Given 2nd term, Obama now facing new urgent task
Election 2012
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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama faces a new urgent task now that he has a second term, working with a status-quo Congress to address an impending financial crisis that economists say could plunge the country into further recession if not resolved.
“You made your voice heard,” Obama said in his acceptance speech, signaling that he believes the bulk of the country is behind his policies. It’s a sticking point for House Republicans, sure to balk at that.
The same voters who gave Obama four more years in office also elected a divided Congress, sticking with the dynamic that has made it so hard for the president to advance his agenda. Democrats retained control of the Senate; Republicans kept their House majority.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, spoke of a dual mandate. “If there is a mandate, it is a mandate for both parties to find common ground and take steps together to help our economy grow and create jobs,” he said.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky had a more harsh assessment.
“The voters have not endorsed the failures or excesses of the president’s first term,” McConnell said. “They have simply given him more time to finish the job they asked him to do together” with a balanced Congress.
Obama’s more narrow victory was nothing like the jubilant celebration in 2008, when his hope-and-change election as the nation’s first black president captivated the world. This time, Obama ground it out with a stay-the-course pitch that essentially boiled down to a plea for more time to make things right and a hope that Congress will be more accommodating than in the past.
The most pressing challenges immediately ahead for the 44th president are all too familiar: an economy still baby-stepping its way toward full health; 23 million people out of work or in search of better jobs; civil war in Syria; a menacing standoff over Iran’s nuclear program.
Sharp differences with Republicans in Congress on taxes, spending, deficit reduction, immigration and more await. While Republicans control the House, Democrats have at least 52 votes in the Senate and Republicans 45. One newly elected independent isn’t saying which party he’ll side with, and races in Montana and North Dakota were not yet called.
Votes also were being counted Wednesday in the Montana and Washington gubernatorial races.
Obama’s list of promises to keep includes many holdovers he was unable to deliver on in his first term, such as rolling back tax cuts for upper-income people, overhauling immigration policy and reducing federal deficits. Six in 10 voters said in exit polls that taxes should be increased, and nearly half of voters said taxes should be increased on incomes over $250,000, as Obama has called for.
“It’s very clear from the exit polling that a majority of Americans recognize that we need to share responsibility for reducing the deficit,” Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, told CNN. “That means asking higher-income earners to contribute more to reducing the deficit.”
Even before Obama gets to his second inaugural on Jan. 20, he must deal with the threatened “fiscal cliff.” A combination of automatic tax increases and steep across-the-board spending cuts are set to take effect in January if Washington doesn’t quickly reach a budget deal. Experts have warned that the economy could tip back into recession without an agreement.
Newly elected Democrats signaled they want compromise the avoid the fiscal cliff.
Sen.-elect Tim Kaine, a former Virginia governor who defeated Republican George Allen, said on NBC’s “Today” show that voters sent a message they want “cooperative government.” But he also says the election results show that the public doesn’t want “all the levers in one party’s hands” on Capitol Hill.
From Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren said on “CBS This Morning” that those who voted for her opponent, Republican Sen. Scott Brown, expressed a desire for lawmakers to work together. She says: “I heard that loud and clear.”
Obama repeated his campaign slogan of moving “forward” repeatedly in a victory speech early Wednesday in his hometown of Chicago.
“We will disagree, sometimes fiercely, about how to get there,” he said. “As it has for more than two centuries, progress will come in fits and starts. It’s not always a straight line. It’s not always a smooth path. By itself, the recognition that we have common hopes and dreams won’t end all the gridlock, or solve all our problems, or substitute for the painstaking work of building consensus, and making the difficult compromises needed to move this country forward. But that common bond is where we must begin.”
Former Obama adviser Anita Dunn told “CBS This Morning” that the president made it clear in his acceptance speech that he will be reaching out, and she warned GOP House leaders, representing Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin, to keep in mind that their voters also wanted to keep Obama.
“Clearly there’s a lot of momentum and a lot of incentive for people to work together to really find answers to the challenges,” she said.
The vanquished Republican, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, tried to set a more conciliatory tone on the way off the stage.
“At a time like this, we can’t risk partisan bickering,” Romney said after a campaign filled with it. “Our leaders have to reach across the aisle to do the people’s work.”
Obama won at least 303 electoral votes to 206 for Romney, with 270 needed for victory, and had a near-sweep of the nine most hotly contested states.
