US Presidential Election 2012: Barack Obama Gets Second Term in White House

Fifty-one-year-old African-American Barack Hussein Obama was reelected as the US president on November 7, defeating his Republican rival Mitt Romney in a hard-fought and expensive battle, but he will have to contend with a gridlocked US Congress.

It was not such a long night after all as Obama swept the polls, proving wrong many a pundit who had predicted a close contest, to secure himself a second term at the White House. In fact, not only did the incumbent President doggedly defend the Democratic bastions of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan but the blue wave that he unleashed also swallowed whole the swing States of Virginia, Nevada, New Hampshire, Colorado, Iowa and Ohio — effectively shutting out all routes to victory for his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Obama’s reelection bid by a narrow margin gives him four more years in an American environment that is challenging by any standards. Just before he took over as the first black President in his country’s history, he faced the biggest recession that hit his homeland since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

In securing his place in history, however, he will have to continue to face the challenges of a divided nation and Congress, as the popular vote in the highly divisive election was split evenly between him and his Republican rival, Romney, at 49 per cent.

It is a vote for Obama’s stress on jobs, health-care reform and pro-gay, pro-abortion and pro-immigrant policies. Soon after the result, a relieved but energetic Obama promised “the best is yet to come”. It will, however, be a tough going for the new President as the Republicans have retained their hold on the House of Representatives, though the Senate stays with the Democrats.

Obama, however, faces the prospect of renewed challenges posed by a divided Congress with the Republicans retaining control of the House of Representatives and his fellow-Democrats maintaining their hold of Senate.

Election Process

US presidential elections are decided by an electoral college, which gives states a certain number of electoral votes based on population. A candidate must get 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.

Preliminary indications suggested that voter turnout was lower this year than the breathtaking levels that it soared to in 2008. Although it peaked at close to 70 per cent in some States such as Wisconsin, it also dropped heavily in others, by around 11 per cent in Texas.

The biggest plunge by far, according to media reports quoting a study by American University, was in Eastern Seaboard States that were still recovering from the devastation in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, which caused major property damage and knocked out power for millions, thus disrupting standard voting practices.

Obama shot past the 270 mark, garnering 303 electoral votes and winning most of the battleground states. On November 7, a final result was awaited in Florida, where the President had a narrow lead. Florida has 29 electoral votes.

Romney got 206 electoral votes. While the electoral vote margin was significant, the difference between the two candidates in the popular vote was much smaller. Obama got 50 per cent of the popular vote compared to 48 per cent for Romney, a Mormon. In all, Obama won 25 states and the District of Columbia, while Romney won 24 states.

In the 100-member Senate, the Democrats now have 52 seats, a net gain of one seat. The Republicans are left with 45 seats, with a net loss of one seat. Two independents usually caucus with the Democrats.

Two Republican candidates who had made controversial comments on the subject of rape and abortion during campaigning ended up losing the race. Both of them were Tea Party favorites – Richard Mourdock of Indiana and Todd Akin of Missouri.

Road to Success

Undoubtedly, it is true that for all his achievements, including the risky directive to get Osama Bin Laden in his Pakistan hideout, Obama’s four years are a litany of broken promises. He dramatically announced the closure of the notorious Guantanamo prison complex in a year and made a clarion call to the Muslim world from Cairo and promised to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Guantanamo is still very much in existence and the Palestinian plight in overthrowing Israeli rule has never been more desperate, with more and more Palestinian land being colonized with little more than hand-wringing from the Obama administration.
On Guantanamo, he met stout Republican opposition in Congress, and on Israel he was up against the insurmountable Jewish lobby’s hold on the American political system, which has supported and helped the Israeli state in every way since the British departed from the region. It is an indication of Tel Aviv’s ability to influence US policy in the Middle East, as the world calls it, that going against Israel’s interests, whatever the cost to Washington, is a sure road to calumny and oblivion for any American leader.

Focus on Challenges

It is equally true that Americans are tired of fighting wars, particularly in the Arab and Muslim world, and American help in the overthrow of Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi was described as “leading from behind” by placing the European powers in front in the Nato air war camouflaging key US inputs.

The Iraq war, perhaps the greatest mistake of the George W. Bush presidency, was wound down and a timeline was set at 2014 for withdrawal from Afghanistan. In addition, President Obama has been seeking to temper Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s belligerence on Iran.

President Obama’s priority must, however, be to make the congressional system work. There are many anomalies in the US electoral system — for instance, Electoral College votes based on state quotas trumping the popular vote — and the President’s right to appoint justices of the Supreme Court is flawed.

It is expected that Obama will push for higher taxes on the wealthy so as to trim down the debt burden and also generate money for his pet programs. Equally importantly, he will try to cut a massive financial deal with Congress in the coming months to reduce the budgetary deficit.

