“America is back,” President Obama said in his 2012 State of the Union address. That sounds muscular, very Schwarzenegger-sque. But America’s new avatar is a little different from old Uncle Sam. In 2009 in his first State of the Union, President Barack Obama said “We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before … It is time for America to lead again.” What a difference one term in office makes.

From New America Media: That Black voters will again give President Obama a sky-high percentage of their vote in 2012 was never in doubt. What is in doubt is how many will make up that percentage. If Black voters had not turned the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries into a virtual holy crusade for Obama, and if Obama had not, openly in the South Carolina primary and subtly in primaries thereafter, stoked the Black vote, he could easily have been just another failed Democratic presidential candidate. 

From New America Media: PCIP is a part of President Obama's healthcare plan that guarantees access to insurance for U.S. citizens with preexisting conditions, who have been uninsured for at least six months. Knowing that the major changes under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) wouldn’t kick in until 2014, Democrats made sure to include provisions that would take effect quickly, as a bridge to 2014 – and before the 2012 election.

From New America Media:  As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to review the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), California health experts are confident that the state will continue to lead the way on health reform. California has the highest number of uninsured persons of any state. Through the work of health and consumer advocates, the state has focused on building the infrastructure for future coverage expansion and implementing as many of the changes as fast as it can. 

From New America Media: The excuses some Democrats give for their chill toward backing President Obama’s re-election bid would fill up a legal pad. The Blue Dog and moderate Democratic congresspersons and senators representing shaky swing and conservative districts are scared stiff that if they rub shoulders too close with Obama, they will be signing their political obituary for re-election.

 

From New America Media: President Barack Obama asserted his commitment to achieving comprehensive immigration reform should he be re-elected in 2012. “I will make this a prominent part of my campaign and I’ll talk about it extensively,” Obama vowed. In a recent White House meeting with media reaching the Latino community, he stressed, “It’s going to be hard to have a more clear contrast between what the Republicans stand for on a whole range of issues and what I stand for and Democrats stand for.”




 

Unfortunately, U.S. policymakers today seem content to follow the same disastrous path they have for more than half a century. Until the implementation of fundamental changes in U.S. policy in the Middle East — including a draw-down of militarization in the region and, even more importantly, support for a comprehensive and unbiased resolution to the issue of Israeli-Palestinian conflict —America’s rhetoric of freedom, equality and democracy will continue to fall on deaf ears.

Will the center-leaning and politically roadblocked President Obama have the force to resurrect the charismatic and inspirational Candidate Obama that we all remember from his momentous 2008 campaign? A few years ago, the symbolism that shrouded Barack Obama—the first African-American President in our country’s history running on an optimistic platform of “hope and change” with a commitment to bipartisanship  made him seem more like a deity than a politician to many of his ardent supporters.