"Franklin Delano Obama?"

One of my favorite columnists that I read on a regular basis is New York Times' Nicholas Kristof. I find his insight on issues as very informative and thought provoking. Just by glancing at the title of this article, I knew I had to read it, since I am very supportive of our newly elected President Obama and I also consider FDR to be one of the greatest leaders of our time. We persevered through one of the most difficult economic times our nation had to endure and held strong throughout World War Two because of his strength as a leader and his innovative ideas. Many consider him one of the best Presidents of all time. With the economy in shambles, President Obama is using his charisma and leadership abilities to get the American people on his side and to work towards fixing the economy over the next few years. He also shares another hope for the future that Roosevelt had-the hope for a national health care system for all Americans.

The arguments for and against a national healthcare system are numerous. Proponents of universal healthcare argue that everyone deserves a quality health care regardless of income, and that Americans would be a much healthier and longer living population if we had such a system. Opponents argue that going down such a path would lead to socialism in our society. Taxes would increase substantially, and that the quality of our healthcare would decline. When 46 million people in our country live each day without health insurance, something is terribly wrong. How can the most powerful and wealthiest country in the world have so many people without it? As Kristof states in the article, the people of Europe have a higher life expectancy than Americans. It also has a negative effect on our economy and on businesses. When American companies have to pay to provide healthcare to their employees and foreign companies do not, it leaves us behind in competitiveness. So not only is instituting a national healthcare system a moral obligation, but given the state of our economy and business, it may be wise for President Obama to put healthcare on the forefront of his agenda. If he can achieve this, President Obama just may have a place among the great Presidents throughout American history.