Foreign Policy Issue

Barack is unlikely to do any major change on the foreign policy front. This is a comfortable scenario for India because Obama had amended his policy initiatives vis-à-vis India after his pro-China posturing during the initial months of his first term. He quickly realized the merits in the policy pursued by the George W. Bush administration which had clinched the historic nuclear deal with India. It was a matter of relief for India when he ultimately reverted to Bush’s policy, which was aimed at containing China to protect US interests in East Asia. Attempts at the containment of China were essential as most countries in the region are scared of an over-assertive China, which sees itself as the future superpower.

However, Pakistan and Iran must be feeling uncomfortable with Obama’s reelection as US President, as there is unlikely to be any let-up in the drive to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapon capability and the targeting of Taliban activists in Pakistan’s tribal areas through drone attacks. Of course, Barack Obama, whose forefathers were Muslim Kenyans and who spent his early childhood in Indonesia, no longer has to prove that he cannot be soft toward these countries posing threat to global peace. The truth is that no US President can afford to be lax towards terrorists or an Iran which is considered more dangerous for peace in West Asia than Israel by US allies like Saudi Arabia.

Boost to Indo-US Ties

Obama’s reelection is a good news for the Indian economy, although balance will have to be established between rhetoric and practicality on prickly issues like outsourcing of IT services.

With elections out of the way and status quo maintained, India Inc is betting on increased focus on reviving growth in the US which will also lift its own fortunes and also spur growth across the world. Being one of India’s largest trading partners, the US accounts for more than 13 per cent of total Indian exports and 60 per cent of IT exports.The recent reforms initiated by the UPA government are expected to enhance the Indo-US economic partnership.

The US accounts for more than 13 percent of total Indian exports and 60 percent of IT exports. The feeling is that Obama’s win will ensure continuity in growing India-US relations.

The issue of curbing outsourcing, which Obama made a poll plank, remains to be sorted out. Indian IT firms hope to get an opportunity to partner with US companies to achieve growth targets.

India’s exports to the US grew from $17.24 billion to $19.61 billion, showing a growth of 15 per cent during April-September, 2012, over the corresponding period last year. The share of the US in total exports went up to 13.88 per cent and it has surpassed the UAE as the prime destination of India’s exports.

On defense front, Obama’s reelection is set to boost the defense relations between New Delhi and Washington with focus on technology sharing, joint research, co-production of defense equipment and increased military engagement.

In his first term in 2009, Obama had opened the gates for US companies to enter the multi-billion dollar Indian defense market that was essentially dominated by the Russians and Israelis. As a result, India placed a huge order for US-produced defense equipment worth $9 billion – approximately Rs 47,000 crore. Obama’s second term promises even more deeper ties with India. It was illustrated by US Defense Secretary Leon E Panetta visit to India in June when he listed out several long term partnerships in the defense sector.

In the past four years, New Delhi has ordered medium lift transport planes (C-130-J), heavy lift planes (C-17 Globemaster) and long-range maritime reconnaissance planes (Boeing P8-I). The ties took a significant upswing last month when India gave nod to the purchase of Boeing ‘Apache’ attack chopper.

Assessment

The US president presides over a superpower on the retreat and is more concerned about fixing economic problems back home rather than playing the global “supercop”. By and large, he has not created or aggravated tensions. Having friendly relations with India may be part of the US policy to counter the rise of China, but the change has not hurt India’s interests.

To what degree Obama is successful in this regard will depend on how well he can reach out to the Republicans. He will be well advised to do so with utmost sincerity, as this and other such deals will determine his presidential legacy, which otherwise stands the risk of being rendered hollow by petty partisan politics. All it needs is a new resolve to move away from strange ideologies and beliefs that seem to thrive in the free American air to the detriment of logic and common sense.

