What it will take to make President Obama a great president?

President Obama will have to do more than be recognized as the first African American President. He must tackle the tough issues and right now on the forefront is universal health care.

 President John F. Kennedy was a great president.   President Kennedy did not get the opportunity to complete his presidential term because of the racial unrest in the nation at that time. The anniversary of the moon landing has just been celebrated and Americans have President Kennedy tackling the tough issues. on of which was to get a man on the moon. 

President Kennedy is also known for saying that it is not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country. Those words are now fitting as the country wrestles with an economic downturn that has major companies filing bankruptcy and record unemployment upwards to almost ten percent.

 Americans must once again not rely totally on what the country can do for them but what they can do to jolt the economy back into recovery by writing their congressmen.  Americans need to  support President Obama's economic stimulus plans and to tell their congressmen to stop sending the money back when jobs are needed in their states and their families are hungry.

 Americans must spend any money received from the president's stimulus programs to get the economy back to recovery. Americans need to take advantage of the myriad of government programs in housing and education to get the economy out of the downturn that it is in now. President Obama has been a busy president offering $8,000 tax credits for new home buyers and $2,500 to college tuition if students volunteer in community services. Pell grants in higher education has also been increased in compliance to President Obama's campaign promises.

But if the American people do not act on these programs then the purpose of the legislation will not do what it was designed to do. Americans must be proactive with these government programs because as President Kennedy said, the country can not do it all.

President Obama will be remembered as the presidential campaigner who took the "Yes We Can" strategy to a white house that was reeling from a bubble and burst economic strategy of President Bush. The important thing here is not how President Obama will be remembered but what can he do to effect the change that he rallied to the white house to turn this economy around and to get Americans back to work.  It should be noted that President Obama has only been in office for about six months and have met with world leaders at the G20 economic summit and met the Queen of England and the Prime Minister of England, all allies to the United States.

History has a way of writing itself and as it is being written changes are constantly happening and are constantly being recorded. President Obama's job is not to try to be remembered as a great president. He wrote a plan as a campaigner knowledeable about what he was taking on as the Commander in Chief . There are two wars raging, the economy is at a downturn, unemployment does not seem to be decreasing, the energy crisis is still prevalent though gas prices are not as high, and the health care system is in need of reformation.

If President Obama does his job to the hilt, then he will be remembered for how he tackled the issues going forward in a divided house of republicans and democrats. He will be remembered as the cool president who selected a cabinet of rivals like President Abraham Lincoln.
President Obama do not have the inclination to concentrate on being a great president because he "inherited" work that have him hitting the congress floor running for change and optimism with transparency in political policies.

I think that the American people are satisfied with the election of President Barack Obama and are confident that he can handle his job on the same level as John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln.

But right now, no one is thinking about how history will record these events or whether President Obama will be viewed as a great president. Right now, Americans would like to see some of the 3.5 million jobs promised in the economic stimulus package, 600,000 that was promised over the summer months in transportation and energy. Americans right now just want to get back to work and do their part to support the president they voted into office.