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Izvestia, Russia

Unlike Republicans, Obama Chooses Butter over Guns

 

"In the age-old dilemma faced by all governments - that between guns and butter - Obama chose the latter. Perhaps it's not for nothing that he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize."

 

By Vyacheslav Nikonov*

 

Translated By Yekaterina Blinova

 

March 25, 1010

 

Russia - Izvestia - Original Article (Russia)

President Barack Obama: Has he got back his 'mojo'?

 

BBC NEWS VIDEO: Do Americans like Obama?, Mar. 27, 00:05:17RealVideo

Not very much noted in our media, the most important event not only of the brief history of the Obama’s Administration, but perhaps modern America, has taken place. On Tuesday, the U.S. president signed a new law on medical insurance, an issue that for over a year has been seething with a passion the likes of which long-time observers of American politics can’t remember seeing. The stakes were enormous - the future of the United States, and, consequently, the rest of the world.

 

To understand the significance of what happened, a small digression into the political party environment of the United States is needed. Despite all of the apparent similarities between the two major U.S. parties, they are quite different. Oversimplifying and without nuance: Republicans are conservatives, concerned primarily about American power; Democrats, in control right now, are liberals who move questions of social welfare to the forefront. When coming to power, each party not only implements its priorities, but lays traps for its opponents, which are designed to ensure the continuation of the party’s plans, even after its electoral defeat in a presidential election. For this purpose, Republicans launch large-scale military programs while cutting taxes on corporations and wealthy citizens, undermining the material foundation of “the welfare state,” which they regard as a dangerous socialist venture. Democrats increase social programs and cut taxes for the poor, placing long-term limitations on the politics of force.

 

The Republican Administration of George Bush Jr. and Richard Cheney undertook a breakthrough in their pursuit of power - not only to address global terrorism, but also uni-polar dominance. Meanwhile, Democrats came to power and sought to find ways to ensure the American dream for the middle class: a home and medical insurance. In fact, where home ownership and medical insurance is concerned, the wealthiest country in the world lags significantly behind the countries of the old Europe, Canada, or Japan. The income level of the very middle class, particularly its lower segment, which usually votes for the Democratic Party, has stopped growing in the recent decades, calling into doubt its success at the polls. The previous Democratic administration - that of Bill Clinton - went down the path of encouraging mortgages for low-income families whose ability to pay was questionable. By the way, the need for banks to insure these mortgages was one of the reasons for the growth of market in derivatives and the financial crisis of 2008-9. But Clinton was unable to get health care reform through - it was blocked by Republicans.

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Obama, with a solid majority in both houses of Congress, declared the expansion of the number of Americans covered by state-sponsored medical insurance a top priority of his first presidential term, which should ensure his rightful place in the history books. But at the same time, it should consolidate the electoral base of the Democrats.

 

Republicans didn't need an explanation of what was happening: the possible strengthening of their opponents and the bleeding of the component of military force in American politics. Particularly since Obama became the first president to have allowed himself to utter the expression “multi-polar world” - heresy to conservatives. Republican opposition was unequivocal, rigid and uncompromising. Not without reason, the argued that the country cannot afford expensive new programs in a time of economic crisis - this really was about the most expensive social program in the United States in many decades. Republicans have resorted to every possible method of propaganda and procedural trick to stop the bill from going through - relying on the opinion of a majority of Americans. Only a third of them supported Obama’s initiative: those who have insurance assumed that the expansion of the program would be implemented at their expense; those who were left out believed the program to be insufficient.

 

SEE ALSO ON THIS:  

Folha, Brazil: Stop the Presses! Barack Obama Has Been Resurrected!  

Frankfurter Rundschau, Germany: Obama Made History - Whatever the Cost  

Financial Times Deutschland: U.S. Health Reform a Foreign Policy Win

L'Express, France: Astonishing: U.S. Republicans Turn Backs on History  

The Telegraph, U.K.: It's a 'Dark Day' for Freedom in America

The Times, U.K.: Win on Health is Obama Win Around the World  

The Times, U.K.: Now, Change Really is Coming to America

Estadao, Brazil: Americans 'Blind' to 'Extraordinary Progress' Under Obama  

Folha, Brazil: Brazil 'Envies' America's Public Health Care Debate

 

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Democrats were also divided. The left was unhappy with the fact that even after the passage of the bill, tens of millions of Americans will be left without insurance. The right feared that insurance money would go to funding abortions. And a third of Senators and all members of Congress face reelection in November. Two weeks before the decisive vote, Obama was short 68 votes in the House of Representatives. The president took responsibility, cancelled his foreign visits, met with Congress members of both parties and appeared on every conceivable media outlet. The House of Representatives voted last Sunday (when was the last time our Duma met on a weekend?!), surrounded by thousands of protesters on Capitol Hill. The vote ended with a score of 219 to 212. The 218 was needed to adopt the law. Not a single Republican voted in favor.  

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An additional 32 million people will get medical insurance. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the law will cost taxpayers $938,000,000,000 over 10 years. And this, despite the fact that in 2009, the federal budget deficit was $1.4 trillion, or 11 percent of GDP (the highest since 1942). This is no better than modern Greece. Reducing the deficit is possible either by reducing government expenditures or by raising taxes. And in the United States, both are politically impossible. Of course, predictions of the default or collapse of the U.S. dollar are from the realm of fantasy - the country accounts for a fourth of global GDP, the dollar is its domestic currency, and money pours in from the outside. But it is indisputable that America is entering a period of limited financial resources, and enactment of this health insurance law makes this a long-term problem.

 

Obama hasn't lessened military spending, but has slowed its rate of growth. Pentagon plans outlined in the Quadrennial Defense Review are dominated by the need to act in more constrained circumstances. In the age-old dilemma faced by all governments - that between guns and butter - Obama chose the latter. Perhaps it's not for nothing that he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

 

*Vyacheslav Nikonov is president of the Polity Foundation

 

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US March 28, 8:09pm]

 

 






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