Bad Obama, Good Obama

The Americans just finished punishing the Democrats in the congressional elections, mainly because President Obama was so unpopular. Now they’re cheering Obama again. According to opinion polls, his popularity rises almost by the day. Where 70 percent of those previously asked said they thought America was headed in the wrong direction, that number has now fallen to 54 percent and the trend is still downward. The number of people who approve of his administration has now skyrocketed by nearly 10 percent and that trend remains upward. Eighty-one percent of Americans rated his State of the Union (SOTU) address “positively” or “very positively.”

This assessment is not necessarily representative since more Democrats than Republicans watched and evaluated the SOTU address. George W. Bush’s SOTU speeches were also well-received because more Republicans than Democrats tuned in to the speech then. But it can be determined from the surveys that Obama’s rise in popularity is attributable to his initiatives and a flourishing economy and that will be welcome news for the next Democratic presidential candidate.

The international media also reacted positively to Obama’s address. The Standard in Vienna said the president had finally shown some spirit, commenting that he had demonstrated with nearly irritatingly objective certainty that he had no intention of giving in and ending his administration quietly. His old slogan “Yes, we can” again has meaning for him. At last he again dares to touch hot-button issues like immigration reform and the normalizing of relations with Cuba — and thereby with all of Latin America. That Obama now dares to remind America of his unkept promise to close Guantanamo shows that he is confidently working toward going down in history books as a real leader and not just a footnote in people’s memories.

Even if he fails to accomplish some of his proposals, he will still have succeeded in moving the “axis of American politics” toward the left, according to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in Milan. The newspaper then added, “Challenged by Obama, the Republicans will concede nothing. They will accuse him of merely making populist propaganda. But unless they come up with something new, they will again find themselves on a battlefield more favorable to Democrats than to themselves.”

If the president goes to Congress proposing higher taxes on the wealthy, more paid time off for workers, and more funding for his educational initiatives, he will reveal the Republicans as a party that doesn’t care at all about social justice. Such a good start should already make us happy.