News
Thursday, November 08, 2012
Obama wins another term
* Support of minorities, women, youth for Obama played major role in victory* Major challenge for Obama to implement policies in presence of a House dominated by Republicans
By Ishrat Saleem
WASHINGTON: With the news of US President Barack Obama’s victory in each swing state, and each Democratic win in Senate, Congress and state, Busboys and Poets eatery roared with shouts of celebration. Shortly before midnight, the projected victory in Ohio boosted the tally of Obama’s Electoral College seats to 274, four more than the minimum requirement of 270 seats to become a president.
Busboys had arranged a special election screening with a long queue of people outside. As the Democratic Party was celebrating its presidential victory in projected results, people in Virginia and Florida were still waiting to cast their ballot, hours after the voting had officially closed.
At the time of filing this report, the Electoral College seats’ tally for Obama stood at 303, while Romney had 206 seats. The result from the state of Florida (29 votes) was still awaited. Although the gap in electoral votes of the two candidates is large, there’s only about two percent difference in projected popular votes as the preparation and announcement of official results continues. Obama managed to clinch victory in seven out of the nine swing states – Colorado, Nevada, Virginia, Iowa, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and the most important, Ohio. Romney won only in battleground North Carolina.
Obama’s victory was not predicted until even the last hour of the presidential campaign. Still he managed to win by a wide margin in the Electoral College.
Talking to Daily Times, Dr Michael Schneider, foreign policy expert and director of Public Diplomacy Programme of Syracuse University in Washington DC, said, “The fundamental decision of the Democratic campaign to define Mitt Romney as a wealthy man out of touch with the middle-class dissuaded important constituents from voting for the Republican Party. That helped Obama deal with the issue of slow economic growth. People felt Obama was more in tune with their concerns.” Dr Schneider also pointed out Obama had the ground game in his hand.
The demographic breakdown of votes also offers important insights, as the support of minorities, women, and young people for Obama played a major role in his victory. Voice of America’s Senior Political Correspondent Ayesha Tanzeem said the US’s demographic make-up is changing. This is the first time Hispanic voters represented a double digit in voter percentage (10 percent). Black population is also growing. These ethnic minorities did not find their concerns represented by the Republican Party dominated by white people.
The Republican Party took a tough stance on immigration laws, which alienated the Hispanic voters. “Exit polls show that a substantial percentage of minority votes went to Obama. Also, more than 60 percent of young Americans voted for Obama,” she said.
In addition to presidential result, a fairly clear picture of the Congressional make-up has also emerged. In the House of Representatives, at the time of filing this report, the Republicans led with 232 seats, with Democrats trailing behind with 191. In the Senate, the Democrats led with 51 seats, with the Republicans following with 45. It will be a major challenge for President Obama to implement his policies in the presence of a House dominated by Republicans.
Having been re-elected, Obama faces tough challenges. On the domestic front, he has to deal with proposed sequestration of budget, which is intended to close the deficit but will make serious cuts in the budget of Defence Department, among others. Other domestic issues include reforms to immigration policy, and energy and climate change.
Internationally, Iran’s nuclear issue, drawdown in Afghanistan, ongoing relations with China and Russia, and European recovery are major areas of interest of the foreign policy.Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk