The challenge tonight for Barack Obama’s carefully scripted eloquence is to have enough heart to repair confidence in him as a person, not only as a President. He will also have to persuade more than just Americans about why he should continue for another term when he addresses the Democratic National Convention.
Europe and most of the world lifted him to stardom for his messages of hope, change and “yes we can” four years ago. Norway awarded the Noble Peace Prize because he uplifted and surprised the world by being the first black American to enter the Oval Office. But disappointment has settled over many since then. The star is wavering and he will have to do more than make positive, hopeful and optimistic assertions to reignite passion.
More than ever, European economic recovery hangs on renewed vigor in the US economy but the hard economic choices for Americans are still being glossed over. Obama remains a riddle despite Michelle’s brilliant performance at the Convention and Bill Clinton’s skillful rekindling of some enthusiasm.
It is laudable that Obama wants to improve American lives, including through social equity and healthcare. But the key issue remains unclear of whether the better road is privatization or government control. How it is resolved in the US matters to most other developed countries and all those working hard, often at risk to their lives, to establish equitable democracies elsewhere. It will shape the economic-social model others might emulate and, as such, is vital for underpinning global US leadership.
For many around the world it matters how the tussle of Democrats plays out between what they see as Clinton’s centrist pro-business platform and Obama’s left leaning platform that sometimes seems indifferent towards business. For most Americans, it is all about domestic jobs, taxes and spending on the public good without busting budgets and the national debt. For most other countries, it is about how the White House boosts the nearly $15 trillion US economy for more growth and what the national debt does to inflation and jobs in their own economies.
They want to know whether Obama will squeeze them to get a bigger slice of the global economic pie or work closely with business to increase the size of that pie for everyone. A rapprochement between Clinton-style beliefs and Obama could have a positive effect on perceptions. Perhaps that long hug yesterday was a signal!
The wars in Afghanistan and Syria got little attention so far in the Democratic Convention and the earlier Republican Convention. For most American voters, the Afghanistan war may be in its end stage and Syria may be peripheral. But both continue to trouble Europe’s NATO allies and others who have aligned their positions with Washington. For them, what happens after US troops withdraw is important because they are neighbors of the areas left to fester.
Of course, a reelected Obama’s first duty would be to restore domestic economic health. For that, he needs the support of allies in Europe and the Far East because they provide from a fifth to a third of corporate profits, natural resources to prevent jobs from leaving the US, and friendship to build a world order that benefits the security and prosperity of the American people.
Despite Clinton’s exposition of Obama’s merits, some of the facts are hard to ignore. Unemployment is reported to be three million more than four years ago and the national debt has burgeoned by $5 trillion. Relations with China and Russia have not reset and Guantanamo is not closed. Many in the Muslim world either hate or are suspicious of Obama’s America and he has unleashed more military power abroad than George W. Bush.
Against this backdrop, the Romney-Ryan duo seems to offer ideological clarity even though most of its policies are voodoo. For his part, Obama could continue to attack them negatively or repeat how the odds were stacked against him during the first term. But it would be far better to make crystal clear why he is right for another four years.