Main focus of Wednesday, January 20, 2010

A year of Obama

US President Barack Obama took office one year ago. The world had high hopes for his policies and has been let down, some commentators write. Others advise patience on the solution of global problems.

Hospodářské noviny - Czech Republic

In his first year as US President Barack Obama has hugely improved the image of the United States in the world even though his efforts for dialogue and peaceful solutions has not been particularly successful, writes the business paper Hospodářské Noviny: "Afghanistan may well become Obama's Vietnam. The Taliban welcomed his unfortunate turn of phrase that America will not wage an interminable war in Afghanistan at any price. Firmer rhetoric concerning Moscow wouldn't do any harm either. Obama showed Moscow a more peaceful face than his predecessor, but he still hasn't been able to negotiate a new disarmament round under the Start treaty. Russia is proving an unreliable partner, even as far as putting more pressure on Iran goes." (20/01/2010)

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Der Standard - Austria

The US president has done well in his first year in office, Der Standard comments, but the real assessment won't come until 2012. "In his first twelve months in office Obama had to tackle some unpopular issues. The healthcare reform and boosting troops in Afghanistan were among the topics that even Obama had trouble selling to the public. Then there was an 'enthusiasm gap', the phase of disenchantment any president would have trouble dealing with. ... In addition to Obama bashing the tradition of comparing presidents in Washington is in full swing these days in Washington. And the upshot is that only Ronald Reagan did worse than Obama in the polls after his first year in office. The Californian went on to win his re-election in 1984 by a large margin. There's nothing to say it won't be the same with Obama. Because for him, too, the final judgement doesn't come after a year in office but rather in 2012." (20/01/2010)

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All available articles from » Christoph Prantner

Delo - Slovenia

One year after taking office Barack Obama faces the same problems he promised to solve while on the campaign trail, writes the daily Delo: "The capitalist system with its unbridled financial speculation, extreme social inequalities, submissiveness of politics to big business, mockery of workers' rights and murderous tragicomedy referred to by some as the best healthcare system in the world - none of this has changed. Even before he was elected Obama's adversaries were saying that although he was a sweet talker there was no evidence he could follow his words with deeds. ... But Obama would need the supernatural force of Baron Munchhausen to extract himself from the system he's part and parcel of." (20/01/2010)

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La Repubblica - Italy

After Barack Obama's first year as US president, Nobel laureate Paul Krugman urges him to take a tougher line against his critics in the left-liberal daily La Repubblica: "Mr. Obama didn't do what Ronald Reagan, who also faced a poor economy early in his administration, did - namely, shelter himself from criticism with a narrative that placed the blame on previous administrations. ... Whatever the reason, Mr. Obama has allowed the public to forget, with remarkable speed, that the economy's troubles didn't start on his watch. ... At this point Mr. Obama probably can't do much about job creation. He can, however, push hard on financial reform, and seek to put himself back on the right side of public anger by portraying Republicans as the enemies of reform - which they are. And meanwhile, Democrats have to do whatever it takes to enact a health care bill. Passing such a bill won't be their political salvation - but not passing a bill would surely be their political doom." (20/01/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Economic Policy, » U.S.
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