Obama’s Achilles’ Heel

They’re fighting over every vote in the United States, using nice moms and vicious videos. But what good does that do when the danger comes from faraway Athens?

The campaign teams supporting both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are already locked in a merciless battle for each and every vote six months before the election even takes place. Ann Romney is tempting potential supporters to “grab a bite” with Mitt, promising, “You’ll have a great time with my guy.” Oh, really? She knows this not because she’s Mitt’s wife, but because she’s the mother of Mitt’s five sons. At least, that’s the claim made by her five sons (or maybe it’s six; I’m not too sure about the numbers) in a pandering, pathetic and endless little Mother’s Day film salute. Anyone who has a family ready to sacrifice themselves in that way for him certainly has to be a nice guy, right?

In order to prevent people from falling for that, the Obama campaign criticizes Romney any way it can. No unpopular candidate has been elected to the Oval Office since Richard Nixon in 1968. So the Obama team depicts Romney as a predatory vulture capitalist who closed American steel factories without regard for their employees. Damir Fras blogged about that in this newspaper (Damir, have you noticed that in Romney’s video defense of his actions, he never once mentions the name Bain Capital? What does that tell us?). Then Obama’s gang lets slip the news that ex-president George W. Bush is supporting Romney. Mitt probably would have preferred that he refrained from doing that right now, especially since Obama’s people are saying that Romney’s economics are little more than a continuation of Bush’s failed policies. Apropos of successors, Romney always refers to Bush as “Obama’s predecessor” in his speeches. Never mention the bad B-word!

So far, Obama’s clever team has Romney and his exhausted campaign under control. However, his re-election is currently more endangered by events 5,500 miles from his campaign headquarters in Chicago — in fact, here in Athens, where I am currently. The Greek parliament convenes today in their first meeting since the elections just two weeks ago in order to schedule new elections for June 10. Those parties that have rejected the austerity measures imposed by the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank may win even more control.

The result might be no government because the parties, especially the left wing, will be unable to reach an agreement — chaos and catastrophe. An Athens newspaper came up with what it called the world’s shortest joke: “The united left,” which could also apply to Germany these days. Or there could be a coalition of austerity opponents. Horror scenario: Greece’s expulsion from the eurozone, market speculators gambling against Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ireland, new bailouts and the possible economic collapse of the entire eurozone. The impact of that scenario would be dramatic, even for the global economy, and therefore also for the already ailing U.S. economy.

But even if it’s not so dramatic, one thing is still clear: Obama’s re-election is dependent on many factors over which he has limited control, such as economic developments. And let’s not forget China’s current problems.

Yes, because it’s all so complex and because the closure or rescue of steel factories has to do with so many complicated changes in the global economy, nobody’s talking about that in the campaign. They prefer to bludgeon one another with a few heart-rending videos, or they send their wives out on stage for them. It would simply be too bad if the Americans discovered they’re no longer the sole cause of all their problems — and are certainly unable to solve them all by themselves.