Out of US election ashes, 2012 presidential race begins (Feature)

By Pat Reber Nov 3, 2010, 14:37 GMT

Washington - One of the strongest messages sent to the White House in this week's US midterm elections was disappointment in US President Barack Obama ... from the same people who put him in office.

Elected on the ambitious promises of tackling the economic malaise, expanding health insurance and closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Obama only managed to put through the health insurance reform, which squeaked through Congress on a parliamentary manoeuvre.

Although Obama pledged to bridge the harsh partisan rhetoric in Washington and held marathon talk sessions with Republican leaders, he also served up acid attacks, telling Republicans they had to take the 'back seat' and calling them 'enemies' of Hispanic voters.

A recent New Yorker magazine cover put his fall from grace best, showing the newly elected Obama walking on water, then gradually sinking into the political morass.

'In going into such partisan, harsh, class-oriented and divisive rhetoric, he's given up the magic of his candidacy,' Lanny Davis, White House counsel in the Clinton administration, who counts himself an Obama admirer, was quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times. 'This is what he has lost. And I don't mean diminished; I mean lost. It's tragic.'

Now that Republicans have recaptured the majority in the House of Representatives and expanded their hold on Senate, the stage is set for the next political marathon - the scramble for the 2012 presidential elections.

Obama has been circumspect about his intentions. When he took office in January 2009, he said he accepted the prospect that he may only serve one term, given the tough decisions that had to be made amidst the worst recession since the Great Depression of 1929. He warned that the going would be tough and economic recovery would be slow.

In fact, the economy and a persistent 9.6-per-cent unemployment rate continued to be the biggest challenge for Obama's Democratic Party in the congressional elections.

Four out of every 10 Americans say someone in their family has lost a job in the last year, according to polls. Eight million jobs were lost through the recession. For many voters, including the independents who put Obama into office in 2008, they have reaped little recovery from the massive 800-billion-dollar stimulus programme rushed through by the Democrats soon after Obama took office.

More recently, and predictably, Obama has indicated he is considering a run.

'Obviously, I haven't made any formal decisions,' Obama told the National Journal last week, 'but I feel like I've got a lot of work left to do.'

Other presidents have bounced back after midterm election rebuffs of their party. Bill Clinton recovered for a second term in 1996, as did Ronald Reagan in 1984.

It's less clear who the Republicans may send into battle. Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008, has the highest profile, as a commentator for conservative Fox News and a popular campaigner for the extreme activist wing of the Republicans known as the Tea Party, which saw some success in Tuesday's vote.

In a recent Gallup poll, Palin played second fiddle among Republicans, with 16 per cent supporting her as a candidate. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who ran in 2008, claimed the top spot with 19 per cent.

Others mentioned were former Republican presidential candidate and Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (12 per cent) and Newt Gingrich (9 per cent) - the former speaker of the House of Representatives.

Obama on the other hand must hustle to regain support within his own party.

On the way to vote in Rockville, Maryland, on Tuesday, Steve Krasnow, 59, a lifelong Democrat, reflected the deep disillusionment many Democrats have with the president, saying the country needed to get back to its 'entrepreneurial spirit.'

'We had a bad president as a Republican (former president George W Bush) - this guy (Obama) is even worse,' he said.

In New York City, Susan Allen, in her 60s, agreed:

'Obama didn't have any strategy. It has been a great disappointment,' she said.

Read more about US Elections