General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: President Obama: “Everything that we fought for is now at stake in this election” [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)What interests me most at this point is what Obama plans to accomplish in his second term.
I would not have said this as many as six months ago, but at this point I think that Obama will be elected and will take some seats of Congress that might appear now to go Republican. Romney is toast and the other Republican candidates are very unattractive for one reason or another. I don't think that a dark horse could enter the race at the convention, unite that fractured party and get an organization going fast enough to make it to the finish line in November.
The only way a dark horse could manage it would be to form a campaign team right now and make a few appearances. No way anyone could do that in this internet age.
So, Obama is going to be re-elected provided that he keeps Democrats reasonably happy. In spite of the good things he has done, he has a miserable record on a couple of really important things -- the handling of the foreclosures, the slow job market, the bankers walking away with too much Fed money in addition to being bailed out, students unable to pay their loans and most important, his horrible record on human rights.
He is going to have to speak to these issues. A lot of people are/were unhappy with his healthcare reform, but what he did is better than what we had -- not by much, be honest, but it is better.
The movie When Mitt Romney Came to Town devastates Romney's chances in my opinion. Problem is that with the exception of the consumer protection agency -- which has some problems in its structure that could prevent it from being effective in that it will be administered from an agency that is virtually owned by the very banks it is supposed to control -- Obama has not done nearly enough for middle class people.
The speech by Obama quoted in the OP is troubling to me. It is much too short on specifics. It's another one of Obama's vague statements that sound good in so far as the tone is concerned until you realize that he says almost nothing specific.
What does he want to do if he gets another four years?