Students of Tyler Junior College have mixed feelings about Barack Obama’s presidency. He was officially sworn in on Jan. 20, 2009, as the 44th President of the United States.
Susanne Moore, part-time librarian assistant, said she caught different segments of the airing of the Inauguration.
“I was very excited and amazed about how many people showed up and all the celebrities that support him,” Moore said.
Some students juggled busy schedules to see as much of the Inauguration as possible. A.J. Ashford, student at TJC, said he did not get to watch as much as he wanted because he had to go to class.
“It was a proud moment for all African-Americans and really everybody. He said change was coming and change is finally here. I would have never thought that the President of the United States would be African-American,” Ashford said.
Government instructor Dr. Michael K. Mast, said that Obama’s Presidency conveys a message to the world that America is living up to its dream.
Not all students have the same attitude about the new President.
Damien Tilley, TJC student, said he is excited about a minority achieving a high position; however, he disagrees with some of the new president’s policies.
“He is a supporter of the pro-choice movement. That presents a problem being that there is a large portion of abortions in the black community. I find it contradictory that an African-American president will support the very thing that is killing African-Americans,” Tilley said.
Tilley said that even though he looks at the moral issues, he believes that President Obama will open doors for minorities.
The United States is critiquing Obama on his first 100 days in office due to the current financial crisis. He has made numerous promises concerning the stimulus bill, tackling the foreclosure issues, saving millions of jobs, and determining the outcome of automakers GM and Chrysler.
In the past eight years, the government gave tax cuts to the wealthy and now new things have to be tried, Mast said.
“I see things that do not need to be in the bill. However, people need to get back to work. The consumer confidence is so low so the bill is necessary. People need jobs to bring back that confidence. Things need to be tweaked; however, the bill is good overall. We can’t afford to do nothing. We have to do something,” Mast said.
Some students personally believe in him, but are unsure if the rest of the U.S. is convinced.
“I think because he is so new, and everything is different, people need to see a little bit of good before they start believing in him. They need to see the stimulus passed as evidence of what he said he was going to do,” Aimee Hall, TJC student, said.
Al Martin, TJC student, said that it is not logical to believe that Obama will keep every promise he made in only 100 days; however, he will pull through since he is intelligent and has good advisors.
“It will work but people would have to work with him. There are a lot of people in the United States and it will be hard to have every one on one accord since everyone has their own agenda,” Martin said.
