Since the budget agreement in the US the world's bourses are in falling fast. I think it is not so much the agreement itself as the disappointment in Obama that has caused this fall.
It started with the weak handling of the financial crisis. Obama pumped lots of money in the economy while it would have seemed more logical to push out the excesses first before starting to stimulate. Pumping to keep up leaking balloons is not a wise policy. But soon it appeared that Obama was really addicted to Wall Street when he passed nearly every opportunity to make Wall Street more accountable.
Obama got some credit for passing the health insurance legislation. But later on it appeared that it was an incoherent law that gave major benefits to special interests. And its lack of attention to costs make it doubtful that it will survive long in its present form.
Later on Obama passed the opportunity to raise taxes for the rich. The weak "concessions" he got in return from the Republicans raised the question what he was doing. Did he believe the Republican position? Was he a weakling who gave up in face of a bit of opposition?
The most recent agreement raises the same questions. It is full of points that have to be decided later - opening many opportunities for the Republicans to blackmail him again. No self respecting president would have accepted such conditions.
It is starting to look more and more like Obama's problem is weakness. This isn't about left or right. This is about (not) having a vision and defending it. It is starting to look like Obama's only loyalty is to the people who finance his campaigns.
This article {"Bruised, battered - and beaten?"} claims that the problem is that Obama is an idealist who believes in the power of words but who has no feeling for the dirty political handwork.
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