2012 is right around the corner, and that means it’s about time for presidential candidates to come forward. The last two presidents have won re-election. Incumbents (even some bad ones) seem to find a way to hold onto their jobs.
President Barack Obama was dealt a bad hand when he took office. Returning the position to the other party wouldn’t be responsible to return it to the other party after the first presidential term. Why?
Things are improving in this country whether people want to admit to it or not. To some people, things aren’t getting better fast enough. We will see how things go between now and Election Day, less than 20 months away.
The employment rate now stands at 8.9 percent. This is the lowest level in nearly two years. About 192,000 jobs were added to the economy. That is welcomed news. 
Things in this country take a short time to mess up but a long time to fix.
That’s the truth some people conveniently forget when they talk about why they think Obama will not win re-election in 2012.
Some of his critics are the same people who will seek the Republican nomination in 2012. As soon as Obama was elected, Republicans came out bashing everything the president was trying to do without even giving his policies a chance to work.
We all know the right-wing policies didn’t work during the Bush years or we would’ve had a thriving economy, not one that was declining.
I am curious as to who will run for the nomination on the Republican side. In my opinion, there are no good choices for the Republican candidate. All possible candidates have some tough questions they will have to answer.
The president won’t have a primary challenger. The Democrats don’t want to split the Democratic party, which would be a boost to the Republicans.
Here are my opinions on just some of the potential Republicans who could run opposite the president:
Newt Gingrich will have to address the fact he has had multiple wives. That doesn’t sound like “family values” to me. Also, he will probably be bombarded with questions about why he was irresponsible in shutting down government during Clinton’s presidency.
If Sarah Palin ended up as the Republican nominee, Obama would assuredly win.
Many people who aren’t even Democrats think she is incompetent and wouldn’t be able to engage in foreign affair matters with other world leaders. How would she be able to run a country when she quit being governor of Alaska in the middle of her term? Also, many people thought John McCain put the country in grave peril by choosing her as his vice president.
Mike Huckabee recently stirred up more birther mess by saying the president was raised in Kenya when the president didn’t even visit Kenya until he was in his 20s.
When Huckabee was governor of Arkansas, he pushed for tax increases. That’s contradictory to how he is now.
Haley Barbour hasn’t been a good governor of Mississippi. He has defended his racist comments. His Southern accent is something that doesn’t sit too well with many people. Also, he is the governor of Mississippi which, in too many people’s eyes, is the worst in every category. I don’t agree fully, but that is the perception of millions of Americans. 
Mitt Romney has no chance of winning, especially since he was the one who helped get a health-care program which had insurance mandates in Massachusetts. As a Republican, that’s a losing thing to have pushed for.  
Based on what I know, I’m confident in the president winning re-election next year. I know things can change between now and then, but if he keeps the overall economy moving in the right direction, then he will get another four years in the White House.
Christopher Webb is a junior majoring in  business administration. He can be contacted at [email protected].