Being popular is not important but doing the right thing is. When President Obama won his first term in 2008, he was popular. Again most Americans and many around the world thought Obama was an agent of change, a new hope for America as well as a hope around the world. But after four years in office nothing has changed, and now Americans have decided to give four more years to Obama to finish the job that he promised to do.
Furthermore, President Obama in his first term in office was busy taking tours in the Muslim and Arab world asking for forgiveness and trying to restore the broken relations with the Muslim world. So what happened? Did Obama change the hearts and minds of Muslims toward America? Did he restore the broken relations with the Muslim world? We all know what happened in Benghazi, in Egypt, in Tunisia, in Pakistan and across the countries: the hate for America continues and nothing has changed, nor will it ever. Still American flags are being burned, still signs saying “Death to America” are being carried, and still American embassies are being attacked.
Alexis de Tocqueville, the well known French philosopher who traveled to the United States in the 1830s, wrote his story in “ Democracy in America “ in which he warns that the greatest threat the United States faces is the “tyranny of the majority.” Tocqueville’s work is one of the greatest books ever written about American democracy by a non- American. In it he praises American democracy, but at the same time he cautioned about the delicacy of the system. It is a subject that is particularly relevant this election; despite the sluggish economy, mass bail outs, and unemployment, the American public voted for the illusion of hope and dream of change.
The facts show the fragility of democracy in light of the tyranny of the left wing media propagating its opinions helping Obama win the second term. I would call it the tyranny of opinion, one never revealing the truth about what happened at Benghazi and why the U.S failed to protect its ambassador in Libya. So the question is why did the Americans keep Obama in office for another four years? And why did Mitt Romney lose? The reason the public chose Obama is because they think he needs another four years to implement his policies, and the reason Mitt Romney lost is because they thought that if Romney won, they would have another Bush in office because supposedly Romney would have surrounded himself with Bush advisors.
Furthermore, many American conservatives did not have a good Republican candidate to vote for. The reason they voted for Romney was because they hate Obama’s policies; therefore, Conservative did not wholeheartedly get behind the Governor. I also heard a media pundit say that the reason Republicans keep losing the election is because they have to change their policies toward minorities, especially illegal immigrants. Granted, America is a home of immigrants, but also America is a home of law. If you come to America illegally, then you have to pay the consequences and that is not America’s fault. It is the illegal immigrants’ fault. While Obama is trying to reward illegal immigrants, Republicans are trying to punish those who broke the American laws. Thus, the pundits are saying that the Republicans should change the party’s principles, but if they change the principles, then what makes the parties different?
One of the greatest confusions in life is the confusion between what is good and what is popular. People have confused being popular with doing the right things. America is under a greater challenge than the Cold War. No longer is President Obama about hope and change because that hope is already diminished. No longer do the nation states take America seriously with its sluggish economy. What makes a country strong is the economy, and without a strong economy, the military is also weak. While America chose to keep the Democrat Obama in office for more years, it also chose a majority of Republicans in the House of Representatives, so we are going to see how the President will solve the “fiscal cliff.” The American economy with its weak economy is unable to counter China in the Pacific, so how will the President deal with the rise of political Islam in the Muslim world, the economic crisis in Europe, and losing long-term allies in the Middle East such as Israel and the Kurds. The domestic problems will cramp President Obama in the Pacific and around the world.
Of course, China, Russia, Iran, and Fundamentals do not want to have a strong Commander-in-Chief; instead, they want to have a weak one in charge. That is why they were all hoping that President Obama would be in power so they could continue to grow. Let’s wait to see how President Obama confronts his greatest challenges, uniting a deeply divided Congress and showing leadership to govern the country to solve its problems .We saw in the first term that the divided Congress has long proved that it cannot negotiate on the budget in good faith. President Obama has less than two months to strike a budget deal with Congress, and if he fails, then the U.S. will fall into a new recession. The issue is the legislated bundle of government spending cuts and tax increases totaling $608 billion that are due to be implemented in the year 2013.
Internationally, the war in Syria, Iran’s nuclear development, the isolation of Israel, Turkey’s war on the Kurds, the rise of political Islam, America’s standing in the eyes of China, Russia and the majority of countries that see the Obama administration as weak--all players will push their political agendas as much as they can. That is why countries, such as Turkey, see four more years with Obama in power as a great advantage for Turkey to continue to suppress more Kurds. They always advance under a weak role played by the leader of the world.
Under Obama’s second term, we would not be surprised if the Palestinians get their independence and become a country. Regarding the Syrian problem and the Arab Spring, the Obama government made foreign policy mistakes by abandoning the Kurds and turning a blind eye to the Turkish authorities’ treatment of the Kurds. It fails to realize that the Kurds are the only nation that could be a real ally of the United States, so that Obama should stop supporting and praising the Erdogan government, but instead should put pressure on the Turkish government to respect the rule of law and human values. It does not make any sense for Obama to call on Assad to respect the demands of his people and to resign but at the same time ignore the more cruel oppression in Turkey. Having said that, I gave credit to President Obama for shifting America’s focus from the Middle East to the Pacific. I think that Obama did the right thing not to let Middle Eastern countries suck America more. No matter what America does for them, America is still their number one enemy, so why waste the resources since the majority of world’s population live in Asia and the economy in the Pacific is growing Life is here, and problems will be here, so it is a better choice to invest in the Far East; however, Obama must fix the domestic economy, so that America is able to counter China; otherwise, with a weak economy and defense cuts America cannot compete with China in the Pacific in the near future.
In short, for these who voted for Obama for a second term mostly decided which candidate would give them a free lunch, which candidate would forgive them for breaking the law, so President Obama legitimized dependency entitlements making it ok for the government to take care of those who are able to work but do not. America is no longer the traditional America anymore; America used to stand up for the right thing, not what is popular; America used to pass the law for moral reasons; America used to sacrifice and be hard working; America used to care for its neighbors; and America used to put its money where its heart was. They would never ask for a free lunch or a free ride. For the reason of its work ethic and its stand for what is rather than popular, America has reached to the stars, so the results of this elections show that America no longer is the same but Americans hopes for a free ride.
Dr. Aland Mizell is with the University of Mindanao School of Social Science, President of the MCI and a regular contributor to The Kurdistan Tribune, Kurdishaspect.com, Mindanao Times and Kurdish Media.You may email the author at:aland_mizell2@hotmail.com
