Many here have eluded to this. Leave it to the BBC to address. Obama is in Jimmy Carter mode. His World Leader Role awaits.

Does Barack Obama want to be re-elected in 2012?

Few Americans consider themselves bigger than the presidency but Obama might be one of them. The man in the Oval Office, argues Toby Harnden, may already be preparing for a role as a post-president in a post-American world.

By Toby Harnden Published: 9:00PM BST 21 Aug 2010


Barack Obama may already be preparing for a role as a post-president in a post-American world. Photo: AP

When David Plouffe, President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign manager, wrote recently that his former boss was "not concerned with his re-election", there was predictable skepticism.

After all, it has long been a truism that every politician wants to cling to power and a reality that presidential campaigns are planned years in advance. Pronouncements about not looking at polls and concentrating on getting things done are, moreover, standard fare from poll-driven, election-obsessed politicians and their apparatchiks.

In this case, however, Plouffe may inadvertently be onto something. Almost everything Obama does these days suggests that he doesn't care much about being re-elected. Strange as it might seem, perhaps he wants to be a one-term president.

Obama was elected in 2008 at an extraordinary moment in American politics. Suddenly, this charismatic figure, elected to the Senate without serious opposition in 2004 and without any executive experience, was catapulted into the White House.

His presidential bid had been based on the power of his life story and his ability with the spoken word. Doubtless he was as surprised as anyone else that he pulled it off. Governing has been altogether more difficult for him and there are signs he is already tiring of it.

Obama's intervention on the so-called "Ground Zero mosque" issue is a case in point. There was no need for him to get involved - the Islamic community center two blocks from the 9/11 site is unlikely to get built and there was no political advantage in his making a statement.

What he said about religious freedom was typically Obama - high-minded, principled and legalistic. He is, after all, a former constitutional law professor. What his words lacked were any real empathy with what Americans felt and practical considerations about resolving the issue - never mind the political downside for him.

Doubtless he has been advised to prove he is "connected" to ordinary Americans by doing things like be seen attending church and taking "regular" holidays. But Obama seems happy to act as a European-style secularist, vacation in Martha's Vineyard and send his daughters to one of America's most exclusive private schools.

Obama does not suffer for self doubt. He has long seemed so convinced of his own virtue that to question his motives is illogical. Increasingly, his pronouncements carry the tone of one who believes those who disagree are stupid or bigoted.

Before departing for Martha's Vineyard last week, Obama spent three days on the campaign trail raising money and support for Democratic mid-term election candidates. Don't give in to fear," he said in Milwaukee. "Let's reach for hope."

It was a message that worked once but is unlikely to appeal this time, with America in the grip of a recession, unemployment still stubbornly close to 10 percent and blame-it-on-Bush rhetoric wearing very thin.

Obama is, however, at his best in these settings. He has the crowd hanging on his every word and he is not dealing with grubby political realities or objectionable opponents. Perhaps they are a reminder for him of simpler times.

They might also be a glimpse of the future. For Obama, the crowning moment of his presidency have been speeches abroad - the statement in Strasbourg that America had been "dismissive and arrogant", the address to the Muslim world from Cairo, the acceptance in Oslo of the Nobel Peace Prize.

In Berlin in 2008, Obama cast himself as a "citizen of the world". He has dismissed the bedrock notion of American exceptionalism by describing it, also in Strasbourg, as little more than narrow patriotism. Elite opinion among liberal Ivy League types - of which Obama is the embodiment - holds that we are already living in a post-American world.

There are few Americans who see themselves as bigger than the presidency but Obama could well be one of them. In 2008, Obama showed little appetite for the down-and-dirty aspects of political campaigning.

When things got tough against Hillary Clinton, he all but conceded the final Democratic primaries and let the clock run out. Against John McCain, he developed a campaign plan and refused to deviate from it. McCain was level in the polls when the US economy imploded, handing Obama a relatively comfortable victory.

Obama is the first black American president, an established author, multi-millionaire and acclaimed figure beyond American shores.

It seems highly unlikely that Obama will decide not to run in 2012. But he might well be calculating that a embarking post-presidential role as the leading global thinker in the post-American world as a Republican successor enters office is more attractive than being sullied by the political compromises and manoeuvrings necessary to win.

BBC Article

We'll know shortly - isn't it about time to get the fund raising going on any bids?

In a word, yes. There's no guarantee he can destroy this nation in just one term.

