The Honeymoon Ends For Obama

Posted by admin on January 26, 2010

Just over a year ago President Barack Obama took over at the Oval Office to acclaim and hysterical scenes both at home in the USA and abroad. His election seemed to offer a real change, and hope that the world scene was going to change in a dramatic and positive fashion.

All new Presidents, just like new Prime Ministers in the United Kingdom, can expect a honeymoon period where their popularity will remain high and their decisions will remain unquestioned. The honeymoon period afforded to President Obama, however, has been surprisingly short and the state of Massachusets this week signalled beyond doubt that for a large proportion of the American public the love affair with Obama is well and truly over.

The President’s Democrat Party had held the slenderest majority in the Senate and the sudden death of Democrat legend Ted Kennedy brought a by-election at the worst possible time. Amidst feverish media attention the Republican candidate Scott Brown took a stunning victory in this previously solidly Democrat state to plunge the legislative plans of Obama into chaos.

So what has gone wrong? Many voters were fed up of the Bush years and wanted change at any cost. The young, dynamic Obama seemed to offer the real opportunity to drag America up by its bootstrings when compared to the aging, bumbling figure of the Republican candidate John McCain. Obama surprised people by picking up votes from Republicans in the presidential election but they have quickly returned to their core political beliefs.

Obama promised change, but Americans are not at all convinced that he has delivered. The recession has hit the country hard and unemployment is rapidly rising but the President has found that there is no quick solution to problems left by the previous administration and this has left him looking flat footed.

One of his major promises was that he would close Guantanamo Bay within a year and withdraw his nation’s troops from Afghanistan. Whilst Obama says that both of these objectives are still firmly on the agenda, Guantanamo remains open and American soldiers are still dying in Afghanistan with no positive end to the conflict in sight. Increasing tension with both Iran and North Korea has also led Americans to question their President’s handling of foreign affairs.

The main problem encountered by President Obama, however, is the one area where he has tried to make decisive change: healthcare. Obama has tried manfully to convince both Congress and the country as a whole that free healthcare should be a priority, but his opponents have succesfully painted this as a socialist action (a dirty word in the States equivalent to Communist in many minds) that will cost tax payers money. At a time when purse strings are tight, the populace has turned against these reforms with undisguised venom.

As an outsider it has been distressing to see how quickly the American press and people have turned against President Obama. I, like many others in Britain and worldwide, was delighted when Obama won but the reaction from his countrymen has left a sour taste in the mouth. President Obama needs to turn things around quickly within the next twelve months, and he has the self assuredness and drive to do it, but it seems to many watching from across the water that the honeymoon is over and a quickie divorce may be pending.

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