2012 Elections Analysis

After the thrill of the Nov. 6 federal election victories subside, after the agony of defeat has eased, after the laureates have been named and the scapegoats have been blamed, the old administration and the old Congress must come together in a “lame duck” governing session beginning Nov. 13 to resolve some vitally important issues. Then both major parties must strategize how to move the nation forward facing at least two more years of possible gridlock.

The reelection victory for President Barack Obama could be interpreted by the White House and his Democratic allies as a mandate to pursue economic recovery and debt reduction his way, first insisting on raising taxes on families making more than $250,000. The president would likely push to steer money toward energy development, education and worker training, manufacturing support and rebuilding the crumbling infrastructure.[1]

“(President) Obama will have a lot of leverage,” Dr. David Bositis, senior research fellow at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies told The Final Call, before the president won reelection Nov. 6. “He basically will be in the driver’s seat and get—I won’t say he gets what he wants—but he’ll get most of what he wants.”[2]

The prospect of pending spending cuts and tax increases—called the “sequester” and set to take effect January 1, because they were already agreed to by this Tea Party-dominated Congress—will influence whether or not Democrats and Republicans will be able to reach a much farther-reaching debt-reduction deal later under the president’s leadership. Mr. Obama wants to get a deal in the first six months of 2013.

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|The Obama family on 2012 Election Night AP photo |

Beginning his second term without a deep and painful recession and wars in two countries, the president would be...