployment figure would be over 11%.
I understand and completely agree that he took over a horrible economy and was in a bad position from the start. My concern is that not only has he not made any improvements, but has actually made things worse by putting this country further in debt to China. I find it hard to accept his opinion that every thing is not his fault and tries one day to blame everything on former President Bush but then tries to extend some of the same tax cuts and breaks that he was just saying were the problem. This campaign where he has put out lies and untruthful attacks on the other candidates while refusing to focus on facts and the problems of today has really turned me away from him.

Dee Layne

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"Is this country still largely a racist one or is this country disillusioned by...Obama?" 

Race has nothing to do with the disillusionment the 'impressive' Obama has fostered. 

After spending $787 billion to "stimulate" the economy - touting a 'Summer of Recovery' two years ago, there are fewer Americans working today than the day Obama took office.  More Americans are on food stamps than at any point in history.  In all over 110 million people are on some sort of government welfare - this includes non-citizens of the United States.  In 3 1/2 years, Obama has racked up more national debt - $5 trillion - than all previous presidents combined. 

This "brilliant thinker" has not only thought up the incorrect course for this country - he has acted upon it.  The results are evident, and they are not impressive. 

Mike Romines
Guild, Tn.