Ahh, but if he has his eye on destroying the world...

Bad Econ News Spurs Obama Disapproval Upward

Tuesday, 24 Aug 2010 03:18 PM

WASHINGTON – More Americans now disapprove of President Barack Obama than approve of him as high unemployment and government spending scare voters ahead of November's midterm elections, Reuters/Ipsos poll found on Tuesday.

In the latest grim news for Obama's Democrats, 72 percent of people said they were very worried about joblessness and 67 percent were very concerned about government spending.

The unemployment rate of 9.5 percent and the huge budget deficit are dragging down the Democrats and eating away at Obama's popularity only 20 months after he took office on a wave of hope that he could turnaround the economy.

Another bit of bad economic data arrived on Tuesday when the National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes plummeted in July to their slowest pace in 15 years.

Piling the pressure on Obama, the top Republican in the House of Representatives called on the administration's economic team to quit.

Obama's disapproval rating was 52 percent in Tuesday's poll, overtaking his approval rating for the first time in an Ipsos poll. Only 45 percent of people said they approved of the president's performance, down from 48 percent last month.

That number, coupled with a hearty 62 percent who think the country is going in the wrong direction, could spell trouble for Democrats, who control both chambers of Congress and the White House.

House Republican leader John Boehner called for a fresh start on the economy. In a campaign-style speech, he urged Obama's top economic advisers to resign, saying, "It's time to put grown-ups in charge."

While Obama has two more years before facing voters in a presidential election, all 435 seats in the House are up for grabs, along with 37 Senate seats and 36 governors in November's elections.

Typically in midterm elections -- when there is no presidential race -- the party in power in the White House suffers losses in Congress.

The Republicans are predicted to perhaps take control of the House and win a significant number of seats in the Senate.

Forty-six percent of registered U.S. voters would likely vote for Republican candidates in November and 45 pct for Democrats, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll, which surveyed 1,063 adults and was conducted August 19-22.

The poll has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

PATIENCE WITH OBAMA HAS 'VANISHED'

The country's deep worry about jobs, at a level not seen for decades on any singular issue, could prompt voters to punish Democrats who have had control of Washington since early 2009.

"The economy is really catching up to Obama and his administration," said Ipsos pollster Cliff Young. "For a time, voters gave him the benefit of the doubt. He inherited a very dicey economic situation and they were willing to give him time," Young said. "Patience has ... basically vanished."

Three consecutive months of decline for Obama's approval rating is a definitive trend that could hurt Democratic candidates in November, despite progress in bringing about economic growth after a deep recession, Young said.

But Republicans were being blamed more than Democrats for using partisan tactics to block progress, according to the survey.

Thirty-six percent said Republicans were to blame for political gridlock in Washington because of fighting between the parties, while 28 percent said it was the Democrats' fault. A total of 78 percent agreed that partisanship was stopping Washington from working effectively.

Ironically, those results came after the Democratic-controlled Congress racked up an unusual number of major legislative accomplishments, including healthcare reform and revamping the troubled financial industry.

When Congress returns in mid-September from a long summer recess, one of the top items on its agenda will be deciding whether to let tax cuts, enacted under former President George W. Bush, expire at the end of the year.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll provides lawmakers with little direction on which way to turn.

While 54 percent of those surveyed put a high priority on reducing the U.S. budget deficit, nearly half, 49 percent, said Bush's tax cuts should be extended for all Americans, a move that could lead to significant revenue losses over the long-term. That in turn could lead to even higher deficits, unless Congress and the White House can agree on deep domestic spending cuts that typically are hard for any political party to achieve.

Many independents participating in the poll were willing to see those tax cuts expire. Of those surveyed, 29 percent said the tax cuts should end for those earning more than $200,000 a year and 18 percent said all of the tax cuts should expire. Sixteen percent said they did not know and 37 percent said all of the tax cuts should be extended.

2010 Reuters

(08-24-2010 08:45 PM)Paul M Wrote:  Ahh, but if he has his eye on destroying the world...

I always figured his goal was destroying the US in favor of the world, but you may be right - with our "High Plains Drifter" president, who knows?

(08-24-2010 03:46 PM)SumOfAllFears Wrote:  Many here have eluded to this. Leave it to the BBC to address. Obama is in Jimmy Carter mode. His World Leader Role awaits.

Does Barack Obama want to be re-elected in 2012?

