This House Would Give Obama A Second Term

On matters as diverse as healthcare to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Obama has pulled a whole series of rabbits out of the apparently impossible hat he inherited from Bush.

Among other surprises he took the lead in a G20 summit that produced $1.1tn to act as a bailout fund. He’s effectively resolved the catastrophes in two major conflict zones. He’s ensured that poor families actually stay in their homes. Increased funding for student loans, extended unemployment insurance at a time when 7,000 Americans a week were losing their benefits and, on top of all that he’s introduced a healthcare package that will give security and peace of mind to millions of Americans.

All of this has been accomplished in the face of extraordinary difficulties that were not of his making[i].

[i] Athleen Rosell. "Devil's Advocate: Re-Elect Obama." The Daily Titan. April 19th, 2011

Nobody denies that Obama talks a good game and that he came into office facing some big problems. However, the reality is that he simply hasn’t stepped up to the plate. The economy is a shambles; unemployment is at over nine percent and only looks to grow, the debt is running at $14tn and the deficit is out of control.

His much vaunted healthcare plan is a rehash of Mitt Romney’s plan in Massachusetts. His only solution to any problem is to throw money that the government doesn’t have at it[i].

Ultimately, he has proved himself long on rhetoric but very short on delivery. His campaign was based on an idea that he could provide leadership to a nation in trouble. Instead he has rushed after either verbosity or inaction and frequently both[ii].

[i] Karl Rove. "Why Obama Is Likely to Lose in 2012." Wall Street Journal. June 22nd, 2011

[ii] John Feehery. "Opinion: Obama’s fatal missteps." The Hill. October 3rd, 2011

Given the size of the challenges facing the Obama administration when he was elected, they were never going to be resolved in four years. Perhaps his largest mistake was not amending his “Yes, we can” slogan with the caveat “but it’s going to take a while.”

A debt of $14tn was never just going to vanish like the morning mist, particularly in the depths for a recession caused, in large part, by the Bush administration’s inability to regulate their friends in the banking industry, to start unnecessary wars and to give away tax breaks to the rich.

Equally, Obama came into the job at a time when most of the rest of the world was barely on speaking terms with the US and has had to rebuild bridges with all of the traditional allies beyond the ever loyal UK and Israel – although even they were looking edgy by the end of the bush era.

Even getting up to the starting line has taken the better part of his first term, it would be folly to hand the country and the economy back to the same people who caused the problem in the first place[i].

[i]  Steven Rattner. "Ron Suskind’s inaccurate revisionism." Politico. October 1, 2011

President Bush took a series of extremely difficult decisions that were necessary for national security. Admittedly they were expensive but they made the world a safer place. His decisions on taxation ensured that all Americans benefitted from economic growth.

He had already done the heavy lifting all the Obama administration needed to do was allow the market to bring the economy out of recession. Instead he has interfered and regulated while constantly spending money that wasn’t there on policies that weren’t priorities.

There’s no denying that the economy was in trouble when Obama got the keys to the West Wing but the job of being president is solving these things, not complaining about them. He wanted the job and has singularly failed to deliver.

Instead he has pursued a left-wing, interventionist agenda that believes that government can provide all the answers. Except there is a big problem: he has no experience of running anything. He was a junior Senator in an era where the country tends to turn to former governors to fill the Chief Executive’s jacket; he simply doesn’t know what he’s doing[i].

[i]  Emmett Tyrrell. "Barbour out on the hustings." The American Spectator. March 17th, 2011

The Republican Party primary campaign currently resembles a dismembered chicken’s head in frantic search of a body. Palin, Trump, Perry… A string of gaffes followed by a collapse after collapse. [i]

Obama at the very least has the capacity to inspire confidence and the experience of four years in office. If, as seems most likely, the Republican candidate ends up being Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, then he would represent a figure who is almost as unpopular in his own party as he is with Democrats.

Divided and divisive a Republican victory in 2012 would fragment congress, terrify the markets and worry international opinion. Furthermore, the only policy option they appear to have suggested for dealing with the economic mess is to do nothing except, perhaps, cut taxes some more; thereby increasing the deficit and further angering China.

Unless the republicans can come up with a genuine surprise (and the guy they voted against last time really doesn’t fit that bill) then the voters are presented with one very harsh reality: Vote for anybody, as long as it’s Obama[ii].

[i] Dionne, E.J. Jr., “The Rise of the Reverse Houdinis”, 13 October 2011.

[ii] E.J. Dionne. “GOP’s Favorite Solution: Doing Nothing”. Real Clear Politics. 13 October 2011.

The republican primaries have yet to even begin so it is too soon to be writing off the whole party.

On matters as diverse as healthcare to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Obama has pulled a whole series of rabbits out of the apparently impossible hat he inherited from Bush.

Among other surprises he took the lead in a G20 summit that produced $1.1tn to act as a bailout fund. He’s effectively resolved the catastrophes in two major conflict zones. He’s ensured that poor families actually stay in their homes. Increased funding for student loans, extended unemployment insurance at a time when 7,000 Americans a week were losing their benefits and, on top of all that he’s introduced a healthcare package that will give security and peace of mind to millions of Americans.

