Having completed a Masters degree in political communication, with a special focus on American politics, I am left with more questions than answers on how American Politics has gotten to the state it’s in. I know a lot of people will argue that the American system is built to encourage conflict and to an extent gridlock, but surely politics at it stands in the US has crossed a line that even the founding fathers would find troublesome.
All eyes are on Europe at this point in time (this is more so now my Prime Minister, David Cameron, has reject to sign a renewed EU treaty), but I feel the American political entrenchment is a far more worrying story. I also believe that the system will not revert back if, as the Republicans suggest, Obama is defeated in 2012. I am afraid that people will have to start realizing that the American political system may be broken.
The question I want to know is when did America cross this line into political gridlock? For me the answer is simple – Obamacare.
From my studies I have found out that rarely do American Presidents pass legislation so sweeping and counter to the beliefs of his opposition party. I don’t think it has happened since Roosevelt’s New Deal which installed social security.
Since then Presidents have won minor partisan victories, but since then the pattern has often than not been Presidents making minor concessions to their political opposition – Reagan raised taxes, Clinton reformed welfare, George W Bush bailed-out the free market. None of these recent Presidents dealt a blow as significant as President Obama did to their opposition.
In fact, Obamacare was the crescendo. The repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Osama, Iraq withdrawal, the second bailout and financial reform all did not sit well with the R side of politics. This, rightly or wrongly, for me, led Republicans to vilify the most legislatively successful Democratic President in generations. If left unchallenged, in a single term, Obama could have killed off the Republican Party (yes, that dramatic).
So why is Obama struggling? It’s the Eco…
Yes, the economy is down the pan which for some explains why Obama is sitting at 40% approval, but this doesn’t explain Republicans opposing anything and everything, regardless of whether they will positively impact on the US economy – this signals blind hatred. From my understanding, no one predicted the economic cluster (bleep) that has occurred the past 5 or years. I know some Americans have this superiority complex, but no one, not even the Chinese (with their very real inflation worries) have escaped the perils of this economic environment. With political functioning countries struggling to wade through these choppy waters, what makes the Americans believe Obama has a chance when congress is so divided?
So why do the grass roots keep beating on Obama? Simple – Teabag envy. Next!
Look, there are very real questions to be answered about Obama’s first term and what it means for America. Did Obama overreach during his first term? For me, the answer is without a doubt, yes. He tried to do far too much, far too quickly. There needed to be some long term thinking inside of the White-House. How they didn’t see this GOP reaction is beyond me, did they expect the GOP to just go away after taking so much hit? No, the GOP came back fighting desperately for their lives.
Although I am a huge Obama admirer, I believe that there is an argument for the right Independent candidate if one can be found. Obama is not “the worst President of all time” like most like to fob off. He also hasn’t failed on every measure as President like Joe Scarborough recently tried to suggest. What Obama is, is far too good for the GOP, which in turn is not good for the country.
Yes the American system fosters debate and tension, but what it doesn’t do well is provide a legislatively successful President to carry on his work.
Just a normal everyday bloke writing about films.