Yes, I am better off than I was four years ago

I am better off than I was four years ago.  There is absolutely no doubt about it.  I now live in a country that has rehabilitated its international image.    I live in a country that no longer sanctions torture nor writes off whole countries and even religions as evil.  I live in a country whose leadership seems to have rediscovered the value of conversation, compromise, and collaboration in foreign policy and placed them back alongside confrontation as legitimate alternatives.  I live in a country that is no longer involved in two wars, and is on the path to being involved in zero wars.  I live in a country that now allows all of its citizens to serve in its armed forces without hiding who they are.  I live in a country where health care is available to more people than has ever been the case before.  I live in a country where much of the leadership takes climate change and other environmental issues seriously.  I live in a country whose top manufacturers of automobiles have been saved from ruin and placed back on the path of profitability and success.  I live in a country that is crawling back from a crippling economic downturn as housing markets begin to rebound and unemployment stops going up, despite the best efforts of many politicians to stall economic recovery for their own political gain.  I am saddened at the hate that has accompanied the election of a Black President.  I am outraged that a financial crisis caused by ineffective regulation has spawned calls for deregulation and small government.  I am worried about the slow creep of an intolerant form of Christianity into the places of power.  I am maddened by the politics of ad hominem attacks and appeals to fear and hate.  I am dismayed at the increasing rejection of science.  The bottom line ... we are not in a good place, but it is far better than where we were four years ago and the way to move forward is to reelect Barack Obama.