Obama Isn’t Leading — What Happens If He Fails?
Published in der Standard
(Austria) on 10 December 2010
by Hans Rauscher (link to original)
(Austria) on 10 December 2010
by Hans Rauscher (link to original)
Translated from
by Ron Argentati.
Edited by Jessica Boesl.
America’s economic and political decline will dramatically accelerate.
Once again, Obama had a bad week. Two of the projects in which he had invested a good deal of his prestige failed: the attempt to get rid of the immensely damaging Bush-era tax breaks for the super-wealthy and his settling for the laughably short Israeli settlement-building moratorium in the West Bank. Both were devastating policy failures, and both were brought on by Obama himself. That, plus his understanding of what it means to be president of the United States.
Measured against what he promised the world and what they expected from him, his first two years in charge have been marked by a string of disappointments and defeats. He did manage the financial crisis and nationalized the American automobile industry. But unemployment is higher than ever before, and there seems to be no plan to reduce the structural deficits in the U.S. economy. Obama will be judged by the platform on which he campaigned. He promised change in American politics that would also change the world. But there has been little change, and hope has practically run out.
Worst of all, however, is the growing suspicion that he just doesn’t have what it takes to be a president capable of shaking things up. He doesn’t fight. He doesn’t explain. He doesn’t lead. He allows himself to be led — by rabid right-wing Republicans, by Benjamin Netanyahu, by the North Koreans, by the Chinese, by the Iranians. The tone now set by leading liberal columnists in the media has become almost disrespectful. Paul Krugman: “He could do uplift — but could he fight? So far the answer has been no.” Timothy Egan: “What may have lulled Obama into his thoughtful stupor was the historic magnitude of his election. Yet being the first black president is not an idea. Hope is not a theme. Change We Can Believe In is not a governing principle.” Frank Rich brings in the concept of the “Stockholm Syndrome” where hostages begin identifying with their captors. Obama attempts to include the Republicans in all his major initiatives, but they consider him a black who has no business in the White House and are dedicated only to his destruction. And Obama sacrifices principle after principle to them: real health care reform, meaningful reforms on Wall Street and appropriate taxes for the super-wealthy.
He doesn’t have unanimous support for his initiatives in Congress in all cases, but — and here’s the paradox of Obama the “Great Communicator” — he neglects to get public support for his projects that would put opposition politicians under pressure. Paul Krugman again: “There were no catchy slogans, no clear statements of principle; the administration's political messaging was not so much ineffective as invisible.”
And it won’t improve, which begs the question of what happens if Obama fails. The hope for a somehow “different” and more civilized global policy fails with him. The United States would experience the continuation of accelerated economic and political decline. A few America-haters might think that’s just super. Well, then, rejoice in China.
Once again, Obama had a bad week. Two of the projects in which he had invested a good deal of his prestige failed: the attempt to get rid of the immensely damaging Bush-era tax breaks for the super-wealthy and his settling for the laughably short Israeli settlement-building moratorium in the West Bank. Both were devastating policy failures, and both were brought on by Obama himself. That, plus his understanding of what it means to be president of the United States.
Measured against what he promised the world and what they expected from him, his first two years in charge have been marked by a string of disappointments and defeats. He did manage the financial crisis and nationalized the American automobile industry. But unemployment is higher than ever before, and there seems to be no plan to reduce the structural deficits in the U.S. economy. Obama will be judged by the platform on which he campaigned. He promised change in American politics that would also change the world. But there has been little change, and hope has practically run out.
Worst of all, however, is the growing suspicion that he just doesn’t have what it takes to be a president capable of shaking things up. He doesn’t fight. He doesn’t explain. He doesn’t lead. He allows himself to be led — by rabid right-wing Republicans, by Benjamin Netanyahu, by the North Koreans, by the Chinese, by the Iranians. The tone now set by leading liberal columnists in the media has become almost disrespectful. Paul Krugman: “He could do uplift — but could he fight? So far the answer has been no.” Timothy Egan: “What may have lulled Obama into his thoughtful stupor was the historic magnitude of his election. Yet being the first black president is not an idea. Hope is not a theme. Change We Can Believe In is not a governing principle.” Frank Rich brings in the concept of the “Stockholm Syndrome” where hostages begin identifying with their captors. Obama attempts to include the Republicans in all his major initiatives, but they consider him a black who has no business in the White House and are dedicated only to his destruction. And Obama sacrifices principle after principle to them: real health care reform, meaningful reforms on Wall Street and appropriate taxes for the super-wealthy.
He doesn’t have unanimous support for his initiatives in Congress in all cases, but — and here’s the paradox of Obama the “Great Communicator” — he neglects to get public support for his projects that would put opposition politicians under pressure. Paul Krugman again: “There were no catchy slogans, no clear statements of principle; the administration's political messaging was not so much ineffective as invisible.”
And it won’t improve, which begs the question of what happens if Obama fails. The hope for a somehow “different” and more civilized global policy fails with him. The United States would experience the continuation of accelerated economic and political decline. A few America-haters might think that’s just super. Well, then, rejoice in China.
This is a pragmatic story reported honestly and not in hostility. But as is common in such stories, one misses the solution to contain damage and generate full steam to build momentum for reforms. Yes, it is quite true that Obama has almost lost half of his term in office without tackling the core issues: a rebound in economy, the quagmire in the Mideast and the much trumpeted threat from Iran. Do the Republicans have the answers? Let us take these issues one by one. America has virtually burnt money in its war in Iraq and Afghanistan. These he inherited from the GOP. Would the GOP solve these blunders to the advantage of America? American economy sorely needs overseas markets. There are two regions offering bonanza to Americans: The Mideast and the central Asia. Here one finds Israel placed like a dog in the manger. Little do Americans know of the scourge that Israel is? Jews have a continuous long saga of their unending misfortunes based on the iniquities in the sight of God. America is as big a target of a severe punishment from the heavens as Israel is its prime target. Could anyone in America imagine that Israel’s founding father simply dismissed God from God’s own sacred land? It would help them to read Ben-Gurion’s outbursts. One may warn Americans of the biggest fraud in human history that Israel is. America’s contributions in the genocide of Palestinians are my no means meager. Iran has yet to build the bomb but Israel has played havoc with its neighbors from its birth. What for does Israel created atomic weapons? Sixty two years are a long period of respite that God has given in His judgment to both Israel and America to mend matters. It is here on this count that the world might witness the fall of a superpower created and sustained by America. The bottom line is for America to reach out to the Arabs in the Mideast and the Muslims in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Afghanistan’s geopolitical location has made it the future conduit for trade and transit to and from central Asia. It is also linked integrally with Pakistan for its outlet by both sea and land.