“The rent is too dawn high,” New York gubernatorial candidate Mr. Jimmy McMillan said but in this case “The unemployment is too dawn high” that’s what brought about Republican super victory. The American people believed that the country is moving in the wrong direction due to the state of the economy – “The economy stupid” and they wanted a change. In spite of the effort President Obama was making to stop the economy from sliding into depression or double-dip recession; all American people wanted to see is result. The official employment is 9.6% but the real unemployment at the heartland is over 15%. American people opt for a change because they are losing their jobs in droves, burden with students’ loans, massive debts, and foreclosures that are taking their bits.
No politician or party can survive this frustration from the voters. American people are looking for ways to support the president but first and foremost, they want to feed their families, go to work and pay their bills. The American people want to send the message to the ruling party that they are sick and tired of the state of the affairs. Without what they have for the president, American people would have not retained Democrats as majority in the senate. American people wanted a divided government and this time they got it.
The economy stupid!!
But the issue of economy is too complex – deficits/debts, inflation, brewing currency war and unemployment are major problems of the capitalistic globalization. In the globalized economy, nations are interdependent of each other. There is a global recession and depressed economy, many countries are experiencing unemployment and America is no exception. The American economy is growing at a slow rate, quite anemic to make impact on the 9.6% unemployment. Never the less, the GDP is growing, the economic growth rate at third quarter was 2% compared to the second quarter of 1.7%. Tell that to a couple in Boston who is losing their house, or to a father who lost his factory job in Ohio. Nobody wants to hear about the global recession and jobless growth, American people want to go to work, vacation, eat out and go to movies. And when that is not possible the ruling party and sitting president will feel their wrath at polling stations. Therefore the loss of 60 House seats and 6 senate seats by the Democratic Party are inevitable because it comes with the season.
Democrats squandered their political capital and made some mistakes. They spend too much time discussing and debating Health care reform. The bickering and deal making among them left a bad taste in the mouth of American people. And the perception is that Republicans were shunned and President Obama pledge of working together was relegated to insignificance. While the Democrats were busying talking to each other, they forget to talk to American people and bring them on board. The Republicans did a good job in communicating to the voters that Democrats have no interest of working with American people and Republicans. The Republicans convinced the American people to come to their side and to send a message to the White House and the Democrats as they did on the Election Day.
American deficits and debts are not making things easy for the economy to revamp and come back. The possibility of currency war with China appears probable because Chinese yuan is said to be artificially kept low and this increases American deficits. Beyond that, President Obama did try to stimulate the economy but with the dire economic straits everything becomes almost improbable but he did succeed in growing the GDP once again. Though, the growth in the economy and GDP comes without much dent on the job creation. The American people are not ready for 101 economics class in globalized economy; they want jobs and good things of life.
Time to roll up sleeves and work together
This is not the time for Right-winger talk shows to gloat and float about the victory; maybe their perception is that American people are moving toward the extreme right. But far from the truth American people just want a change for better and if the Republicans party fails to deliver, next time around they will jump to a perceived greener pasture. The American people are sending a message to the powers to be and their message should be understood and interpreted correctly. The economic frustration is real and time will not be wasted on ideological tantrum. But a time for the both parties to come together, make the necessary compromise and move this economy forward.
President Obama was elected to fix the economy and he spoke eloquently during the campaign of bringing people together and working together. He has the human skill of doing that for he is a considerate and compassionate president. The God-given skill of his communication ability should be utilize to summon the American people to be ready to confront the deficit, debt and other troubling aspects of the economy. The Republican and Democrats must be willing to work together and show their leadership qualities by working with the president at this troubling time of high unemployment and great recession. This is not the time to fight for ideological supremacy but a time to listen to the American people and do the job of the people.
As the president continues with his commitment to the American people, he will be rewarded with the re-election, if the economy turns around. When he listens to the people, continue to fight to bring down unemployment, the American people will recognize that and they will mightily return him comes 2012.
Emeka Chiakwelu is the Principal Policy Strategist at Afripol Organization. Africa Political and Economic Strategic Center (Afripol) is foremost a public policy center whose fundamental objective is to broaden the parameters of public policy debates in Africa. To advocate, promote and encourage free enterprise, democracy, sustainable green environment, human rights, conflict resolutions, transparency and probity in Africa. info@afripol.org www.afripol.org