A second term

Obama’s plans can work for this nation provided he can bring bipartisan cooperation with Congress. And that may be his most important job to come.

While not all of the president’s plans have worked as he and we, as a nation, had hoped, he has boosted the economy with his stimulus package and saved thousands of jobs through the auto industry bailout. As a result, the economy is slightly stronger and unemployment rates are falling.

The most controversial of the president’s plans is the Affordable Care Act, or as even he has come to call it, Obamacare. We endorsed his plan in this space earlier and continue to believe that it will force people to take responsibility for their own health care costs by buying insurance or facing a penalty.

Like we said before, our nation is already paying a penalty as a whole when we pick up the costs for the medical care of people who choose not to have health insurance or cannot afford it.

In contrast, Gov. Mitt Romney says he would repeal the act, but gives little information about how he would handle the millions of dollars our government and its citizens spend on uncompensated care for the uninsured. And he appears to distance himself from his work on a similar program as governor of Massachusetts.

And we believe that Obama has lived up to his word on a number of issues, including ending the war in Iraq and working toward the end of the war in Afghanistan.

Romney’s plans to improve the economy and his foreign policy seem unclear at best and concerning at worst. And his word on several issues seems to be changing as the campaign moves forward.

Does Obama have more work to do? Absolutely. He must work with Congress on spending reductions and tax reform and stop blaming Congress for the budget standstill. Blame, in these cases, does no good.

The next four years must bring tough, but necessary changes to get our nation’s fiscal policies under control. But we believe that Obama is the best candidate to make those changes in a bipartisan and progressive way.