But the close breakdown in the popular vote showed Americans’ differences over how best to meet the nation’s challenges. With more than 90 percent of precincts reporting, the popular vote went 50 percent for Obama to 48.4 percent for Romney, a businessman-turned-politician. Romney had argued that Obama failed to turn around the economy and he said it was time for a new approach that combined lower taxes and a less intrusive government.
Obama’s re-election means his signature health care overhaul will endure, as will the Wall Street overhaul enacted after the economic meltdown. The drawdown of troops in Afghanistan will continue apace. With an aging roster of justices, the president probably will have at least one more nomination to the Supreme Court.
A second term is sure to produce turnover in his Cabinet. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has made it clear he wants to leave at the end of Obama’s first term but is expected to remain in the post until a successor is confirmed. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama’s rival for the presidency four years ago, is ready to leave. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta isn’t expected to stay on.
Obama won even though exit polls showed that only about 4 in 10 voters thought the economy is getting better, just one-quarter thought they’re better off financially than four years ago and a little more than half think the country is on the wrong track.
But even now, four years after George W. Bush left office, voters were more likely to blame Bush than Obama for the fix they’re in.
Some Americans were hopeful for progress in Obama’s second term.
“He may not have done a great job in my mind but I kinda trust him,” Jerry Shul said Wednesday morning in Times Square. “And I feel like he’s gonna keep trying and I feel like when people keep trying in you favor things work out. I have faith in him, I have faith he will get with the Republicans and get something done.”
Elsewhere on the ballot, voters in Maine and Maryland became the first to approve same-sex marriage by popular vote while Washington state and Colorado legalized recreational use of marijuana.
The most expensive presidential campaign in history, at $2 billion plus, targeted people in the nine states that determined the outcome, and the two sides drenched voters there with more than a million ads, the overwhelming share of them negative.
Obama claimed at least seven of those states, most notably Ohio, seen as the big prize. He also prevailed in Iowa, New Hampshire, Colorado, Nevada, Virginia and Wisconsin. Romney got North Carolina.
Florida was too close to call Wednesday morning. The unofficial count had Obama with a 46,000-vote lead, but Florida historically has left as many as 5 percent of its votes uncounted until after Election Day.
Overall, Obama won 25 states and the District of Columbia. Romney won 24 states.
It was a more measured victory than four years ago, when Obama claimed 365 electoral votes to Arizona Sen. John McCain’s 173, and won 53 percent of the popular vote.
Preliminary figures indicate fewer people participated this time. Associated Press figures showed that about 118 million people had voted in the White House race, but that number will rise as more votes are counted. In 2008, 131 million people voted, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Nov 8, 2012 at 4:16 p.m.
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whz_bng, don't forget mjoseph
Nov 8, 2012 at 2:47 p.m.
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Mouse
It has been obvious we have a potus who is numerically challenged.
Nov 7, 2012 at 8:36 p.m.
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mouse appears and yada disappears.
Nov 7, 2012 at 7:45 p.m.
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I wonder if harry and obama will now pass a national budget?
Nov 7, 2012 at 2:59 p.m.
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Off topic but I just tried to look up feduptaxpayer to see what he had to say about the election. Last week he predicted a win for Romney. His name is taken down and there is no sign of him anywhere on any blog even past blogs. Apparently, he really did lose his "troll" job. Sorry for all of you who bought into his paid for political philosophy. I just wonder who was paying him. Gazette- was it you?
Nov 7, 2012 at 2:51 p.m.
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"Given 2nd term, Obama now facing new urgent task - How to keep America's attention off of Benghazi-gate."
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Great, the birthers have gone from insisting Obama was not born in the U.S. to believing some kind of "Behghazi-gate" exists. Either they don't realize Hawaii became a State in 1959 or believe as Reagan once exclaimed "Facts are stupid things". I suppose it's good to have a hobby but I'd lose the tinfoil hat - it makes you look silly.
Nov 7, 2012 at 2:41 p.m.
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Rock County vote for 11/6/2012
http://199.233.45.158/results11062012
Paul Ryan can't even win his hometown for VP or for congress. And it's not even close.
Maybe the Gazette should quit pandering with its coverage for the sake of you fringe extremist patriots.
Nov 7, 2012 at 2:39 p.m.
