Edited by Alex Brewer
Obama’s Test Continues
On January 20th 2009, Obama’s inauguration was held in the White House and he became the 44th president of the United States. As the first African-American president, Obama, calling for change, excited many around him. Hundreds of thousands of American people from around the country gathered at the national mall in Washington to view the historical moment. Many people still remembered his speech in Chicago’s Grant Park, repeating “change” and “Yes, we can.”
And now, a year later, as Obama’s glory is disappearing, several expectations of people in and out of America were smashed by cruel reality one by one. And Obama quietly changed his slogan into “Change is hard” and “Change doesn’t happen overnight.”
Then, what’s the problem with Obama’s administration? And what the future will be like?
A Series of Wrong Policies
Recently, many people began to guess Obama administration’s political strategy. As usual, Obama seems to be dealing with too many matters. Some people believe that he should put aside health care reform and devote his time to economic reform.
Yet some think that the present difficult position Obama’s administration finds itself in was not caused by ambition, but rather by political misjudgments and wrong strategies. For example, the economic stimulus plan was not strong enough and banking reform was not tough enough. As with the Reagan administration, Obama faced economic problems at the beginning of his term, but Obama hasn’t blamed it on the former administration in order to avoid public criticism. As for the stimulus plan, it’s no doubt the plan worked to some degree and without it the unemployment rate could have been much higher. At the same time, the limited governmental stimulus was not enough to raise employment rate in 2009.
Why was government stimulus not enough? Many economists have called government to implement an increased stimulus package. However, Obama’s top economic and political advisors concluded that a larger stimulus plan was not necessary for the economy and was not reasonable for politics. They may be right in terms of politics, but they were wrong about economy. No matter what caused the bad judgment, the government made the right move by paying attention to the stimulus plan’s success. The president and his team focused almost all of their efforts on this issue from the end of 2008 to the beginning of 2009. So it’s not that Obama administration did not pay attention, but they made the wrong move.
As for banking reform, we can make the same remark. Some economists defended the government and claimed the banking system was recovering. Even though these banks could not recover their credit capacity, the government’s policy toward the banking industry actually strengthened the large financial institutions that caused financial crisis. Simultaneously, it caused a strong link between the Obama administration and the banks. Because of the bailout and the Wall Street bonus issue, the government began losing public support.
Out of Reach Goals
A longtime American journalist, McManus, pointed out that the biggest problem in the Obama administration’s first year was that there had been too many goals but there was not enough power to achieve them all. Surrounded by flowers, acclaim and applause, Obama stepped into the White House with a long list of missions, from saving the economy to health care reform, from financial supervision to climate change, from a non-nuclear world to new partnerships, from troop withdrawal in Iraq to troop increase to Afghanistan, and he even tried to help Chicago win a bid to host the Olympics. On this list, significant problems like how to overcome the financial crisis were what Obama had to face, but there were still many problems added onto this list by the president himself. Realities improved enough for Obama to work up a healthy appetite for change, but Congress and the other administrative departments had a relative low digestive ability. As a result, the Obama administration was trapped in a worrisome vicious cycle: firstly, the president declared his great big political goals, but after that the executive branch could not fulfill the goals on time even though they tried their best in a hurry. So the president had to lower the standards to win a fake victory.
Stemming from the international financial crisis, the biggest achievement in President Obama’s first year was that the recovery of America’s economy was more and more obvious day by day; the economy grew at a pace of 3.5 percent in the third quarter. But experts warned that unemployment rate would grow to 10 percent and Obama himself admitted that the overall recovery’s still far away.
Facing Three Problems
In 2009, mission unfulfilled; in 2010, Obama is facing three big problems.
First, the economy. For the president and the Democratic Party, the worst thing would be a further recession of the economy which they would be responsible for. As in 2009, Obama will still strive to save the slowing economy and carry out an economic recovery plan. To win the hearts of people, Obama must solve problem of employment first.
Secondly, the war in Afghanistan is a focus at home and abroad. How to improve the situation becomes an important indicator of Obama’s foreign policy strategy. In 2009, American troops suffered high casualties, but the improvement of the situation was scarce and Taliban even made a New Year’s speech, challenging America publicly. Obama needs real victory to show the American people that his new Afghanistan strategy is not merely an empty talk.
Thirdly, the midterm elections in November, which will be President Obama’s first congressional election while in office, are generally deemed as an examination for Obama and the Democratic Party and a barometer for Obama’s reelection hopes. The result of the election not only will indirectly show voter attitude to Obama, but also may change the two parties’ powers in the Congress which will have a significant impact on Obama’s promises during his election and his appeals after he stepped into power.
Around the New Year, Obama showed his rarely seen strong attitude in reference to the Christmas terrorist attack attempt and his appeal for Haiti Earthquake aid. American weekly magazine Time said that with these two issues Obama wanted to show the world that he is a president who can defeat crisis. Obama, well-known for his wisdom, seems to have learned from his first year and is ready for challenges in the New Year.
