Time has come to change the political scene in the USA. There have been so many speculations about Obama and his policies but clearly “the change” that he had promised has not been delivered. And now it is too late for the 2012 elections to turnaround a country. But is it really Obama or merely the repercussion of policies of the past?
I was coming back home from Dallas when I met this interesting lady who wanted to talk about America’s political scene. She was probably in her 50’s and has seen several American presidents. She told me that she has not voted since Clinton left Washington. According to her, despite Clinton’s personal issues he was the last “good” president who did something meaningful for the country. Her view on Bush Jr. and Obama were quite funny yet thought provoking.
In the last decade US has seen two recessions, significant job loss, tremendous deficit and “Dollar” has started to lose its dominance in this global economy. If we look back, economic policies of the last two presidents have not been very comprehensive – one focused more on “war on terrorism” and the other on reviving “manufacturing in America”. United States has been victim of both internal and external factors, external far more than the internal. For e.g. US cannot compete with China in prices. Emerging markets will continue to grow strong on a global platform. Then why are the economic policies so focused on internal environment? And how will the manufacturing jobs come back? Obama announced last year that he will bring back the jobs by increasing manufacturing however Corporate America is not ready to do that. It cuts into the profitability of the large American corporates who already struggling due to internal economic weaknesses and external threat from global substitutes.
Result is that unemployment is still very high in the manufacturing sector and only way Obama administration could show recovery was by cutting down government jobs. Rob Peter to pay Paul but the Americans are still there where they were ten years ago. This whole situation is so convoluted that the hopes of a true economic recovery are far from remote. It does not matter who fixes it but the people of United States need a leader who can not only show the plan but execute it as well.
On the tenth anniversary of September 11, the day that changed the future of United States for many years to come, I say again “God Bless America”
daras 