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"How does the president have any impact on the economy? People still buy this crap?"
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In general you are correct Sigma40. Since both parties support the same people-philosophy of the federal reserve, it has very little impact, since the economy is all driven by currency-monetary policy via the fed..
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That said, however; just today you can see the impact of Obama winning. The morons on wall street did not believe what I had said for months in that Obama was a shoe in to beat the big stiff-Romney. Now that it finally dawned upon them, and is official, the markets are selling off huge today. Not that Obama is anti wall street (far from it). Just everyone knows the upcoming fiscal cliff crisis is now ASSURED to be TOTAL DEAD LOCK!...No worries though, in the end, they will agree to STAY THE COURSE baby..That being you borrow on debt, and just have the fed CREATE MORE $$$ to solve the problem!
Nov 7, 2012 at 2:39 p.m.
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Wislady, when you say "the left" were you talking about my comment? Our state and country are divided, and our state elected officials have the same responsibility as the national ones to work with the other side to represent everyone. How is it different?
Nov 7, 2012 at 2:38 p.m.
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Sounds like Midnightride wants WI to secede.
Nov 7, 2012 at 2:17 p.m.
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It is so amazing how the left can try to compare Wisconsin to the national scale, but expect different results.
We are almost evenly divided, there is no denying that.
Nov 7, 2012 at 2:14 p.m.
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I bet Romney wishes his brother was the governor of Florida
Nov 7, 2012 at 1:41 p.m.
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Welcome back Mouse ... long time since I have seen a post from you (at least with that name)
Nov 7, 2012 at 1:37 p.m.
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Wislady that goes both ways, the republican's in Wisconsin now have a chance to work with the dems too. just because they have a majority means that they shouldn't ignore everyone else. They represent 100% of Wi, not just the people that voted for them.
Nov 7, 2012 at 1:34 p.m.
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dtb
You are wrong....I would have preferred that Ryan was not the VP pick. Even though their ticket didn't win, I am happy to have Ryan back and on the Budget Committee. I am also glad to have Walker, and the return of the majority to republicans. I am only disappointed.
Obama now has another chance to redeem himself, and work with both parties.
Nov 7, 2012 at 1:19 p.m.
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woody
What did we lose? We would have gained. However, Washington still looked the same today as it did yesterday.
Oh but we gained control back in Wisconsin for Walker. You lost that power.
Nov 7, 2012 at 1:16 p.m.
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Liberals take one side of the USA/Conservatives take the other and don't cross the line for any help from the other.
How long do you think liberal policies would last? Where are the rich to tax? Where do you get the money to hand out to all your welfare receipents? How long before the liberal side eats itself up with government's feeding frenzy?
Nov 7, 2012 at 1:14 p.m.
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So we decided good no more political ads on TV
Nov 7, 2012 at 12:50 p.m.
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Yep...nothing has changed and nothing will change. Each side thinks they are right and refuses to 1. think the other side isn't evil and 2. attempt to compromise.
Nov 7, 2012 at 12:38 p.m.
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It appears wislady got up on the wrong side of the election this morning. Grumpy grumpy grumpy.
Nov 7, 2012 at 12:30 p.m.
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Mouse - Not for a long time has anyone fallen for our right to vote. Not in any of our lifetimes. No one has threatened our right to vote either. We had a few pop shots (pearl harbor, and 9/11) but never was our rights threatened. it would be like walking in to a police department and throwing an egg at a cop.... You will be punished but you were never a "threat". And currently in case you missed it our military isnt fighting for us, they are fighting for othr countries. Mercenaries on our tax dollar.
Nov 7, 2012 at 12:21 p.m.
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wislady...From the words of the Refibs from last summer. YOU LOST! GET OVER IT.
Nov 7, 2012 at 12:20 p.m.
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Companies can mine without a mining bill. Problem was, this last bill was wrote by the the company so they wouldn't be held resposible for the damage. Read the info wislady, it seems you still have Romnesia...
Nov 7, 2012 at 12:15 p.m.
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Welcome back mouse.
Nov 7, 2012 at 11:54 a.m.
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The other positive news is that Obama has only scammed HALF of the country, that seems pretty close to 47%. What a coincidence.
Nov 7, 2012 at 11:51 a.m.
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How does the president have any impact on the economy? People still buy this crap?
Nov 7, 2012 at 11:48 a.m.
