The Leader of the Free World

The Leader of the Free World

America is a country that prides itself on active, modern leadership, and Americans, being some of the most outspoken people on the planet, are constantly judging those in positions of authority. So it is not a far stretch to say that the President of the United States is the most criticized man on Earth; and Barack Obama has definitely felt the heat thus far in his presidency. Obama has been both bashed and praised more than any other man in over fifty years. This notoriety does not suggest that he is a poor president. On the contrary, people are speaking out because of their fear of the overwhelming amount of change that Barack Obama has enacted in his presidency. Obama’s ability to recognize and change the parts of the country that have the greatest need for change comes rarely in a president’s first term. His overwhelming confidence and soundness of character, when combined with that ability, make him an outstanding leader. Barack Obama is easily defined as one of the top five president’s in our nation’s history. By allowing gay men into the military, pushing for health care reform, and reinventing the corrupt federal agencies in America, Barack Obama has paralleled himself with none other than former president Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Roosevelt affected great change in American federal regulation during what was an extremely tumultuous time both economically and socially. In the 1930’s America was in the midst of a massive economic crisis that was blamed on the government not controlling this country effectively. As a result, Roosevelt created a number of regulatory agencies to oversee various aspects of the country’s operation. Most notably he created the Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, and what became the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Judis 15). The effectiveness of these agencies has diminished over the past seventy years as politicians have been put in charge of them and as presidents...