Barack Obama's Final Midterm Rally Highlights Declining Popularity
THE GUARDIAN: Voter disenchantment with US president was reflected by 5,000 empty seats during event at Cleveland's Wolfstein centre

Barack Obama speaks to supporters in Cleveland during his last rally before the midterm elections. Photograph: The Guardian
Thousands of empty seats at Barack Obama's last campaign rally of the midterm elections today highlighted the decline in his popularity and the potential meltdown facing the Democrats at the polls on Tuesday.

Screens at Cleveland's Wolfstein centre showed the Obama logo from the 2008 White House race, the old campaign songs were played and the crowd chanted his slogan 'Yes, we can'. But the excitement and euphoria of that campaign were long gone. About 8,000 people turned out to see Obama in the 13,000-capacity stadium, compared with the 80,000 at a rally in the city two days before the 2008 election.

Speaking in Cleveland at the end of a whirlwind four-state tour , Obama said it was an important election. "We have the chance to set the direction of this country for many years to come," he said. He warned that the Republicans could roll back all the progress of the last two years if they won big.

He admitted it was "a difficult election" because of the state of the economy, and blamed the Republicans for creating the federal deficit – a theme he has repeated throughout the campaign but one that has failed to resonate with the electorate.

The Democrats face defeat on a scale that political analysts say has not been seen in more than 60 years. A CNN poll today put support for the Republicans at 52% and 42% for the Democrats , a big enough lead to ensure the Republicans take control of the House of Representatives and cut deep into the Democratic majority in the Senate. >>> Ewen MacAskill in Cleveland | Sunday, October 31, 2010

Americans Fall Out of Love with Obama
THE SUNDAY TIMES: The uproar over healthcare reforms is a symptom of how Americans are falling out of love with the new president

Arriving in Montana to join battle with his critics on Friday, President Barack Obama stepped from Air Force One, stripped off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. Little more than six months after he swept into office with some of the highest approval ratings recorded, he is fighting to save his historic presidency from turning into a one-term wonder.

Obama was ready for a vigorous defence of the healthcare reforms that have spawned verbal fisticuffs at public meetings across the country. In the event, the Montana meeting unfolded with a subdued politeness that left some White House aides wishing it had been a little more feisty, so their champion could have shown off his sparring skills.

Yet for all the heat that has recently been generated by the healthcare debate, amid wild accusations about euthanising granny and manipulating mobs, it became clear last week that medicine is far from the president’s only problem, and there may be no early cure for the economic ills that are crippling his promises of change and hope.

Speaking in an aircraft hangar moments after a hailstorm had passed over Bel-grade, Montana, the 48-year-old president attempted to calm the confrontational climate that has soured debate about his attempts to overhaul an expensive and inefficient US healthcare establishment.

Sticking to time-honoured presidential tradition, he blamed the media for getting his message wrong, and for focusing on a minority of angry protesters. “TV loves a ruckus,” he added. “What you haven’t seen on TV . . . are the many constructive meetings going on all over the country.”

Yet in one sense that ruckus has spared the White House closer scrutiny of a stuttering economy that may yet prove Obama’s ruin. Recent optimism that the worst of the recession may be over has failed to make an impact on key areas of American life, and Obama last week endured one of the toughest weeks of his presidency in terms of bad economic news.

“The rapid deterioration of the economy has slowed down,” said Alice Rivlin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office. “But if you have lost your job, the worst may not be over for a long time. If you have a job, you may still lose it.”

The main problem for the president is that economic data suggesting improvements in growth and productivity are not yet translating into benefits for victims of recession. Mark Vitner, an economist at Wells Fargo bank, last week summed up future prospects as “a recovery only a statistician can love”.

Obama insisted earlier this month that “actions we’ve taken in the first six months have helped stop our economic freefall . . . we’re losing jobs at half the rate we were at the beginning of the year”.

That boast was promptly undermined when a barrage of negative reports was released last week, showing that personal bankruptcies surged 34% in June compared with last year; the number of homes subjected to foreclosure proceedings rose 32% as against a year ago; the number of people out of work for 27 weeks or longer reached a record 5m; and retail sales dipped in July despite a big boost from a popular secondhand car trade-in programme. Barack Obama catches cold as economic virus spreads >>> Tony Allen-Mills | Sunday, August 16, 2009

US Healthcare Reforms Cause Outrage and Fears of a 'Socialist State'
TIMES ONLINE: The retired coal miner queuing in the midday sun has come to the town hall meeting with heavy political baggage. “I’ll keep my money and guns — you keep the change,” warns the badge pinned to Carl Anderson’s chest. In his hand is a banner that states simply: “Revolution is Brewing.”

