Wr4-3

Mr. Obama My name is Meaghan Folger; I am a tenth grade student in Charlottesville, Va. These are my personal opinions on your greatest priorities for you first year of office. I cannot tell you how to do your job, nor do I have the experience necessary to do that.
I feel the biggest problem for America currently is the war in Iraq. The continuation of this war is consuming, and has consumed a massive amount of recourses and money, not just from America either. The money going into this war is contributing to the economic crisis, which is contributing to unemployment, as well as funding issues for schools and other public works.
I agree that we should pull out of Iraq as soon as possible. The Iraqi police, militia, and defense are improving drastically and performing admirably. However, the void created by a sudden withdrawal might result in a collapse of security. The Iraqi police and militia would be unable to handle the sudden depletion in assistance. Failing to finish what we started in the middle east could result in a remobilization of troops and though we wouldn’t go back to square one a great deal of progress could possibly be lost. Sponsoring peace conferences would help as well although at this stage the conflicts will not be solved only using diplomacy.
This situation will not be resolved quickly yet is a huge problem; the majority of your efforts should be focused towards the war. A controversial issue that you have the ability to solve in less time is Gay rights; it would be nice to see this particular problem resolved quickly so that other issues can be focused on. It is understandable if not acceptable that people would be unwilling to have current legislature dealing with gay rights changed. Changing it to give gays more rights such as marriage would go against many people’s religions and people simply do not wish to see change occur. However discriminating against people for any reason is unacceptable in all situations you should always enter an issue with an open mind willing to see the conflict from any point of view instead of simple plowing over either view. If legislature was created that could give more rights to gays in terms of a legal marriage the most you could do was hope that religions would relax and get used to the ides so if gays wished they could have a religious marriage. I hope that you will resolve this issue quickly with the utmost tact.
Other issues will such as the economic crisis will take work as well but if you take care of the problems in the Middle East first, you will have more time to take care of other problems such as the economic crisis and without the war fund, you will have more money to help the economy. Having our soldiers back will help moral which is part of why the economic crisis is so bad.
I wish you the best of luck in your next four years of presidency.
Meaghan