Has American society given up one of its foundational principles – that anyone who hunkers down and works hard can make it? Columnist Reymer Kluever of Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung explains President Obama’s State of the Union change in political tact by pointing out that since the 1970s, the United States has become one of the least fair industrialized countries in terms of tax policy and the capacity of the ‘little guy’ to get ahead.
For the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Reymer Kluever starts out this way:
The Barack Obama of the 2012 presidential election is different from the one four years ago: The conciliator is no longer in demand. Instead, what is needed is a class warrior who stands up for social justice. This may be un-American, but it is nonetheless necessary. For in the face of a tax system that is unfair in the extreme and shamelessly favors the rich, many U.S. citizens have experienced a profound loss of confidence: namely in the belief that everyone has the chance to make his or her own luck.
Four years ago Barack Obama took office as a conciliator. The Americans had voted for him in the hope that he would narrow the conspicuous gulf that had opened up in the early years of the new millennium: The deep animosity between the country’s two political camps and the huge chasm between the profiteers of the boom years and the rest of society, in which more and more people are threatened with social decline. Since then everything has changed.
The hope that surged for Obama is long gone. Therefore this time around, a different Obama will stand for election. This was abundantly communicated during his State of the Union address to Congress. In 2012, it is Obama the class warrior who will stand for election.
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