Barack Obama: hopes for election? Photo credit: U.S Embassy Kabul Afghanistan http://www.flickr.com/photos/kabulpublicdiplomacy/3600664286/sizes/m/in/photostream/
America is approaching political deadlock. 51 percent of voters disapprove of Barack Obama as president. Three quarters think the economy is not being handled well. 45 percent of voters plan on supporting a Republican, with 42 percent for the Democratic Obama. Is it curtains for Obama?
Meanwhile, the Super Committee appointed by the United States Congress to agree on a budget deal has failed. It was meant to come to an agreement in cutting spending by $1.2 trillion over the next decade. Made up of Republicans and Democrats, they failed to reach a compromise, and are partly blaming the Obama administration for not attending the talks, although Obama is blaming the Republicans. This makes Obama look weak, said Brian Darling in The Daily Mail.
Lunatic fringe. That’s true, said Max Hastings in The Daily Mail. Obama’s ratings are collapsing. America’s political system is “paralysed”, and Obama’s only concerned with his own re-election. Luckily, though, his rivals are “like competitors in a holiday camp freak show” – homophobic, anti-abortion, supporters of water-boarding. None of them know anything if it isn’t on their own patch. Wealthy Mormon Mitt Romney’s the only “plausible” nominee – and mostly because he isn’t ugly. Yet these very qualities might do him down, as the ordinary American might not connect with him. And as for Obama – well, he’s clever, but he hasn’t actually done very much. America’s closing down: it’s too immersed in its Presidential campaign, and is ignoring the European debt crisis. Hastings forecast an Obama win – but shuddered at the thought of one of the “lunatics” pipping him. Then things would become “truly frightening.”
Man on the street. And never mind the election, the ordinary American is having financial problems too, said Anastasia Christman on The Christian Science Monitor, with median income dropping 6.7 percent. There’s no demand, which means no sales, which means no hiring, which means no demand. The US could start by putting up the minimum wage – and studies in smalller states with higher minimum wages show that employment actually grows quicker than those that have lower. People need “not just a boost in confidence but in real wages.”
There is hope! It’s not so bad, said Fareed Zakaria in The Washington Post. The US still has a “dynamic economy”. Future industries – biotechnology, nanotechnology, will be “dominated” by the US. American research centres, universities and companies are still the best. America is also a “dynamic society”, with young workers and immigrants. The bust isn’t as bad as Japan’s, either. Unlike Greece and Italy, which don’t control their currency, the US does. There are also civic movements gunning for political reform – such as the committee of Democrats and Republicans, including Condoleezza Rice, which has shown that party politics can be put aside. There are ways out of this – lower deficits; but also small minorities need to stop blocking reform. Washington’s corruption needs to be highlighed, too, and a “more streamlined structure” put in place. Since the government isn’t looking for solutions, increasingly citizens are – and that’s something to be “hopeful about.”
More on American politics
- GOP Presidential debate on foreign policy
- Michelle Obama booed
- Don’t shoot the President!
- GOP field looking shaky
