Democrats Bruised, Obama Needs to Self Reflect

The results of the U.S. midterm elections are set in stone. The Democrats, President Obama’s party, have lost power in the House of Representatives, and barely keep control of the Senate. The results of the elections reflect the public’s disappointment and dissatisfaction toward Obama’s policy on recovering the economy. It is not an easy task to solve the economic crisis. It has actually been a long-existing problem within the American society, and cannot be resolved so easily by either Republicans or Democrats. If America does not find and solve the internal problems within its system, but instead blames the problem on other countries such as the exchange rate of the Chinese Yuan and enforces protectionist policies, its effort will all be in vain.

Barack Obama became the first black President of the United States with high popularity. American voters had high hopes that he would bring great changes to the country, clean up the mess left by Republican President George W. Bush, and lead the bad economy out of the bottom. However, two years later, as the economy is still in terrible shape and the unemployment rate remains high at around 10 percent, the American public has lost its patience with Obama. This election is said to be an election for the voters to express their dissatisfaction with Obama and the Democrats’ performance in the past two years.

In fact, the Bush administration is the one responsible for the bad economy. Its lack of regulations on financial institutions allowed elites in Wall Street to run wild in the financial market. When Obama took office, in order to save the weak economy, he let the government take charge of the financial system instead and tightened regulations on financial institutions. He also increased government spending and carried out quantitative easing in order to simulate the economy and create more jobs. However, the economy still shows no sign of recovery, and the atmosphere of the market remains negative; it indicates that the economy crash is not only a result of the financial crisis, but a result of America’s tradition of over-spending and over-borrowing, which causes banks, corporations and the public in America to lose confidence in the economy. Aggressive measures are needed even more during an economic downfall in order to bring the economy back to normal. However, the results of the midterm elections show that the U.S. government is losing its power.

China becomes a sensitive topic during every election season in America. Since the beginning of his presidency, Obama has been blaming the issues of trading imbalance and unemployment on the exchange rate of Chinese Yuan to redirect the public’s attention. However, the key for America to promote economic growth and create jobs is to change its protectionist policies and raise American corporations’ abilities to compete. Obama did not start resolving the problem by working on improving America’s economy; instead, he attempted to suppress China’s profit. It brought Obama an opposite result. After the midterm elections, both Republicans and Democrats should realize the importance of the diplomatic and trading relations between China and America and the need to remain rational and pragmatic in order to maintain a steady relationship with China.