All of this has been accomplished in the face of extraordinary difficulties that were not of his making[i].

[i] Athleen Rosell. "Devil's Advocate: Re-Elect Obama." The Daily Titan. April 19th, 2011

Nobody denies that Obama talks a good game and that he came into office facing some big problems. However, the reality is that he simply hasn’t stepped up to the plate. The economy is a shambles; unemployment is at over nine percent and only looks to grow, the debt is running at $14tn and the deficit is out of control.

His much vaunted healthcare plan is a rehash of Mitt Romney’s plan in Massachusetts. His only solution to any problem is to throw money that the government doesn’t have at it[i].

Ultimately, he has proved himself long on rhetoric but very short on delivery. His campaign was based on an idea that he could provide leadership to a nation in trouble. Instead he has rushed after either verbosity or inaction and frequently both[ii].

[i] Karl Rove. "Why Obama Is Likely to Lose in 2012." Wall Street Journal. June 22nd, 2011

[ii] John Feehery. "Opinion: Obama’s fatal missteps." The Hill. October 3rd, 2011

Given the size of the challenges facing the Obama administration when he was elected, they were never going to be resolved in four years. Perhaps his largest mistake was not amending his “Yes, we can” slogan with the caveat “but it’s going to take a while.”

A debt of $14tn was never just going to vanish like the morning mist, particularly in the depths for a recession caused, in large part, by the Bush administration’s inability to regulate their friends in the banking industry, to start unnecessary wars and to give away tax breaks to the rich.

Equally, Obama came into the job at a time when most of the rest of the world was barely on speaking terms with the US and has had to rebuild bridges with all of the traditional allies beyond the ever loyal UK and Israel – although even they were looking edgy by the end of the bush era.

Even getting up to the starting line has taken the better part of his first term, it would be folly to hand the country and the economy back to the same people who caused the problem in the first place[i].

[i]  Steven Rattner. "Ron Suskind’s inaccurate revisionism." Politico. October 1, 2011

President Bush took a series of extremely difficult decisions that were necessary for national security. Admittedly they were expensive but they made the world a safer place. His decisions on taxation ensured that all Americans benefitted from economic growth.

He had already done the heavy lifting all the Obama administration needed to do was allow the market to bring the economy out of recession. Instead he has interfered and regulated while constantly spending money that wasn’t there on policies that weren’t priorities.

There’s no denying that the economy was in trouble when Obama got the keys to the West Wing but the job of being president is solving these things, not complaining about them. He wanted the job and has singularly failed to deliver.

Instead he has pursued a left-wing, interventionist agenda that believes that government can provide all the answers. Except there is a big problem: he has no experience of running anything. He was a junior Senator in an era where the country tends to turn to former governors to fill the Chief Executive’s jacket; he simply doesn’t know what he’s doing[i].

[i]  Emmett Tyrrell. "Barbour out on the hustings." The American Spectator. March 17th, 2011

The Republican Party primary campaign currently resembles a dismembered chicken’s head in frantic search of a body. Palin, Trump, Perry… A string of gaffes followed by a collapse after collapse. [i]

Obama at the very least has the capacity to inspire confidence and the experience of four years in office. If, as seems most likely, the Republican candidate ends up being Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, then he would represent a figure who is almost as unpopular in his own party as he is with Democrats.

Divided and divisive a Republican victory in 2012 would fragment congress, terrify the markets and worry international opinion. Furthermore, the only policy option they appear to have suggested for dealing with the economic mess is to do nothing except, perhaps, cut taxes some more; thereby increasing the deficit and further angering China.

Unless the republicans can come up with a genuine surprise (and the guy they voted against last time really doesn’t fit that bill) then the voters are presented with one very harsh reality: Vote for anybody, as long as it’s Obama[ii].

[i] Dionne, E.J. Jr., “The Rise of the Reverse Houdinis”, 13 October 2011.

[ii] E.J. Dionne. “GOP’s Favorite Solution: Doing Nothing”. Real Clear Politics. 13 October 2011.

The republican primaries have yet to even begin so it is too soon to be writing off the whole party.

Beyond the rhetoric, beyond the inspirational speeches, there was one issue on voters’ minds when they supported Obama; the economy and jobs. He has simply failed to deliver.

He likes to portray himself as the master of public policy; a kind of philosopher king. However the reality couldn’t be further from the truth[i]. On the issue that has dominated international discourse since his election, the economic meltdown, he has simply failed to deliver. He accepted a fiscal stimulus package that contained plenty in the way of pork but little in terms of practicality. He has failed to create jobs, the unemployment rate is still at 9% up from 7.8% when he became President.[ii] And Obama has singularly failed to tackle the deficit, which has increased by $4 trillion since he took office,[iii] apparently seeming more interested in spending on unnecessary projects.

