Obama on the Offensive at the Hands of the Republicans

On Wednesday, Barack Obama went to Ohio to speak about the economy in a state which has been severely hit by the crisis.

The American President skirts around the blocked Congress by holding nominations by his own decree to seduce the middle classes.

War has been declared. Hardly had he returned from holiday when Barack Obama set the pace on Wednesday, the day after the results of the Iowa caucus. During six months of presidential campaigning, he has abandoned his male habit of compromise for that of a pugnacious candidate facing the Republican camp and Mitt Romney, his considered rival.

During a visit to the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, a key state which has been severely affected by the crisis, the President defied the Republicans by appointing the new director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Richard Cordray, by decree. Following a strategy which was initiated over the last few months, Barack Obama presented himself as the candidate of the middle classes, determined to defend his interests while faced with the blockage of Republicans in Congress.

A Litigation of Republicans Was Deemed Probable

“When Congress refuses to act and, as a result, hurts our economy and puts people at risk, I have an obligation as President to do what I can without them,” he declared, promising to not remain inert when the situation is “a make-or-break moment for the middle class.”

This insult has provoked Republican anger. They judge this nomination as illegitimate and accuse the President of abusing his power. Mitt Romney deems this decision symbolic of “Chicago policy”. It was in this town, reputed for its political machinations, that Obama began his career as a senator. “Mitt Romney today stood with predatory lenders and Republicans in Congress over the middle class,” retorted Barack Obama’s campaign spokesperson Ben LaBolt.

The President has benefitted from paid winter holidays from Congress in order to rerun the decree, a popular practice in the case of a blockage. However, Republicans maintain that Congress was not technically on holiday. Recourse in front of a judge is deemed probable. The nomination of Richard Cordray, champion of the fight against the abuse of banks in the home loans department of the CFPB – an institution rejected by Republicans – is highly symbolic. The majority of Americans desire stricter control of financial regulation and better public protection.

A Disappointed Democratic Base

The maneuver will certainly put Obama’s failure to change Washington into the spotlight but will allow him to restore his image to the disappointed democratic base. A great number criticize him too much of concessions facing a Congress which has been shot towards the right by the radicals of the Tea Party.

Obama’s speech also gives a taste of his campaign strategy against millionaire Romney. The former boss and founder of the society of private investment, Bain, which has restructured several enterprises, at the cost sometimes of millions of dismissals, has already said he expects to be represented as “Gordon Gekko,” the financial villain played by Michael Douglas in Wall Street. The president of the Democratic Party, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, rallied a fortune spent by Romney ($1.5 million) in order to only win eight more votes than the conservative Rick Santorum ($22,000).

Obama’s team also plays on another, perhaps more risky level. His strategist, David Axelrod, treated the former governor of Massachusetts like a “charlatan,” describing him as an opportunist who changes his opinion on essential questions such as abortion or homosexual marriage. But, as the New York Times notes, for independents, whose votes will be crucial in November, this evolution of Romney could be perceived as a sign of pragmatism – something which the White House surely does not hope for.