Dear President Obama

Dear President Obama,

Seven years ago, I met my husband, and seven years ago, I met his Obama shirt. As a card-carrying, registered Democrat, it was a shirt he wore with both pride and honor.

I hated it.

See, I had grown up in a Republican family and had been bred to despise all candidates and platforms blue. So when he would ask me to wear his shirt from time to time, I vehemently denied. I wouldnt be caught dead.

But then something funny happened.

You.

As I graduated from school and began to spread my wings, I learned to separate my political viewpoints from those of my parents. I started to examine my world, both political and otherwise, with fresh eyes and an open mind. I gave myself a clean slate. And you made that bare tapestry your own.

Throughout the next seven years, I would watch you log achievement after achievement, despite steady opposition and a dearth of proper acknowledgment. Ive seen people call you the worst president of all time, despite objective measures that indicate the contrary. After all, this presidency has been one for the history books. The Dow Jones has hit unprecedented highs. The automotive industry has set all-time sales records. We recorded the longest streak of overall job growth in United States history. And I can actually fill up the tank of my environment-killing SUV without filing for bankruptcy.

Were things perfect? No, of course not. But they seldom ever are. And why should the standard be perfection anyway? Youre only human, after all. Your turkey pardon jokes prove as much.

No, for me, the standard is improvement; and by that measure, youre every bit the success you set out to be. Unemployment is down. Wages are back on the rise. And while one could point to an increase in debt, thats only one side of the coin, as our deficit has shrunk considerably. The main attack on your performance has been the underwhelming GDP growth, but such a criticism rings a bit hollow to me when, before you took office, we were migrating in the opposite (read: negative) direction. Call me crazy (and Im sure many reading this will), but criticizing a man for only marginally improving the economy when were coming out of the second greatest recession of all time would be like criticizing a homeless man for only finding a way to move into a studio apartment and not a mansion. To me, context matters.

Otherwise, your detractors biggest critiques center around foreign policy and healthcare. And there are legitimate arguments to be made. But if your greatest fault is your burning desire to remove our service members from harms way and ensure healthcare for all, Im not going to come down too hard on you for it. Youre like the interviewee whose biggest weakness is being too much of a perfectionist.

All that being said, what Im most grateful for is not what youve done but who you are. Youre a person whos not afraid to grow a fact made evident by your record. When you embarked on this life-changing journey, you were not in favor of gay marriage. And yet you evolved. You didnt steadfastly hold to an antiquated belief. You didnt let pride and stubbornness rule the day. You acknowledged, whether internally or publicly, that your beliefs were discriminatory, divisive, and harmful, and you progressed. And when marriage equality became the law of the land (a feat that, in my opinion, will go down as the greatest accomplishment of your presidency), you ate crow in front of a national audience by lighting up the White House in celebration of a law you would have previously opposed.

Thats personal growth. Thats humility. And those are the qualities I want modeled for our children by the most powerful person in the free world.

But thats who you are. Youre a man of introspection and valor, of principle and equity. And your demeanor has never ceased to amaze me. These past seven years, Ive watched you bear the weight of the world on your shoulders without ever once buckling under the pressure. Always composed, always respectful, you became one of my most revered role models. You see, its easy to lash out against opposition. Its easy to fight disrespect with disrespect. I, myself, have been guilty of this on more than one occasion. But never you. Youve risen up in the face of adversity and refused to stoop to the level of others. You went high when they went low. And I both admire and envy your class and poise.

So thank you, President Obama, for what youve done for this country, but also for what youve done for me on a personal level. Youve made me want to be a better woman, a better citizen, and a better advocate for my peers.

And, between us, if you were to go into my closet today, you would find that Obama shirt resting ceremoniously on my shelf, not my husbands.

And only partially because I suck at laundry and shrunk it.

I wish you all the best in your future endeavors. I know that youll continue to make me proud.

Godspeed.

Jen