Friday, November 9, 2012

President Obama wins in Virginia but the policy battle for America’s future has yet to be won


On Tuesday, a majority of Virginians voted to re-elect President Barack Obama to the most powerful post in human history[1]. For those of us who believe in and voted for President Obama, his victory was the apex of a long and bitter presidential election cycle.

As a new congressional session begins soon, however, the triumphal feelings following President Obama’s re-election will have to give way to the realities of the current political situation.

The U.S. House is still controlled by the Republican Party and it’s conceivable that the far-right Republicans still left in the House will entrench themselves further into their do-nothing ideological positions. Even with Speaker John Boehner’s acknowledgement that Republicans are “willing to accept new revenue,” the speaker’s concession may be more of an attempt to redirect the angst of the American people rather than an initial step towards genuine compromise[2].

Thus, President Obama’s victory in Virginia and his ultimate re-election is just one step towards establishing forward-thinking economic, human health, environmental, and social policies that the American people yet again voted in favor of.

It remains to be seen just how much “slack” liberal-leaning Americans will give to President Obama and just what path President Obama will take during his second term to pass his policies.

When it’s “your” president, it’s harder to criticize the policy and political decisions that he or she makes. But proponents of President Obama should not be willing to give him a blank check to continuously cave in to unreasonable demands made by the Republican Party.

Nor should liberal-leaning Americans be too quick to criticize President Obama’s methods and centrist positions. Like it or not, successful presidents have been successful, on the whole, because they have been willing to compromise, and more often than not, willing to take a moderate political posture.

What this means is that a number of individuals who voted for President Obama in 2012 are probably going to be disappointed if they assumed President Obama would be pursuing a hard-line liberal agenda during his second term.


[1] http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2012-virginia-president-romney-vs-obama
[2] http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/boehner-opens-door-to-new-revenue-to-halt-debt/2012/11/07/2912c5ce-2919-11e2-b4e0-346287b7e56c_story.html?wpisrc=al_comboEP_p

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