Will Obama run again?

[Avatar4321]

I think that if President Obama wants to make a serious bid for a second term he needs to begin governing now. Obama has taken on many topics that were considered the third rail of national politics like health care reform. He has tried to bring both parties to the middle on these issues to come to a sensible solution. However I think Obama underestimated how much partisan politics would eat away at his agenda. Obama needs to stop making promises and starting holding up top the promises he has already made with the country. Furthermore I think the polling numbers are soft, I think a good 5-9% of the approval votes are from African-Americans who do not wish to see the first African-American President fall into the unfavorables.

The middle? On what freakin planet is anything Obama's been doing been in the middle???

 

[Amanda]

...

It's an interesting question. I think unless something really drastic happens that he will just because incumbents usually do.

Personally, I don't think it's too late for him to salvage his presidency and make a successful run for a 2nd term.

 

[Polk]

This term really is the worst of both worlds so far. Obama has had all the responsibility of governing without the ability to actually do so. Sweeping wins for both houses of Congress don't matter, because defective institutional design allows a narrow minority in a single house of the legislature to prevent bills from even coming to a vote.

Clueless on the concept of supermajority, eh?

The Constitution doesn't have a supermajority requirement to pass bills through either chamber.

 

[Polk]

This term really is the worst of both worlds so far. Obama has had all the responsibility of governing without the ability to actually do so. Sweeping wins for both houses of Congress don't matter, because defective institutional design allows a narrow minority in a single house of the legislature to prevent bills from even coming to a vote.

Clueless on the concept of supermajority, eh?

Show us the 60 votes that he has for cloture.

Exactly. It takes 60, but there are only 59 Democratic votes (the 58 Democrats plus Sanders).

 

[txlonghorn]

IMO Obama is the clear winner, next election. Especially since the republicans are in the toilet and have nobody with any appeal whatsoever. Don't think so? Tell me who beats Obama?

Obama will beat Obama...

He'll run...hell, he hasn't stopped running since the last election. Everything he does is focused on re-election. But if America has half the brains they had when they voted for him last year, they'll have just enough sense to vote against him in '12.

 

[xsited1]

Will Obama run again?

Yes. He's got a bigger ego than Bill Clinton. Of course he'll run again.

 

[MaggieMae]

I appreciate all the comments. The presidential election is still a long way off, and I thought I'd put my thoughts on it now as historical perspective. Nobody knows what will happen, but it wouldn't surprise me if Obama opts for only one term. I think like most new presidents, he had no idea what a difficult challenge that job is.

By the time a second term rolls around, public opinions are firmly in place (not iffy), and unless dramatic occasions propel the country toward the right track for the future, he might as well turn the keys over to a new resident. Reagan and Clinton were exceptions, not the rule. Reagan for being instrumental in ending the Cold War, and Clinton instrumental in setting the economy on the right path (in spite of the sex scandal).