A COLUMN DIVIDED: How will Obama’s second term play out?
President Obama was officially sworn in to his second term last week, and he dropped some hints in his inaugural speech about what his second term may be like. He was very bold in many of the points he made, signaling to me that he intends to be more aggressive with the traditional liberal agenda. He mentioned climate change, women’s rights, gay rights and immigration along with several others.
What I found very interesting is the fact that he didn’t seem to hold back very much. I expect a similar term to the first but with more aggressiveness on the issues I mentioned above. I don’t expect any significant changes in the economic situation in our country and I certainly don’t expect any significant changes in our country’s fiscal situation – both issues that affect every single American citizen.
From his speech, I would expect the President to execute a similar strategy moving forward: divide and conquer. He has seen great success by going after single-issue voters and culturally diverse voters. I think that we can count on the President to concentrate his efforts in areas where he will appeal to these single-issue voters and traditionally liberal voters, all while ignoring the economic and fiscal situation of our country. He proved he can get reelected with a crappy economy and mountains of debt, so what incentive does he have to deal with those problems during his second term? None.
The biggest difference this time around is that, in his own words, he has more “flexibility.” I would assume that means he will be more flexible to pursue his agenda without the worry of an upcoming election. I would expect he’ll get away with a majority of the things he sets out to do. He generally gets what he wants out of Congress. On that note, I’ve been very disappointed recently with many Republicans in Congress because they seem to be on the losing end of every negotiation. Until they can find some credibility, the president will always win.
Although I do not agree with President Obama on a majority of the issues, I honestly do hope that he can lead our nation back to growth and prosperity. I hope that the president will be willing to work with those not of his political persuasion to do what’s in the best interest for a majority of Americans. I love my country and I respect President Obama as the leader of it. With that said, my hope is that he will put his hyper-partisanship aside and be a leader, not a divider, for the sake of our country.
– Casey Saxton, a junior majoring in business administration, is the president of the USU College Republicans. He can be reached at caseysaxton@hotmail.com.