The Morung Express in its editorial just before the voting day for the American Presidential election had stated that “Mr Obama may have the edge because of the more broad based support”. The editorial had also argued that the American people ought to give President Obama another term in office in order “to do justice” to his 2008 election slogan “Change Yes We Can”. And that is precisely what has happened. Mr Obama has been re-elected to the White House and he will serve another four years. This should allow him to complete what he has started. And this is important for any leader who wants to bring change. In fact a term of four years is on the down side too little for accomplishing much. And perhaps that was the reasoning for many Americans when they went out to vote.
If the Republican President George W. Bush got to serve two terms in office it was unlikely that President Obama would have been denied the same opportunity. It also goes to show that it is becoming more common for people around the world who elect governments or leaders to want to give incumbents the benefit of doubt when it comes to their performance. And therefore as witnessed even in India where five years is the term of public office you will notice that people are more patient with their elected representatives and governments. For instance the Congress led UPA government beat anti-incumbency to get another term in office. Similarly many Chief Ministers in India are into their second and some even third terms of office.
Coming back to the re-election of President Obama, it is clearly evident that the nature of American democracy is ever changing. And the problem with the Republicans seems to be that they are either ignorant or failed to adapt to the new realities of American politics. Mr Obama’s victory was made easier because of this aloofness shown by the Republicans. And as mentioned in these columns it is not about the old America anymore. “It is almost like a rainbow nation where people of all race, religion, ethnicity, gender etc will decide who will be the next President”. While Mr Obama worked on this coalition building exercise to unite all sections of people, Mr Romney could not get across his own message of inclusiveness.
For instance, the Tea Party, which at one point of time even described President Obama as a socialist-communist, went too far to the extreme right. This damaged the prospect of the Republicans. Mr Romney was unable to get enough support from the moderates, independents, women, Hispanics or young Americans. And this was precisely the reason for the defeat of Mr Romney—the failures to adapt to the new America and thereby build a coalition around their hopes and aspiration. President Obama had a better coalition building exercise and inclusive message while Mr Romney’s was just the opposite scaring away potential supporters.
But now that the electoral battle is over it is time to put partisanship aside and for both Democrats and Republicans to come together. President Obama must work on building consensus and reaching out to his political opponents. As for the Republicans, whose support President Obama will need, they should perhaps listen to what Mr Romney said after his defeat—“ at a time like this, we can’t risk partisan bickering and political posturing. Our leaders have to reach across the aisle to do the people’s work” and that Democrats and Republicans must put people before politics.