Disputes Over US Federal Debt Ceiling

After days of stalemate and tension, the US Democratic and Republican parties finally reached an agreement on the US federal debt ceiling. This was to the relief of global stock markets, and global investors. The pressure, as heavy as a thousand-ton stone, was simultaneously removed from everybody’s chest.
Earlier, the US Democratic and Republican parties did not want to come to a compromise over their respective proposal on how the US debt limit should be set. They refused to give in to each other and so in the end they could not reach an agreement. Their persistence in holding on to their respective proposal has even led to the situation whereby when the US House of Representatives passed the proposal it was bounced back by the US Senate. Such situation has gone back and forth for a number of times before the US Congress finally passed President Barack Obama’s debt limit ceiling at the very last minute when the deadline approaching.
Default Predicament
This kind of congressional result carried out in the US Capitol has given people a little suspense, but it was not too surprising to many. President Obama attributed the lifting of the US debt credit default crisis to the e-mail and telephone ‘bombardment’ that the US citizens have given to their congressional representatives. But in fact, we believe both Democratic and the Republican lawmakers then were pretty aware of the fact that if the Congress could not reach a compromise on the US debt limit ceiling, none of them could afford to bear the severe consequences of a US debt default predicament.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner did say that the consequence of US debt default is very serious. The level of such a threat is far greater than the impact of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. As such, investors from all over the world were all holding their breath to wait for the result of the Congress decision on the US debt default crisis. They were all afraid that the US debt default could lead to the collapse of the global economy. To many people, the vivid memories of the devastated stock market triggered by the Lehman Brothers bad debts remain until today.
Bipartisan Confrontation
The truth behind the stiff noises between the two US political parties over the US debt limit ceiling has everything to do with the US presidential election to be held in 2012. Whether it is the Republican or the Democratic Party, their respective debt limit ceiling proposal was one of the ways for them to fight for favorable public opinion. To the American people who have long suffered the economic downturn, the respective proposal by the two parties was aimed to add extra points for them. Of course, these US congressional representatives also understood the consequence of what would happen to the nation if they could not reached a compromise in settling the US federal debt crisis. Yet they have chosen the approach to, besides standing firm on their respective ground, also hoped that they could have more opportunities to gain additional political capital before the final passing of the US debt ceiling resolution.
This round of political battle between the Democratic and Republican Party has also highlighted the bipartisan confrontation between the two parties in the US Congress. The last time when more than a few hundred US congressional representatives fought until midnight to allow the US Patriot Act to pass through was when US President Obama was overseas. In the end, President Obama had to sign the bill using his automatic pen. This action taken by President Obama has even led Obama faced with the legal question of whether the US President had indeed violated the US Constitution rule.
Spreading Economic Disaster
For sure, the political battle staged by US politicians over the US debt crisis has carried it a bit too far this time. US politicians have used global economy as their dice in their gambling game. The result is that the world economy can be at stake fearing not only accidental misfires by the US politicians but also the repeat of a new wave of global market crash amid the possible consequence that the US Government might lose its credit standing in the international community.
When this happens again in the future, we can only say that the US politicians are indeed ‘played out the fire’ spreading economic disaster to the international community.

Obama Considers Health Care Reform Important Agenda of Presidency

Finally, US President Barack Obama managed to have his biggest political engineering work, which is the US health care bill, passed by the US Congress. The bill was passed with 219 supporting votes as against 212 opposing votes.

Fighting to have the health care reform bill passed has not been an easy battle for President Obama. Nevertheless, President Obama has at least won the battle. However, he and the average American people understood that this was a narrowed victory and a victory that President Obama could not be too proud about the result.

Support for Bill
There were a total 431 congressional seats in that Congress. President Obama's Democratic Party has taken up a total of 253 seats and the opposing Republican only has 178 seats. However when the voting result was known, President Obama only received a total 219 supporting votes. Apparently, there were as many as 34 Democrat congressional representatives did not abide with party line to support the Obama Government's health care reform bill. If President lost four more votes at that critical voting period, his health care bill would be rejected.

Despite the fact that President Obama has cancelled his scheduled visit to Australia and Indonesia and absorbed the embarrassment in public diplomacy by staying back in Washington to lobby the lawmakers, he still could not convince 34 Democrat lawmakers to change their minds and support his health care reform bill. The fact that President Obama has such a narrowed victory in getting his health care bill passed by the Congress has reflected the reality that his health care reform plan does not reflect the views of the majority US citizens.

During the time when the US Congress was debating on the health care bill, the result of the public opinion poll jointly organized by the ABC television channel and Washington Post, a US mainstream media that supports the Obama administration, has shown that there were more people opposing the health care reform bill than the people wanting to support it. This public opinion poll has also shown that President Obama's health care reform bill did not get the consensus of the majority of people.

Reducing Federal Deficit
President Obama wants to use US$ 950 billion tax payer's money to implement the first stage of his national health care plan. This first phase of health care insurance expenditure can help the Obama government to reduce $138 billion federal deficit. This is a health care policy that needs to use high amount of tax payers' money to help the government to save just little money. What the government needs to do next will perhaps be to increase tax or to increase the medical fee for senior citizens. As such many people have criticized Obama's health care medical bill as a bill that can indirectly murder the elderly citizens.

President Obama has his reason to insist on his health care reform pan. He said in the United States as high as 40 million citizens were without health care insurance to protect them. His health care reform plan could allow these 40 million needy people to obtain health care insurance protection.

The Other View
In theory, the action taken by President Obama is laudable for universal medical insurance coverage for all citizens is an equitable policy. However, many American people still feel that there is this 'lazy class of people' who does not want to work hard to earn their living but want to enjoy free medical benefits. The tax payers do not agree to use their income tax to look after the lazy class of people in the society. Many tax payers are also unwilling to use their money to assist in forced abortion. These are perhaps the reasons why majority of the US people are not agreeable with President Obama's universal health care reform plan.

In fact, among the Democratic Party presidents such as Truman, John Kennedy, and Bill Clinton have all tried but could not achieve this massive health care reform plan that President Obama managed to get done. The main reason is that President Obama has insisted on his health care reform plan. He considers this health care reform agenda as his most important mission as the US President.