[i] Jonah Goldberg. "Where's the evidence Obama's a policy genius?" National Review Online. October 9th, 2011

[ii] Rogers, Simon, ‘US jobless date: how has unemployment changed under Obama?’, Datablog guardian.co.uk, 7 October 2011.

[iii] Knoller, Mark, ‘National debt has increased $4 trillion under Obama’, CBS News, 22 August 2011.

Obama took the lead in putting together an international solution to the financial crisis. He has taken bold decisions to prevent the crisis turning into a full-blown depression, such as pushing through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 which was to give an estimated $787billion stimulus to the economy,[i] and has acted to control the worst excesses of Wall Street through the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.[ii] He has passed consumer protections legislation relating to credit cards and mortgages and established a framework to double US exports by 2015. He created and Advanced Manufacturing Fund to help the economy away from its addiction to the antics of Wall Street wide boys and return the focus to industries that make something tangible and, in the same spirit, rescued Detroit from its own suicidal tendencies.

He has freely conceded that unemployment is too high and is working to address that in the midst of an economic crisis that was not of his making. However, he is delivering public policy solutions in new and imaginative areas as opposed to the tired claims of Republicans that yet another tax cut would be a panacea for all economic ills.

[i] Recovery.gov, ‘The Recovery Act’

[ii] The Library of Congress Thomas, ‘H.R.4173 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act’, 111^th Congress 2009-2010

Obama managed to steer a bill that everyone disliked through Congress. He angered the Republicans, and lost the support of some democrats in congress, 39 voted against the bill,[i] as well as more than a few Democrat voters, and ended up watering it down enough that his own core supporters failed to show up for congressional elections in 2010.[ii]

He is reluctant to show leadership in any area of policy and when he does, as Mitt Romney puts it, acts more as “a politician in chief than a commander in chief”[iii].

From the outset the President has been considerably more about spin than substance, usually trying to pass off his own mistakes as those of someone else. Of course all politicians do this but, usually, they also do something else as well; Obama is a one trick pony.

[i] Cannon, Carl M., ‘The 39 House Democrats who Voted Against Their Party’s Health Care Bill’, Politics Daily, 8 November 2009.

[ii] Best, Samuel J. Best, ‘Why Democrats Lost the House to Republicans’, CBS News, 3 November 2010.

[iii]  Mitt Romney. "We need a leader, not a politician." USA Today. June 10th, 2010

The reality is fairly simple; Obama is a skilled politician, that is beyond dispute. However, he is also a respected constitutional scholar, the man who caught Bin Laden after eight years of Bush-bluster, who delivered the Democrats – and the American people - their holy grail of universal healthcare.

Contrast this with a Republican leadership who either can’t remember their own policies or who seem to base them on assertions, such as the one made by Michelle Bachman that Jefferson and Mason, both of whom owned slaves, worked tirelessly to abolish slavery.[i] Mitt Romney the candidate the Rupublicans finally decided on is out of touch with ordinary voters, making gaffes such as saying his wife drives 'a couple of cadillacs'.

The contrast could not be clearer; at least the president knows the difference between the War of Independence and the Civil War and cares about ordinary voters.

[i] Roper, Richard, ‘Bachmann, Palin should just admit gaffes, then move on, Chicago Sun Times, 29 June 2011.

Obama’s foreign policy to date has, frankly been a mess. He has failed to stand up to Iran and has allowed both Russia and China to take advantage of his ‘reset’ policy. He has ignored the growth of hostile powers while showing a similar disregard for America’s Allies.

Simply by dint of not being Bush, Obama had the possibility of a huge upsurge in support overseas but he has tended to act more the clown than the statesman at international gatherings, for example insulting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the G20 summit in Cannes; responding to French President Sarkozy he said "You are sick of him, but I have to work with him every day."[i] Once again his desire to be the politician than the leader applies even at events where nobody has the vote.[ii] [iii]

[i] FoxNews.com, ‘White House Silent on Conversation With French President Insulting Israeli Prime Minister’, 8 November 2011

[ii] Nile Gardiner. "Barack Obama’s disastrous first 1,000 days." The Telegraph. October 18th, 2011

[iii] "Goldberg: Obama, abroad, is adrift." LA Times. September 6th, 2011

There is a perennial Republican attack – that Democrats cannot be trusted with national security. Obama has proven that to be untrue settling issues in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. He has, however, managed to do it without offending anybody or having his effigy burnt on the streets in Canada and Europe[i].

He has managed to re-forge the supportive attitude of much of the world towards combating terrorism and worked with leaders of other major economies to tackle the economic troubles in the global economy. President Bush was the one always looking for votes with his fake bonhomie and folksy charm for the voters back home. Obama by contrast treats his allies with respect and receives it in return and abundance.[ii]

[i] President Obama. "Let's reclaim the post-9/11 unity." USA Today. September 08, 2011

[ii] President Obama. "Let's reclaim the post-9/11 unity." USA Today. September 08, 2011