Vice President Joe Biden has been told by the White House to make a campaign stop Thursday at Howe Hall on the ISU campus. His speech comes shortly after President Barack Obama visited Cedar Rapids after the State of the Union address one month ago. But this campaign stop is not to liberal Iowa City, and Biden will receive a much different reception than four years ago.

After three years in the White House, the Obama administration continues to make excuses for the problems facing our nation. Today, Biden will try to convince Iowans that the job is unfinished and requires four more years.

Imagine — four more years of the federal debt spiraling out of control. The Obama administration inherited a total debt of $10.6 trillion after 233 years of American history. Yet in three short years, Obama has increased the debt by $4.8 trillion. Obama campaigned to cut the federal debt in half; instead, he has barely managed the decay.

Imagine — four more years of climbing gas prices. The Obama administration campaigns on “American-made energy” while simultaneously canceling the Keystone XL pipeline. On inauguration day 2009, a gallon of regular gasoline cost $1.85; today, it is $3.51 with no end in sight.

Imagine — four more years of fewer job opportunities for our youth. Some day soon, we will all leave our relatively unaffected community of Ames, and many of us will return to our parents’ basement. We are entering an Obama economy where nearly half of those younger than 30 cannot find a job. Obama promised the stimulus would keep unemployment below 8 percent, yet since Obama took office, the United States has lost 1.7 million jobs.

We cannot afford another four years of Obama. Iowans will not be fooled again to believe the empty promises of a desperate campaign. The Des Moines Register recently released a poll that had three out of the four remaining Republican presidential candidates winning this swing state in 2012. In the state where young people catapulted Obama to the White House, the president will be lucky to have a disapproval rating of less than 50 percent.

It is vital that our generation learn to disregard campaign rhetoric and instead objectively look at the facts of what the current administration has done — or rather, not done. We need to realize America is being led in the wrong direction and our future will be significantly affected by this election.

Albert Einstein once said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” On Nov. 6, 2012, the American people must end this insanity.