Will Obama be a one-term failure?
As long-term readers of NightHawk will know, I backed Barack Obama for the US Presidency from the moment he was elected to the Congress.
I first blogged about Obama in April 2004. Then I blogged 11 times on the Illinois Senate race which he won in November 2004. In my last posting on that election, I wrote:
“I was delighted to see Barack Obama become the junior senator for Illinois and the only black member of the new Senate. This blog has been tracking his progress for many months. He is an able and inspiring politician who is destined to go far and maybe even as far as the White House one day.”
So I read with alarm that apparently there is a growing view that Obama has failed as a president and will only serve one term in the White House.
Americans don’t know how fortunate they are to have a President with the calmness and compassion of Obama in these highly troubled times. Too few credit his considerable achievements in the face of a constitutional system that almost invites deadlock. And I believe that he will win a second term and a place in history as one of the best presidents of modern times.
Fortunately I’m not alone in this view. It is shared by Andrew Rawnsley, the political correspondent of the “Observer and one of Britain’s most astute political commentators. In his first column since returning from a summer break, he summarizes the very significant accomplishments of the Obama administration so far and why he deserves a second term, concluding the piece:
“My money is still on Obama winning a second term and probably handsomely. And if he doesn’t? He has already accomplished more in half a term than many presidents manage to achieve in two.”