How to Write Your Opinion About Barack Obama

Often during a presidential administration, people want to weigh in on the political debate by writing their own opinions about a president's performance in office. A well-written opinion about President Barack Obama (or any sitting president) involves careful consideration of the facts and an opinion that draws on them for support. If you plan to offer your own written opinion about President Obama, whether for a school assignment, as a letter to an editor, for your blog, or for another purpose, here are some tips to help your work stand out in a sea of political rants.

Instructions

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1. Decide the criteria on which you will base your opinion of President Obama. You may want to assess his overall performance as president, or his leadership in a particular area, such as the economy, terrorism and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, health care reform, or the environment. Deciding the criteria in advance will give your written opinion piece scope and focus.

2. Conduct any needed research to gather factual information about the Obama administration and President Obama's actions in office. With the number of news and political websites, blogs and other sources, the Internet offers an embarrassment of riches, as far as information on political affairs. Be sure to choose authoritative sources that offer a balanced view of the Obama administration. The conservative Newsmax site, for example, is no more likely to offer a nuanced view of Obama than the liberal Huffington Post is to offer such a view of former President George W. Bush.

3. Begin your opinion piece on President Obama with an opening paragraph that presents your opinion and catches the reader's eye. A strong opening paragraph invites the reader to explore the rest of your written work.

4. Support each point in your written opinion about Obama by drawing on the facts you gathered in your research in Step 2. A written opinion piece that is supported by the facts will have much greater impact than simply pontificating about the Obama administration with little or no reference to actual events.

Tips & Warnings

• While conducting research, if you are unsure about the credibility of a given source, you can click the link "about us." Most websites have this link, or one with a similar name, to provide more information about the site and who owns or operates it.

References

• The Craft of Political Research, W. Philips Shively, 2004

Resources

• Enhance Your Political Voice