Few Americans consider themselves bigger than the presidency but Obama might be one of them. The man in the Oval Office, argues Toby Harnden, may already be preparing for a role as a post-president in a post-American world.

By Toby Harnden Published: 9:00PM BST 21 Aug 2010


Barack Obama may already be preparing for a role as a post-president in a post-American world. Photo: AP

When David Plouffe, President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign manager, wrote recently that his former boss was "not concerned with his re-election", there was predictable skepticism.

After all, it has long been a truism that every politician wants to cling to power and a reality that presidential campaigns are planned years in advance. Pronouncements about not looking at polls and concentrating on getting things done are, moreover, standard fare from poll-driven, election-obsessed politicians and their apparatchiks.

In this case, however, Plouffe may inadvertently be onto something. Almost everything Obama does these days suggests that he doesn't care much about being re-elected. Strange as it might seem, perhaps he wants to be a one-term president.

Obama was elected in 2008 at an extraordinary moment in American politics. Suddenly, this charismatic figure, elected to the Senate without serious opposition in 2004 and without any executive experience, was catapulted into the White House.

His presidential bid had been based on the power of his life story and his ability with the spoken word. Doubtless he was as surprised as anyone else that he pulled it off. Governing has been altogether more difficult for him and there are signs he is already tiring of it.

Obama's intervention on the so-called "Ground Zero mosque" issue is a case in point. There was no need for him to get involved - the Islamic community center two blocks from the 9/11 site is unlikely to get built and there was no political advantage in his making a statement.

What he said about religious freedom was typically Obama - high-minded, principled and legalistic. He is, after all, a former constitutional law professor. What his words lacked were any real empathy with what Americans felt and practical considerations about resolving the issue - never mind the political downside for him.

Doubtless he has been advised to prove he is "connected" to ordinary Americans by doing things like be seen attending church and taking "regular" holidays. But Obama seems happy to act as a European-style secularist, vacation in Martha's Vineyard and send his daughters to one of America's most exclusive private schools.

Obama does not suffer for self doubt. He has long seemed so convinced of his own virtue that to question his motives is illogical. Increasingly, his pronouncements carry the tone of one who believes those who disagree are stupid or bigoted.

Before departing for Martha's Vineyard last week, Obama spent three days on the campaign trail raising money and support for Democratic mid-term election candidates. Don't give in to fear," he said in Milwaukee. "Let's reach for hope."

It was a message that worked once but is unlikely to appeal this time, with America in the grip of a recession, unemployment still stubbornly close to 10 percent and blame-it-on-Bush rhetoric wearing very thin.

Obama is, however, at his best in these settings. He has the crowd hanging on his every word and he is not dealing with grubby political realities or objectionable opponents. Perhaps they are a reminder for him of simpler times.

They might also be a glimpse of the future. For Obama, the crowning moment of his presidency have been speeches abroad - the statement in Strasbourg that America had been "dismissive and arrogant", the address to the Muslim world from Cairo, the acceptance in Oslo of the Nobel Peace Prize.

In Berlin in 2008, Obama cast himself as a "citizen of the world". He has dismissed the bedrock notion of American exceptionalism by describing it, also in Strasbourg, as little more than narrow patriotism. Elite opinion among liberal Ivy League types - of which Obama is the embodiment - holds that we are already living in a post-American world.

There are few Americans who see themselves as bigger than the presidency but Obama could well be one of them. In 2008, Obama showed little appetite for the down-and-dirty aspects of political campaigning.

When things got tough against Hillary Clinton, he all but conceded the final Democratic primaries and let the clock run out. Against John McCain, he developed a campaign plan and refused to deviate from it. McCain was level in the polls when the US economy imploded, handing Obama a relatively comfortable victory.

Obama is the first black American president, an established author, multi-millionaire and acclaimed figure beyond American shores.

It seems highly unlikely that Obama will decide not to run in 2012. But he might well be calculating that a embarking post-presidential role as the leading global thinker in the post-American world as a Republican successor enters office is more attractive than being sullied by the political compromises and manoeuvrings necessary to win.

BBC Article

So let me get this straight. The BBC had a story about Obama from a rightwing guy who is the US editor at the rightwing The Daily Telegraph. I am sure the man doesn't have an agenda. Thanks for posting this worthless crap. I am surprised you used a source that isn't a blog. It is a start but now if you could just find something not by a partisan hack.