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All the people with NO jobs....keep telling them that the economy is doing "fine".
Nov 7, 2012 at 11:41 a.m.
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ECartman... he just switched to that user name because he said he wouldn't comment about the election anymore with one of his other user names
Nov 7, 2012 at 11:37 a.m.
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wislady..You being 70 years old..wow Why are you so bitter ? Being on the right and being wrong...just another day in the life of wislady !
Nov 7, 2012 at 11:28 a.m.
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All the wealth of the 1% will still only run the country for about 90 days...right around the time another vote on raising the debt ceiling which if obuma thought he felt resistance before...he has another thing coming. The reality is that sometime during his 2nd failed term, America will no longer be able to pay the interest (Not the priciple) on money owed (FED, China, bond holders, etc...) at that point the American Dollar will be devalued to the point that interest rates and inflation will cripple the middle class. Sadly it is our children who will pay this price, with a bleak future.
Nov 7, 2012 at 11:26 a.m.
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America should be ashamed.......huge military voter suppression.......massive possible fraud.
Maybe the purple finger marking technique should be considered?
Nov 7, 2012 at 11:23 a.m.
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Not one political ad on tv today. Glad that intelligence insulting crap is finally over.
Nov 7, 2012 at 11:14 a.m.
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From the words of the Refibs from last summer. YOU LOST! GET OVER IT.
Nov 7, 2012 at 11:08 a.m.
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The election is over, the same screaming from the same people. Nothing will change as long as we all continue to be this divided. It's not Obama's fault nor is it Romney's. We all responsible. We have to stop look at the other side as evil and realize they are not trying to destroy America. Stereotypes are never a good thing. People of all groups belong to each party. Your friends, neighbors, and family have different beliefs. If someone doesn't agree with you it doesn't make them a bad person, they just have a different idea on how things should get done. We all want the same thing. We want a great country. We want our families to be safe and happy. Stop rooting for politics like it's sports, it's only causing the politicians to continue posture instead of trying to work for the greater good. I'm not perfect and I've been guilty of this myself, but let's stop blaming and start hoping.
Nov 7, 2012 at 10:56 a.m.
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The rich will be fine, it is the middle class who will suffer.
Nov 7, 2012 at 10:55 a.m.
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The DOW is DOWN 300 points.........
Crossing below the 13000 mark for the first time since September, in a post-election retreat.
Besides equities, energy and metals futures are also taking a pounding, while traders take shelter in U.S. Treasury bonds.
Another Obama record.
Nov 7, 2012 at 10:55 a.m.
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Ah hahahah... Mouse is back! On another note, look what the stock market did on this blessed day. Dang G. dubya!!
Nov 7, 2012 at 10:41 a.m.
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winterstinks, it was the young voting age citizens that overwhelmingly voted for him so they will be the first generation to reap what they sowed. The 35 and under US population is the most liberal/socialist in US history. I'm not sure what to think about the future. Rich people are all evil greedy people unless you are Lady Gaga, da Boss, or Madonna. If you are a rich entertainer you get a pass on the evil moniker. I guess the will and drive to be successful in life has been reduced to contentment. The government will provide what I need so I'll stick one thumb in my mouth and the other thumb in a different hole and wait for my entitlements.
Nov 7, 2012 at 10:23 a.m.
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Familiarize yourself with the chains of bondage and you prepare your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample on the rights of others, you have lost the genius of your own independence and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises among you.
-Abe Lincoln
Nov 7, 2012 at 10:04 a.m.
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god help us all... higher taxes higher gas prices higher heating prices no jobs no money thanks so much.......
Nov 7, 2012 at 9:40 a.m.
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The media lauded Obama no matter how horrendous his record.
Nov 7, 2012 at 9:33 a.m.
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So, wasp, who is going to pay for the moochers?
Nov 7, 2012 at 9:31 a.m.
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Wislady - One thing you folks have to remember. This is ceded territory and the tribes have a voice in this. They are backed by guess who? The federal government. So If the tribes don't back it good luck.
Nov 7, 2012 at 9:26 a.m.
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Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein
Nov 7, 2012 at 9:21 a.m.
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On Wisconsin! Get ready for the next Legislative session....mining bill!
Nov 7, 2012 at 9:15 a.m.
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It sure is quiet now without that hot air blowing.
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