In a recent interview on ABC, President Barack Obama said, “I deserve a second term.” While Obama’s intended desire was to express his want for another term; he should not use the word “deserve.”

When Obama first took office in 2008, he said that if progress was not made within a year of taking office, his presidency would be a “one-term proposition.” This statement has now come back to haunt his 2012 campaign.

Many have criticized his lack of progress in the past three years, but when confronted about the unemployment rate in the United States, he pointed to the 250,000 jobs created just in January, compared to 750,000 jobs were being lost per month when he took the position.

Obama made valid points in the interview. However, using the word “deserve” is erroneous. Presidents do not deserve the position; rather, they earn it, and the American people elect the most suitable candidate.

To say a person deserves a position implies that they have acted in a way that merits them the reward of the position, but it is not Obama’s place to state that he is deserving. It is up to the individual voter to judge whether the way he has conducted his presidency deems him worthy of a second term.

What Obama should have said was because of the increase in jobs, the execution of Bin Laden, the ending of the Iraq war, the ending of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and other progressive movements, he believes a second term would allow him to continue the progress he began three years ago.