Obama backers spin
this idea much more positively arguing their man, will try to strike a "grand
bargain" deal before December 31 or risk a worsening recession in the first
half of 2013.
The day after the election, the Congressional newspaper, the Hill, indicated there is no appetite for any compromise in the Republican-led but Tea Party dominated House of Representatives.
"House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) informed his Republican colleagues that he will not give ground to Democrats on raising taxes despite President Obama's victory on Election Day" Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) speaking hours after his caucus made surprising gains to its majority, countered that his side will not relent on extending Bush-era tax rates on wealthier households"
So, despite his victory, Obama returns to an environment of stalemate and confrontation that makes it very unlikely that he can enact his agenda despite his claim that "the best is yet to come." Writes the Natuonal Journal: "After all that, it turned out to be a big old status-quo election. President Obama wins. The Senate barely budges. The House stays about the same." The New York Times concludes: "Few if any expect him to seriously change Washington anymore."
Wall Street seems to
have turned on him, while the financial crisis that he inherited has not gotten
much better. Many experts say that a President can do little to create more
jobs by himself. It's a "system thing," not a personal choice. So much for the
man who started as the candidate for "change,"
It was only more
military spending and some seasonal part time work that recently lowered the
unemployment rate, but GOP hostility to any and all stimulus programs insures
that the government cannot prime the pump. . That fuels the expectation that
the prospects for real change are stuck and/or sinking.
The foreign policy
environment doesn't seem much brighter. Israel's President Bibi Netanyahu
wasted no time to revive his threats to bomb Iran,
So, welcome to term 2
Mr. President, where you will be expected to be more of a magician than a
mechanic. What rabbits can you
pull out of your hat?
News Dissector Danny
Schechter blogs at newsdissector.net
His latest books are Blogothon and Occupy: Dissecting Occupy Wall Street
(Cosimo Books). He hosts a show on ProgressiveRadioNetwork. (PRN.fm).
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