THE MIDTERM REPORT CARD

Nov 08, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The honeymoon is over. The mystique about Barack Obama has been shattered.
Reality has descended. The period of accommodation is over. Politics is serious business.
It requires skill. In times of crisis, leadership becomes more important. Barack Obama came to power with great expectations. He has not met those expectations, or at least this is one meaning which can be drawn from last week’s election midterm results.
In terms of a pass grade, the Obama administration came out with a D+. Interestingly, Obama emerged with a B+ signaling that he still enjoys some popularity but the public is displeased by his performance. The charisma is still admired; the performance is less than what the American public expected.
The American public has issued a vote of no-confidence in the Obama administration and with it has allowed the Republican Party to take control of the Congress.
The vote was not unexpected. In the last weeks before the midterm elections, the President himself had attempted to sway public opinion in favour of the Americans, but it came a little too late to avoid a mauling for the Democrats.
When there are such major swings for one party, these results can only be interpreted in one way: a negative approval rating for the incumbent administration. Despite the fact that Obama’s personality popularity has not yet hit rock bottom, he clearly must know that unless there are serious changes in the way things are done, it is only a matter of time before it does.
President Obama has accepted responsibility for the defeat. He realizes what the votes mean for him and his administration. Yet there have not been calls for him to step aside and there is no need for such calls. Whether or not President Obama can turn things around is doubtful and therefore it is most likely that he will be a one-term President.
This was always on the cards. While he ran an effective campaign that led him to the presidency, he has proven ineffective as president. It should now be clear to him and his advisers that there is a world of difference between winning an election and running a country. His top-class election team developed the right strategies to allow him to win the election, but in the White House he has not been up to scratch. He has been forced to push back troop withdrawals, had a bruising health-care battle and his stimulus plan has clearly not had the effect on Main Street as was expected.
It was never going to be easy for the President. There was always too much to be done. The economy is reeling from the financial crisis. At the same time, there are two major wars taking place involving American troops. He wants these troops out but cannot simply leave without some moral victory.
While all of this is taking place there is an impatient public which is expecting too much of the President. He has not met their expectations and therefore they have voted against the Democratic Party.
This is not going to make his task any easier. The Republicans are not going to make it easy for him to get what he wants. They will insist on smaller government and reduced government spending. This will curtail Obama’s welfare plans and result in him losing greater popularity.
President Obama’s advisers must be all too well aware of these realities, and therefore they will have to try to find a way around these problems. Great political skill will be required to be able to pass critical legislation through the Congress. The second implication is that President Obama will be forced to concede ground to the Republicans in terms of the size of the economy and as regards government spending. There is very little room to manoeuvre around these concessions.
Obama’s style of leadership has proven ineffective for the type of problems that America faces. Now with the loss of Congress, he is going to be even more ineffective.
The Republicans have taken back Congress. They are going to take back the reins of power within the next three years. Obama will be a one-term President.

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