Bad Omens for Obama -- and America
Business Times - 24 Nov 2010 Bad omens for Obama - and America Washington may experience a legislative and policy gridlock if Republicans decide to take the uncooperative route By LEON HADAR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT IF YOU want to understand the direction US domestic and foreign policies will go in the last two years of the first - or only - term of President Barack Obama, keep the following things in mind. In less than a year - just after Labor Day 2011 - American policymakers, lawmakers, the media and the rest of Washington's power elites will be getting ready for the presidential and Congressional elections of 2012. Winning in 2012 is going to become the top - and perhaps the only - priority, setting the agenda of almost everyone here, from the White House occupant and the Republican and Democratic Congressional leaders to the lowly government bureaucrats and Capitol Hill staff. No one is probably going to challenge Mr Obama for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination