In spite of his supporters’ excitement, his election did not signify a permanent national shift to the left. His attempt to govern from the left accordingly brought a predictable result: The public took away his ability to legislate on domestic affairs. Instead, they moved the country to a position where no one can legislate anything beyond the most carefully negotiated and neutral legislation.
STRATFOR’s George Friedman on how The World Looks at Obama After the U.S. Midterm Election.
His is always rather sobering commentary, and often impossible to disagree with.
More:
Obama comes out of this election severely weakened domestically. If he continues his trajectory, the rest of the world will perceive him as a crippled president, something he needn’t be in foreign policy matters. Obama can no longer control Congress, but he still controls foreign policy. He could emerge from this defeat as a powerful foreign policy president, acting decisively in Afghanistan and beyond. It’s not a question of what he should do, but whether he will choose to act in a significant way at all.
Read the full piece here.
And check out last week’s piece for a flesh-out on what he thinks might be Obama’s strategy for the next two years.
About STRATFOR:
STRATFOR’s global team of intelligence professionals provides an audience of decision-makers and sophisticated news consumers in the U.S. and around the world with unique insights into political, economic, and military developments. The company uses human intelligence and other sources combined with powerful analysis based on geopolitics to produce penetrating explanations of world events. This independent, non-ideological content enables users not only to better understand international events, but also to reduce risks and identify opportunities in every region of the globe.
STRATFOR’s chief executive officer, Dr. George Friedman, is a widely recognized international affairs expert and author of numerous books, including The Next 100 Years (Doubleday, 2009), America’s Secret War (Doubleday, 2005), and The Future of War (Crown, 1996).
STRATFOR members include individuals, FORTUNE 100 corporations, government agencies and other organizations around the world.
History suggests Obama can choose Truman’s ‘48 path: dig in & blame Congress, or Clinton’s ‘96 path of cooperation. Both won.
Tweet via @WestWingReport
Related:
Obama to Al Sharpton: Yeah, this midterm’s a referendum on my agenda
From last week:
He says in this interview that a massive Republican win would mean that he would have to fight the GOP “day and night” for the next two years. That’s another admission against interests, it seems. If the GOP wins and nothing gets done, Republicans can point to this pledge to block the mandate of the midterms and assign blame accordingly. This isn’t exactly the move of a master strategist.
Listen to the interview here. (via Hot Air)
Gamble.
We’ll see…
I’m not suggesting every future President should take a shellacking like I did last night. There are easier ways to learn those lessons.
Barack Obama, November 3, 2010
Edit: Undo Change
It’s not the fad anymore…It’s not the fad to be politically knowledgeable and active.
Jessica Kirsner, 21, a junior from Houston and vice president of the College Democrats at the University of Miami on the eve of the 2010 Midterm Elections.
Related:
Can we agree not to let 20-year-olds decide who gets to be President next time around? Cool?
“I guess I just didn’t dive deep enough into the facts.”
Ironic “18-to-34-year-olds showed the biggest support for a public option of any age group” (Click through for the ironic part).
The Candidate: “What Do We Do Now?”
