Who will run the white house?

Posted by SihleMthembu on August 17, 2011 · 3 Comments 

American politics is very much unlike South Africa. Locally it would be frowned up to call the president a liar whilst he delivers the state of the nation address. One might also be subject to a public spanking if he were to accuse Jacob Zuma of not being South African and then subsequently fail to deliver proof to that effect. But this all goes in America. It not even spring yet but preliminaries and caucuses are in full swing. And whilst in many parts of the world people fight for freedom and other utopian imaginings, in America the center of public focus in the 2012 election. So as the ad campaigns stream in by the hundreds and people practically grovel for votes, who will run “the center of global power” after the dust settles in 2012?

Its time to have a long hard rethink

Earlier in the year I amongst many analysts were of the view that the power was firmly in the hands of the American right. Tea party members were making more than a noise and they had in fact played a crucial part in ensuring the success of the Republican Party during the midterms. Many will tell you that The Republican party has a strong chance of clinching the win come 2012; it is also general consensus amongst political think tanks that Obama and is friends at The Democratic Party effectively have no answer to the various public image blows that they have been dealt over the last three years. From Afghanistan, to the NATO action in Libya, to healthcare and the debt ceiling.

Heading into the elections names like Palin, Romney and Paul have all set the cat amongst the pigeons in order to will public favor and stride towards the oval office. But when taking a closer look one will see that the Republican Party has a very low realistic chance of one of its candidates taking the oval office. The biggest problem facing Republican candidates is not one of lack of ideas or even charisma. It is the mere fact that over the last few months the American public has become disillusioned with the faith in which Republicans approach matters in Washington. The hundreds of filibusters and negotiations in poor taste have effectively rendered the government limp. Recent polls indicate that average voting American’s are not happy about the manner in which congress is approaching issues, and rightfully so.

Mitt Romney has a lot of expirience but will that do him any good?

On the backdrop of this realization one has to look at the list of Republican candidates that are looking to sweep the seat from Obama. Some of them did not even get the nod from the party nomination in 2008. The strongest candidate on paper perhaps is Mitt Romney, his experience and political now how will certainly be an advantage if he were to make it into the Oval office. He seems to be saying all the right things and perhaps more importantly he can raise finance to keep himself going.

The only problem is that many within Republican circles are not really thrilled about Romney as president. This is particularly true for those who are Tea party affiliates. Romney represents a kind of flexibility that Tea party members are just not willing to tolerate. And if exchanges over the last few months are anything to go by, Romney might face the biggest opposition for the nomination from within his ranks. Heading into the caucuses and more preliminaries it will be interesting to see how Americans react and who will be dropping out as the race continues.

Filed under Commentary · Tagged with 2012 election, afghanistan, America, barack obama, debt ceiling, elections, mitt romeny, nato, obama, oval office, preliminaries, presidency, republican party. democratic party, sarah palin, tea party, war campaign