Well the interminable presidential extravaganza finally ended & Obama won a 2nd term. Apparently progressives in swing states swallowed hard & voted for the lesser evil. We face many problems & issues. Is Obama up to the task? Now freed up w/ no more elections will a transformational presidency be able to emerge? Could a reincarnation of FDR happen? Or is that expecting a miracle, like Moses parting of the Red Sea?

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President Obama reelected. AP photo

Well the interminable presidential extravaganza has finally ended and Barack Obama won a second term.

Apparently enough progressives in swing states swallowed hard and followed the appeal made by Daniel Ellsberg, Robert Scheer and others that a Romney presidency would be beyond the pale and despite their criticism and deep reservations, voting for the "lesser evil "Obama should be the choice.

From here are some of the reasons Obama won:

• First and foremost Mitt Romney was a terrible candidate whose stances seemingly changed with the direction of the wind.
• Winning the Republican nomination required him to adopt extreme right wing "tea party" positions. The prime example was accepting their condemnation of "Obama care" which was essentially the health care plan Romney formally endorsed and had enacted in Massachusetts when he was the governor.
• Condemning the auto industry bailout after initially agreeing with it.
• As the former head of Bain Capital he was seen as an exploitive capitalist representing the 1% who personally made millions while the industries he bought and sold were either closed, moved to 3 ^rd world countries and created a net loss of domestic jobs; not exactly the "job creator" he made himself to be during his campaign.
• His determination if elected to expand military spending while cutting Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment benefits and food stamps.
• The video seen of his condemning 47% of the voters (during a closed fund raiser for deep pocketed fat cats) describing them as essentially worthless dependents of government handouts.
• His close association with Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's stance on Iran and his desire to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. An attack that would most assuredly produce a wider war; something the war weary American public was opposed to.
• His harsh stance on immigration and amnesty which was offensive to the Latino community.
• Not to mention the overall Republican craziness on rape and abortion. This understandably offended most female voters (for which Romney was mostly silent).
• Obama on the other hand was to many (most?) voters a known quantity. Although this is an anathema to many progressives, he didn't let himself be outflanked by the right on national security and he did kill Osama bin Laden.
• But mainly, Obama wasn't Romney. Thus the main theme of the Obama campaign was, "Who would you rather have me or Romney?"   It wasn't presented in so many words but certainly the implication was unmistakable.

So in a nutshell, let's say the "lesser of evil" Obama won. He was no longer Mr. "Change you can believe in" and certainly these past four years not anything like the transformational character many of us hoped and voted for in 2008.

But does Obama's first term as president automatically dictate what we can expect of him in the next four years? Will his final election "free him" up to do what he was unable or unwilling to take on in his first go round?

Here are some questions regarding domestic and foreign policy problems and issues (in no particular order and by no means exhaustive) that are out there. How will they to be dealt with?

Domestically:

-          Global warming and the environment- will there be a serious effort to lead in curbing man made environmental degradation?

-          Will the Keystone XL pipeline carrying Canadian tar sands oil be permanently ended?

-          Will fracking operations in many states that are despoiling the environment and underwater aquifers be halted?

-          Will a depression era type WPA work program be introduced to dramatically reduce unemployment while rebuilding deteriorating infrastructure, upgrade the nations rail system consistent with other first world countries such as in Europe and Japan?

-          Will there be an end to NAFTA and other globalization agreements that have killed domestic industry, sent it to 3 ^rd world countries and reduced and/or outsourced middle class jobs?

-          Will college student debt be forgiven?

-            Will the rich be taxed at a rate commensurate with their income, including raising the social security and Medicare tax on all earned income?

-          Will a single payer, Medicare for all health care system be proposed to compete with the private health insurers to reduce health care costs as well as cover everyone under all conditions?

-          Will marijuana be legalized and the costly war on drugs be ended?

-          Will domestic surveillance, warrantless wiretapping, indefinite detention, suspension of habeas corpus and torture be officially ended? How about finally closing Guantanamo?

-          Will the president restore the rule of law, habeas corpus and due process for all and end the practice of his targeting suspects, including American citizens with his being the "assassinator in chief"?

-          Will he issue an executive order repealing the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) as an unnecessary and draconian measure and an unlawful infringement on citizens rights protected under the Constitution?

-          Will the practice of targeting government whistleblowers be ended?

-          Will the militarization of local and state police be ended with the unnecessary targeting of peaceful demonstrations and protestors protected under the Constitution?

-          Will the big banks and the financial industry finally be held accountable for the economic devastation it perpetrated in 2008?

-          Will the big banks responsible for the financial meltdown be properly regulated and/or broken up as entities too big to fail and a threat to bring on another financial calamity and with it another economic depression?

-          Will real financial regulation be enacted curbing their worst excesses?

-          Will all stock transactions be taxed?

-          Will offshore tax havens and tax loopholes for the rich be closed?

-          Will the president openly support an amendment to the Constitution overturning "Citizens United" and get big money out of politics?

-          Will the bloated and unnecessary defense spending be drastically reduced commensurate with the ending of the cold war over 20 years ago as no existential threat to the country exists at this time or the foreseeable future?

-          Will the president support the Democrats in the Senate to end the filibuster rule and restore majority rule in that body? The filibuster as currently exercised is a major impediment to needed legislation and a tyranny exercised by the minority.

Foreign Policy:

-          Will the economic sanctions on Iran be ended? Can such policies be replaced with direct diplomatic negotiations and restoring normal relations with that country? Will a military attack on Iran be finally taken off the table?

-          Will the relationship with Israel become more even handed with the Palestinian people with active support for a two state solution and thereby ending a major cause behind Islamic terrorism in the world?

-          Will drone attacks and missile strikes and the killing of innocents be ended in war zones and neighboring countries recognizing such acts are major contributing factors in expanding the number of Islamic militants vowing revenge on the U.S.?

-          Will the war in Afghanistan be ended as soon as possible (not the end of 2014 as currently in place) and all the troops brought home?

-          Will we curtail and/or close unnecessary military bases world wide, forego the "pivot" to Asia and the Pacific, end the deployment of carrier task forces in the Persian Gulf as well as the South China Sea as unnecessarily provocative that could lead to accidental war?

For sure, all the problems and issues aforementioned (as well as the many others too numerous to include here) are to say the least a "tall order" for any administration to undertake. But there has to be a start in addressing the real issues and problems we face.

What we've heard about i.e. the need to reduce the deficit, austerity measures through reductions in Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, unemployment compensation, food stamps, extending the Bush era tax cuts for the rich et al, are all wrongheaded policies and need to be rejected openly by this reelected president with full use of the "bully pulpit" if necessary in appealing directly to the people (something that could have and should have been done early in his first term).

So is the hope here four years later a chimera; that a real transformational presidency can finally emerge under Obama? Admittedly, that may be true.

From here, it's worth giving him the benefit of the doubt. What is there to lose? Maybe a reincarnation of FDR could happen. Or is that expecting the equivalent of Moses parting of the Red Sea in bible lore, something from the long lost age of miracles?  

Authors Website: dglefc22733@aol.com

Authors Bio:
Retired. The author of "DECEIT AND EXCESS IN AMERICA, HOW THE MONEYED INTERESTS HAVE STOLEN AMERICA AND HOW WE CAN GET IT BACK", Authorhouse, 2009