And now, a year later, as Obama’s glory is disappearing, several expectations of people in and out of America were smashed by cruel reality one by one. And Obama quietly changed his slogan into “Change is hard” and “Change doesn’t happen overnight.”
Then, what’s the problem with Obama’s administration? And what the future will be like?
A Series of Wrong Policies
Recently, many people began to guess Obama administration’s political strategy. As usual, Obama seems to be dealing with too many matters. Some people believe that he should put aside health care reform and devote his time to economic reform.
Yet some think that the present difficult position Obama’s administration finds itself in was not caused by ambition, but rather by political misjudgments and wrong strategies. For example, the economic stimulus plan was not strong enough and banking reform was not tough enough. As with the Reagan administration, Obama faced economic problems at the beginning of his term, but Obama hasn’t blamed it on the former administration in order to avoid public criticism. As for the stimulus plan, it’s no doubt the plan worked to some degree and without it the unemployment rate could have been much higher. At the same time, the limited governmental stimulus was not enough to raise employment rate in 2009.
Why was government stimulus not enough? Many economists have called government to implement an increased stimulus package. However, Obama’s top economic and political advisors concluded that a larger stimulus plan was not necessary for the economy and was not reasonable for politics. They may be right in terms of politics, but they were wrong about economy. No matter what caused the bad judgment, the government made the right move by paying attention to the stimulus plan’s success. The president and his team focused almost all of their efforts on this issue from the end of 2008 to the beginning of 2009. So it’s not that Obama administration did not pay attention, but they made the wrong move.
As for banking reform, we can make the same remark. Some economists defended the government and claimed the banking system was recovering. Even though these banks could not recover their credit capacity, the government’s policy toward the banking industry actually strengthened the large financial institutions that caused financial crisis. Simultaneously, it caused a strong link between the Obama administration and the banks. Because of the bailout and the Wall Street bonus issue, the government began losing public support.
Out of Reach Goals
A longtime American journalist, McManus, pointed out that the biggest problem in the Obama administration’s first year was that there had been too many goals but there was not enough power to achieve them all. Surrounded by flowers, acclaim and applause, Obama stepped into the White House with a long list of missions, from saving the economy to health care reform, from financial supervision to climate change, from a non-nuclear world to new partnerships, from troop withdrawal in Iraq to troop increase to Afghanistan, and he even tried to help Chicago win a bid to host the Olympics. On this list, significant problems like how to overcome the financial crisis were what Obama had to face, but there were still many problems added onto this list by the president himself. Realities improved enough for Obama to work up a healthy appetite for change, but Congress and the other administrative departments had a relative low digestive ability. As a result, the Obama administration was trapped in a worrisome vicious cycle: firstly, the president declared his great big political goals, but after that the executive branch could not fulfill the goals on time even though they tried their best in a hurry. So the president had to lower the standards to win a fake victory.
Stemming from the international financial crisis, the biggest achievement in President Obama’s first year was that the recovery of America’s economy was more and more obvious day by day; the economy grew at a pace of 3.5 percent in the third quarter. But experts warned that unemployment rate would grow to 10 percent and Obama himself admitted that the overall recovery’s still far away.
Facing Three Problems
In 2009, mission unfulfilled; in 2010, Obama is facing three big problems.
First, the economy. For the president and the Democratic Party, the worst thing would be a further recession of the economy which they would be responsible for. As in 2009, Obama will still strive to save the slowing economy and carry out an economic recovery plan. To win the hearts of people, Obama must solve problem of employment first.
Secondly, the war in Afghanistan is a focus at home and abroad. How to improve the situation becomes an important indicator of Obama’s foreign policy strategy. In 2009, American troops suffered high casualties, but the improvement of the situation was scarce and Taliban even made a New Year’s speech, challenging America publicly. Obama needs real victory to show the American people that his new Afghanistan strategy is not merely an empty talk.
Thirdly, the midterm elections in November, which will be President Obama’s first congressional election while in office, are generally deemed as an examination for Obama and the Democratic Party and a barometer for Obama’s reelection hopes. The result of the election not only will indirectly show voter attitude to Obama, but also may change the two parties’ powers in the Congress which will have a significant impact on Obama’s promises during his election and his appeals after he stepped into power.
Around the New Year, Obama showed his rarely seen strong attitude in reference to the Christmas terrorist attack attempt and his appeal for Haiti Earthquake aid. American weekly magazine Time said that with these two issues Obama wanted to show the world that he is a president who can defeat crisis. Obama, well-known for his wisdom, seems to have learned from his first year and is ready for challenges in the New Year.
Next article![]( "America: Land of Unlimited Anger")
