2010 the year of Obamanation

With the recent gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey swinging in the way of the GOP, it is important to ask whether the so called ‘Messiah’ of American politics, Barack Obama, still has the shine he had as a candidate. The answer of course is that he does not. Although polls based on the president’s character reflect positively, his job approval ratings have dropped and the approval of his handling of key issues such as the Afghanistan war have dropped below fifty percent. He recently got his ambitious Health Care Reform Bill through the first tier of Congress, the House of Representatives, but he faces an uphill fight on trying to get it past the Senate whilst attempting to avoid a filibuster by Republicans who are strongly opposed to the bill.

President Obama came into office facing many challenges left by his predecessor, George W. Bush, and they encumbered the platform of policy promises which he had run on and presumably gotten elected for. If that wasn’t bad enough, he faced a Republican opposition that initially tried to put on a bipartisan face but eventually became bitterly opposed to the President and his ‘leftist’ policies. The opposition posed by the Republican’s is not in itself surprising because the history of American politics is that of the incumbent party and leader facing stiff opposition on his and their legislative agendas, regardless of whether they will better the lives of the citizenry or not. US politics thrives on opposition on issues such as Health Care and the debate at times before the passing of the bill through the House was arbitrary and disassociated from the substance of the bill and what the President proposed.

The recent elections in New Jersey and Virginia, regardless of how much the White House and the President seek to dispel it as not a referendum on Obama’s first year in charge, is a major warning to Democrats and the Obama administration for next years mid-term elections. President Obama made trips to both Virginia and New Jersey, campaigning for the Democratic gubernatorial candidates before the respective elections. Despite that they still lost and although the loss in Virginia might have been more anticipated than the loss in New Jersey, which must have been more of a blow. Virginia is regarded as a swing state and usually votes Republican due to its conservative citizenry, New Jersey however is a regular Democrat state which voted strongly in favour of Mr Obama last year in the general election.

Adding to all this is the fact that incumbent candidates, such as the Democratic Party had in both states, always face a tough challenge especially considering high unemployment figures and an economy still recovering from a terrible slump.

If President Obama wants to retain his hold on a majority in both Houses of Congress then he will have to act drastically to change the growing perception that he is more style than substance, starting with the war in Afghanistan, which he is yet to make a decision on in terms of either sending more troops or reducing the amount of troops. He isn’t helped by the fact that British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has decided to send more troops to the region and the Karzai government in Afghanistan is accused of widespread corruption, also a speech he made in March of this year calling the war in Afghanistan one of necessity has not assisted him either. The likely loss of the Democratic majority in the House and the Senate will hinder the President’s legislative agenda greatly and a resurgent GOP could pose a serious threat in the 2012 presidential election.

In the US president’s are judged on their ability to get legislation passed and the effectiveness of their leadership, thus if Obama cannot hold onto his party’s majority in Congress and cannot get his platform promises enacted, he will face an uphill battle on being an effective president and being remembered in history as one of America’s greatest Presidents.

Written by Tatenda Goredema.

Tatenda Goredema is the Deputy-Editor of VARSITY Newspaper.