In exactly a year from today, the 2012 elections will be held. The heightened awareness of political issues will begin next year as the nation turns its attention to either re-electing President Obama, or picking a GOP candidate to be the next leader of the free world. At this moment, the major issues on the scene are the seemingly endless job crisis and the “Occupy” movements taking place around the country in varying degrees of intensity. While yesterday’s focus was on the moving of money from the big banks to credit unions, in Oakland the attempts to contain the protests resulted in another Iraq war veteran being sent to the hospital. Should this movement continue into 2012, the contentious nature of it will force official politics to deal with it.
As far as the GOP contenders are concerned, their infighting may accidentally be helping President Obama in the polls. With a portion of the public un-enamored by the Republican presidential candidates in general, and the recent revelations of former front runner Herman Cain of sexual harassment in particular, the incumbent looks like the best choice in the eyes of many voters. No need to make any predictions, but if anyone believes that allegations like this wont hurt a candidate in the general election.. well.. I think we will all see how fast that’ll gets brought back up. The GOP field has to thin out before we really see any serious contenders emerge. At this point, it takes on the character of a side show, with the potentials trying their hardest to catch the most news headlines via outrageous statements, not plans of action.
President Obama looks as if he will run unchallenged. It is plain to see that a large part of his campaign will be run on the recent foreign policy successes, and the attempts to shore up support for the jobs bill and infrastructural development. This will be an interesting election cycle as we see if President Obama can successfully earn a second term. Will this occur? Will the broad coalition that was built in 2008 hold? This site will be following closely the 2012 elections, and all of the things that will occur during it. We can all check back in a year and see how things have played themselves out.
Marc W. Polite
Is Not Making Any Predictions