A campaign for change.

To shrink the colossal gap between Democratic and Republican politicians and populace, in order to create a more efficient and “united” United States.

This was Obama’s dream – one that no presidential hopeful had claimed to prioritize to such an extent. So much for that.

As Obama’s re-election campaign approaches, the GOP continues to ask one question: “What has Obama actually accomplished since his inauguration?”

It is a common misconception of the public that whatever the president wants, he will have, with a snap of his fingers and a wave of Roosevelt’s big stick.

That’s not exactly how it works and with good reason. Our government was designed to the utmost level of protection for the people, through checks and balances.

Unfortunately, these checks and balances are what allowed Obama’s efforts to be undermined to an astounding extent.

6,940,000 times, actually. The number of hits received when the words “Republicans”, “undermine”, and “Obama” are googled sequentially.

The more I read and research the myriad of attempts the president has made to improve our country (“don’t ask, don’t tell”, Osama Bin Laden’s assassination, national healthcare) the more incredulous I become.

Do Republicans truly despise and fear Obama so much that they would, to the detriment of our country, derail his every move?

Throughout the budget crisis, Republicans absolutely refused to budge, or to compromise with Obama. Millions of Americans waited as the president desperately struggled to barter with the GOP regarding the debt ceiling.

In July, The New Republic summarized the GOP’s behavior:

“At Friday’s press conference, [Obama] was scolding, even abrasive. He said he’d been ‘left at the altar’ by Republicans promising a deal, and he revealed that Boehner wouldn’t even return his phone calls.

“‘The difference,’ he said, between Boehner’s plan and his plan ‘was that we didn’t put all the burden on the people who were least able to protect themselves … Working stiffs out there, ordinary folks who are struggling everyday. And they know they are getting a raw deal and they are mad at everybody about it.'”

No matter political preference or knowledge, one should be perceptive enough to realize that the GOP is clowning substantially enough to fit in swimmingly with Cirque Du Soleil. Infuse the circus-esque behavior with recent antics (when the Speaker of the House refuses to return the President of the United States’ phone calls, you know it’s personal), and you are left with Jersey Shore at the White House. Complete with paramount repercussions.

iActNow also called out the GOP for impairing America just to undermine Obama:

“The Republicans are playing ‘Chicken’ with our economy … They know that a bad economy makes things more difficult for incumbents to get reelected, so they are endeavoring to produce such an outcome to achieve their political goals – at the expense of everyone else and multiple future generations.”

I am not disappointed in Barack Obama. I am disappointed in the Republican politicians who have turned the White House into “high school U.S.A.”

I am disturbed because I know that the president and his cabinet would have made three times the progress had the GOP worked with them properly.

Finally, I am saddened because our country has turned into a laughingstock. As we flounder, the rich get richer, and the poor become poorer, undeniably.

This isn’t “One nation, under God.” It’s one nation, undermined.