THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: As the midterms loom, the President is facing annihilation at the ballot box. Tariq Ali examines how the promise of Obama's election campaign has been so dramatically lost.
As the midterms rapidly approach, the beleaguered US President’s ratings are in steep decline, putting him on the defensive with little to offer his supporters except fine words. Those supporters have been voicing their discontent on the television networks but, much more seriously, are likely to punish Obama by staying at home and ignoring the ballot box on Tuesday.
Indeed, this has been a humiliating time for the once seemingly messianic President. This week’s decision for Obama to appear on the US satirical current affairs TV programme The Daily Show – which is largely watched by liberal voters – was a disaster. The audience openly laughed at him; the presenter, Jon Stewart, gave Obama the honour of being the first President to be called ''Dude’’ to his face on national television; and, worst of all, Obama was forced to recant on the most effective marketing slogan of his generation. ''Yes we can,” Obama admitted, had become ''Yes we can, but...’’ Not exactly a rallying cry.
The desperate move to try to rescue himself from disarray, if not extinction, was misguided. While the audience laughed at him, Obama’s self-justificatory response was wooden and dull. “When we promised 'Change you can believe in’, it wasn’t 'Change you can believe in in 18 months’.”
So how has Obama ended up in this mess? The question voters are asking is whether anything has altered substantially since the White House changed hands? To which I can answer: very little, apart from the mood music. The high hopes aroused during Obama’s galvanising election campaign have receded rapidly. Two wars and an economic crisis would test the capacity of any president, but Obama has been found wanting on many levels. His desire to please all has succeeded in antagonising many of his own supporters. Read on and comment >>> Tariq Ali | Saturday, October 30, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: US midterm elections: Barack Obama's world turned upside down as Democrats face electoral disaster: By abandoning his own rhetoric of bipartisanship, President Obama divided America and set the course for a heavy Democratic defeat in Tuesday's midterm elections, argues Toby Harnden. >>> Toby Harnden, American Way | Saturday, October 30, 2010
