Dear President Obama,

Thank you.  That is all that can be said to you Mr. President, and to your family.  We watched you walk into office in 2008. During this time you had inherited a country that was at an economic impasse. This great America, though many will deny, was misdirected, off balance, and out of focus with the real needs of the American people.  In 2008, America was in the midst of the most severe economic drop since the Great Depression, and you along with your team came in and revived a country that was literally on life support.

So – Thank you.  Thank you for signing the American Recovery Reinvestment Act which has helped to spur the growth of over 15.5 million jobs as of 2016.  Thank you for breaking a record of over seventy-three straight months of job growth, and decreasing the American unemployment rate to 4.6 percent – a number that was around 10% when you took office.

Thank you for being the FIRST President since Dwight Eisenhower to serve two full terms with NO serious personal and political scandals! Thank you for being a rock, being cool, and being the bigger person despite the insults and disrespect many across the country have shown to you and your family.

Thank you for spending so much of your eight years trying to make right, what so many other presidents made wrong.  Thank you for passing the Fair Sentencing Act, which has helped in decreasing the prison population, the largest decrease we have seen in over 30 years.  Thank you for enacting the legislation that was first slated by the Bush and Clinton families, which will erase the disparity between certain drug possessions.  Reagan, Bush, and Clinton created laws that in turn, launched harsh sentences for people of color in comparison to whites; thank you for putting a plan in action to right many of these wrongs.

Thank you President Obama, along with Attorney General Eric Holder for revitalizing the Department of Justice, which was nearly put to rest by the Bush administration.  Through this revitalization, your administration has ramped up efforts to fight against housing and employment discrimination.

Thank you, because as a woman of color, I have seen you appoint other women of color to serve during your administration.  In these eight years, this country has experienced more diversity in your cabinet than we have seen in the history of any president’s administration. More than half of positions requiring Senate confirmation were filled by people of color and seventeen out of thirty-one Cabinet positions were also filled by people of color. We also saw you appoint a record 138 female judges and 120 minority judges to federal benches. This is the real representation of what America should look like – and for that, thank you.

Thank you for actually caring about people and kids that have to deal with the student loan organization.  You kicked banks out of the equation and allowed students to payback loans without bank subsidies, saving students $36 billion over ten years.

Thank you for caring about immigrants and protecting DREAMers from being deported.  With your executive action, you have protected any undocumented child (DREAMer) who was born in the U.S. to work safely in this country, without fear that they will be ripped from the only place they have known as home.

I can really go on…and on…and on.  I haven’t even thanked you for providing Healthcare to so many in this country who were without it.  I didn’t even get to the $335 million against Countrywide and the $175 million against Wells Fargo that you fought for because these banks were charging higher interest rates and fees to African Americans. I didn’t get a chance to go into detail about how you signed executive orders to reduce discrimination against former prisoners to work as contractors for the federal government, and how you signed another order to protect the LGBTQ from employment discrimination.

In all my thank yous, I didn’t even get to scratch the surface on how you have made an international impact with our allies.  You’ve protected our borders and led six nations to reach an agreement with Iran to end its nuclear weapons programs; which won you a Nobel Peace Prize!  You ordered your Special Forces to raid Osama Bin Laden, a threat that was introduced to us during the Bush administration.  Also, I didn’t get to go into detail on how you kept your promise and withdrew our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, bringing home 90 percent of our 180,000 troops.

And, even though I haven’t said thank you to you and your team for saving the Auto industry, repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell”, and putting a choke hold on Wall Street by handling the 1 million consumer complaints and compensating them with over $11 billion in relief due to overzealous and crooked traders – I say Thank you President Obama!

Thank you for working so hard over the past eight years.  Thank you for being a leader to all people.  Thank you for breaking records, enacting legislation (even within your last few months in office) and putting in place the foundation that will protect many of us in years to come, and not harm us.

But most importantly, thank you for being a loving family, a hero, a role model to many little girls and little boys who are in awe of you and Michelle Obama.  Thank you for your integrity, that surpasses any of your accomplishments.  And thank you for your service to these United States of America.

Sincerely,

Syllabus Magazine