Appeals Alone Are Not Sufficient

169

February 1, 2014

Published in Stuttgarter Zeitung
(Germany) on 29 January 2014
by Damir Fras (link to original link to original)

Translated from by Maxi Benndorf-Brown. Edited by Phillip Shannon.

When Barack Obama took office five years ago, he wanted to reconcile, not disrupt. The majority of Americans were tired of George W. Bush’s narcissistic and uncompromising politics. So they voted for a man who promised to do everything differently. Bush’s successor actually tried to utilize compromise as a political instrument during his first two years in office. This, however, failed completely and was, in hindsight, a serious mistake. If Obama had acted more courageously in 2009 and 2010, when his Democrats had the majority in both the House and Senate, America would be better off right now.

Indeed, Obama continues to evoke the dream of a better future. But the fact is that every U.S. president does this, and you still need the people to believe that this dream can come true. Obama did little to nothing in his speech for these dreamers. His ideas are still huge, but unfortunately he did not explain how to turn them into reality.

It won’t be enough to merely appeal to the Republicans. Since 2010, they have demonstrated several times that they are not the least interested in easing Obama’s burden with regard to the welfare of all Americans. They will continue on this path until one of them finally takes a seat again within the White House.

Appelle reichen nicht

Als er vor fünf Jahren sein Amt antrat, wollte Barack Obama versöhnen, nicht spalten. Die Mehrheit der Amerikaner hatte die selbstverliebte und kompromisslose Politik von George W. Bush satt. Also wählte sie einen Mann, der versprach, es anders zu machen. Tatsächlich versuchte der Nachfolger in den ersten beiden Jahren seiner Amtszeit, den Kompromiss wieder zu einem Instrument der Politik zu machen. Das scheiterte restlos und war im Nachhinein gesehen ein schwerer Fehler. Hätte Obama 2009 und 2010, als seine Demokraten die Mehrheit in beiden Häusern des Kongresses hielten, beherzter gehandelt, ginge es Amerika nun besser.

Zwar beschwört Obama weiter den Traum von einer besseren Zukunft. Doch erstens macht das jeder US-Präsident, und zweitens gehören dazu auch jene, die daran glauben, dass der Traum Wirklichkeit werden kann. In seiner Rede hat Obama wenig für die Träumer getan. Seine Ideen sind nach wie vor gewaltig. Doch wie er sie in der Praxis umsetzen will, hat er nicht verraten.

Es wird nicht reichen, an die Republikaner zu appellieren. Die haben seit 2010 mehrfach bewiesen, dass sie kein Interesse daran haben, Obama die Arbeit zum Wohle aller Amerikaner zu erleichtern. Sie werden das wieder tun – bis einer von ihnen erneut im Weißen Haus Platz genommen hat.

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