He is here to protest against health reform. Mr Anderson, 70, has travelled 65 miles with seven of his friends and family to add his booming voice to the pensioners’ revolt that has shaken America in the past two weeks.

Convinced that President Obama wants to turn the country into a socialist state, starting with a nationalised health service, he hopes to hijack the political agenda.

Arlen Specter, the local Democratic Senator, is about to get an ear-bashing; his fourth in four days. Mr Anderson obliges: “I have no problem with my healthcare,” he says. “We have the best healthcare in the world. If there is anything I need, I get it.”

Mr Obama’s $1 trillion (£600 billion) health reform Bill would end that, he fears. There will be rationing of treatment, and the old will bear the brunt. “They are going to start evaluating people at the age of 55,” Mr Anderson says.

Most of the roughly 1,000 people outside the community hall of Kittanning, a mining town in the Appalachian hills 50 miles north of Pittsburgh, seem to share Mr Anderson’s views, to judge by their banners. “Nobama,” says one, adorned with the skull and crossbones. “Obama lies, grandma dies,” proclaims another. >>> Imre Karacs, Kittanning, Pennsylvania | Saturday, August 15, 2009

U.S. Re-embraces Relationship with U.N.
THE WASHINGTON TIMES: UNITED NATIONS | Declaring "the United States is back," the Obama administration pledged Wednesday to turn more frequently to the United Nations and work with the world body on the basis of decency and mutual respect, rather than condescension and contempt.

"Over the past six months, the United States has taken a fresh look at our positions across the board - including some policies that left many scratching their heads to understand what we objected to, policies that failed to advance our interests or our values," Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in a speech at New York University's Center for Global Affairs.

Ms. Rice explicitly reversed two of the George W. Bush administration's main policies toward the United Nations by declaring the United States "would no longer oppose mentions of reproductive health or the International Criminal Court."

She did not mention by name Mr. Bush or senior officials of his administration, who sometimes subjected the world body to harsh criticism and ridicule.

"We will increase U.S. support to U.N. peacekeeping," Ms. Rice said, citing the possibility of expanded U.S. contributions of military staff officers, military observers, civilian police and civilian personnel to U.N. missions.

President Obama has frequently praised the United Nations in his public remarks, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has been a longtime advocate of international cooperation on transnational issues.

"Engaging across the full U.N. membership is more than good manners. It's also smart diplomacy," Ms. Rice said. >>> Betsy Pisik | Thursday, August 13, 2009

Obama attaque les adversaires de sa réforme de la couverture santé
MÉTRO MONTRÉAL: PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire - Le président Barack Obama s'est fait offensif pour soutenir son projet de réforme de la protection sociale mardi, priant une foule de citoyens acquis à sa cause de ne pas écouter ceux qui cherchent à "effrayer et égarer le peuple américain".



"Parmi toutes les techniques visant à vous effrayer, il y en a une vraiment effrayante, c'est de ne rien faire" a argumenté le président devant des partisans réunis dans un lycée du New Hampshire.
>>> The Associated Press | Mardi 11 Août 2009

US-Gesundheitssystem: Obama wirft Reformgegnern "Angstmacherei" vor
WELT ONLINE: Barack Obama ist empört über die Art und Weise, wie seine geplante Gesundheitsreform teilweise kritisiert wird. Gegner der Reform würden suggerieren, er wolle bei älteren kranken Menschen "den Stecker rausziehen" lassen, so Obama. Solche Gerüchte dienten lediglich dazu, den Menschen Angst zu machen.

Wegen des wachsenden Widerstands gegen die geplante Gesundheitsreform hat US-Präsident Barack Obama seinen politischen Gegnern unfaire Methoden vorgeworfen.

Die Reformgegner setzten bewusst auf „Angstmacherei“ und versuchten, die Bürger durch die gezielte Irreführung zu verunsichern, sagte Obama auf einem Bürgerforum in Portsmouth im Bundesstaat New Hampshire: „Sie schaffen ein Gespenst, das es in Wirklichkeit nicht gibt.“ >>> AFP/cn | Dienstag, 11. August 2009