By Stephanie Vazquez

A recent episode of Saturday Night Live featured an opening act which placed Fred Armisen in his most notable role as President Barack Obama. The skit situated President Obama at his desk in the oval office, speaking to America about the “change” that he has brought since coming into office almost nine months ago.

The skit poked fun at President Obama’s recent failure in trying to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago. Furthering this type of result, the President gave a checklist about the successes or failures of the policies that he has tried to enact since getting into office. The list showed that none of the President’s policies or promises has been carried through as of yet.

Healthcare reform.....no. Troops out of Iraq...no. Gays in the military...no. And, the list goes on and on.

After watching the skit, I came to a new-found perception about Republican conduct since President Obama has been in office.

The Republicans are riled up and I don’t know why.

Of course, opposition to a president is normal. Criticism from the opposition party has occurred under every president’s term in office.

When George W. Bush was in office, democrats condemned his every action. They criticized every speech and laughed at every dumb remark that he made. They came together to poke fun at a president that would only exist in their worst nightmares.

And, they were passionate about making sure that, after Bush’s eight long years in office, a democrat would win the next election.

That’s why they put all of their hopes and dreams in Barack Obama, the candidate who promised to bring much needed “change.” And, fortunately for them, these hopes and dreams came true when Obama was ushered into office last January.

This is when Republicans and Democrats switched roles. Republicans are building up their opposition to the president. And they seem to be criticizing much louder and stronger than Democrats ever did.

Before Obama’s 100 days were even up, Republicans came up with a new strategy: to band together and criticize President Obama’s every move. They are doing this with whatever ploy they can use. They shout and holler and criticize at every possible opportunity.

Rush Limbaugh, who has all the admiration of the conservative right and all the hatred of the liberal left, was quick to declare: “I hope Obama fails!” This sentiment served its purpose of getting the Republican Party riled up against President Obama.

Republicans want President Obama to fail. Bill Clinton seems to agree with that.

Recently, he was asked if a “right-wing conspiracy” still existed and if it was gearing up against President Obama. Clinton responded in the affirmative.

According to the former president, “their agenda seems to be wanting him to fail, and that’s not a good prescription for a good America.”

Republicans want President Obama to fail because they claim that America is turning socialist because of him. They are looking at the president’s policies and becoming increasingly angry. They are so angry that they don’t even care what they do to show their opposition. Republicans are even finding justification to shout “You Lie!” during a presidential address to Congress (ahem *Joe Wilson*). But, really, this Republican anger seems a bit irrational.

Though Obama has a majority in both the House and Senate, seemingly making him be able to do whatever the hell he wants, he has always tried to compromise with Republicans and listen to their opposition, something that no socialist dictator would be willing to do. This willingness to compromise proves that President Obama is not a president who is going to make such extreme and rash decisions. He is merely a Democratic president and is going to act accordingly.

Republicans can scream and holler at President Obama’s every action, but no matter how loud they are, I can't figure out why they are so angry. Change has yet to come. As the SNL skit so clearly put it, none of President Obama’s promises have even been carried out after almost a year in office.

Though I believe it is still too early to tell what is going to happen with Obama’s presidency, but the SNL skit aptly pointed out the severe lack of the change that we had voted for.

So, why are the Republicans riled up when, in reality, it’s the democrats that should be angry?