With the birth certificate issue laid to rest (special thanks to Donald Trump), we can all be certain that Mr. Obama turned 50 on August 4.

The 50th birthday is a day for a man to look back on his life and see what he has accomplished. This birthday will certainly be no different for the President, a very accomplished man, who has overcome many hurdles in his life. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about his presidency.

During Mr. Obama‘s time in office, unemployment has skyrocketed to a solid 10%, (although it did fall slowly to 9.1%) and the U.S. credit rating has been downgraded for the first time in history. These are challenging crises for any president to solve, and they will certainly remain the focal point of his presidency.

The premise of Mr. Obama’s 2008 election was “change”, and change is certainly what his administration brought. Unfortunately, for millions of unemployed Americans, the only change they have seen during the past three years is a decline in their standard of living. (Consequently, they also have less change in their pockets).

With the passing of the $787-billion-dollar stimulus package, many felt the economy would begin to turn around. However, it just led to an increase in both the size of the government and unemployment. This recovery can at best be called a “disaster,” among other things.

The administration claims they saved millions of jobs with the stimulus bill and that they kept many public employees working. However, only three months after the passage of the stimulus bill, the unemployment rate soared to 10%, and the stock market had its worst day in years.

The term “shovel ready” was the buzzword to identify jobs that were ready to employ millions of Americans. They were of the utmost importance to America’s economic growth, like the bridge that would help turtles cross a busy highway (MSNBC.com).

Many projects such as the turtle bridge were completed – thanks to the stimulus bill. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the unemployed remained on the rolls. Well, at least the turtles were safe.

Upon returning to their home districts in the summer of 2010, many Democrats were “greeted” by angry constituents. These protests were in response to a bill so eloquently named after its “creator,” Obamacare. This was certainly another failure of the Obama administration to push forth their policies.

On a higher note, Mr. Obama is credited with authorizing the U.S. troops to disregard the sovereignty of Pakistan in order to capture Osama bin Laden. As a result, Mr. Obama enjoyed a few weeks of higher approval ratings and proved that he was capable of making executive decisions. The President also proved to critics that he was willing to do what it took to topple terrorist networks.

Regarding his 2012 campaign, Mr. Obama’s loss of allies will plague him through this election. This is certainly a hurdle he will have to overcome to stay in office. How the President will confront the mass exodus of independent voters is yet to be seen.

The President is also struggling to hold on to his “left-wing” base. Witness Bill Broyles, a one-time supporter of President Obama, recently wrote in Newsweek, “Americans aren’t inspired by well-meaning weakness.”

However, as a barrage of attacks continues to bombard the President, he may still be able to keep his high approval ratings among black Americans. Although unemployment for black Americans is significantly higher at 16.2%, the prospects are even worse for black teens with 41% unemployment.

Even so, Mr. Obama still has time to turn things around; he plans to unveil a “jobs plan” to stimulate the economy in the coming weeks (this sounds vaguely familiar). In this time of uncertainty and hostility, we Americans can only hope that things begin to turn around to avoid another “lost decade.”

President Calvin Coolidge once said, “The business of America is business.” However, under President Obama, it seems that the business of America is big government.

Sam Joseph is a senior in the Colleg of Arts and Sciences.