Obama: The conservative in 2012

Renderring of the article “Obama: The conservative in 2012”

The article under reading is headlined “Obama: The conservative in 2012”.

The author of the article is E.J.Dionne Jr. He is an American journalist and political commentator, and a long-time opossited columnist for The Washington Post. He is also a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, a University Professor in the Foundations of Democracy and Culture at Georgetown Public Policy Institute, a Senior Research Fellow at Saint Anselm College, and National Public Radio (NPR), Microsoft and the National Broadcasting Company (MSNBC), and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) commentator.

It was published in the Washington Post on December 26, 2011. The Washington Post is a leading American daily newspaper. It is the most widely circulated newspaper published in Washington, D.C., and oldest extant in the area, founded in 1877. Located in the capital city of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. Daily editions are printed for the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia.

The article which is an opinion story devoted to the 2012 election.

The article opens with the statement proving the importance of the U.S. 2012 elections. Both the Republicans and the Democrats agree that 2012 elections will be the most important in history. Obama defends the tradition that sees government as an essential actor in the economy, a guarantor of fair rules of competition, countervailing force against private power, check on the inequality that capitalism can produce and a tool that can provide opportunities for those who were born without large benefits. At the same time Republican extreme radicals such as Rick Perry, see to make the national government "inconsequential".He noted in a speech in Osawatomie, Kansas: "It does make or break moment for the middle class, and for all those who are fighting to get into the middle class."

The central problem of the article can be defined the following way the role of federal government and how every party looks on it.

To have a clear understanding of the problem we need to know what the federal government is “Federalism” is the principle of limited government that is achieved by dividing authority between the central government and the individual states, like in USA the federal government has powers over areas of wide concern. For example, it has the power to control communications among states, borrow money, provide for the national defense, and declare war. There are certain powers, called concurrent powers, which both governments share. In the article two parties which are have different views to the federal government.

It’s interesting to know that in the USA sush powers as to conduct elections and to determine voter qualifications are reserved to the state governments. The general characteristic of elections in USA. The US Constitution includes some general provisions on the franchise. It sets forth certain requirements for candidates running for a post of a president, vice-president, senator or member of the House of Representatives. Requirements usually concern age, residence and citizenship. The candidates who meet all these requirements are considered eligible for office. A residence qualification requires a permanent residence of an individual in order to get the right to vote. The duration of the residence qualification is, in general, a few months though it may substantially vary from state to state. Besides, some states have the so-called literacy qualification (the voter should be able to read and speak English, he (she) must know how to interpret the US Constitution, etc. And at last it should be mentioned that in some states a poll tax is levied upon everyone who votes and this certainly discourages poor citizens and Negroes from voting. In this context, it is not surprising that not all the Americans participate in elections, including congressional or presidential elections. The voters are registered by clerks of counties or towns and by local election commissions. When registering, the voter must produce an identification card. This is done to prevent fraud. The administration of elections is vested in an election commission which ordinarily is composed of two commissioners, one representing each of the major parties, and a third ex officio member, usually a sheriff, a county judge, or a clerk. Prior to holding primary or general election, the commission appoints election officers for each precinct and also arranges for polling places. After the ballots have been cast, they are counted and the results obtained are tabulated and returned to the election commission which officially counts the precinct tally sheets. Such system resulted in two-party system.

So, the way the Democratic and the Republican parties see the role the federal govermentis very for the voters.

Political scientist at Washington University in St. Louis, Steve Smith explains the differences between the two major parties: "The two camps hold very different views on the role that the federal government should play. Democrats and President Obama are convinced that it should take an active positive participation in addressing major problems of American society. Republicans and Romney believe that the federal government should not interfere in many areas of life, the role in the whole must fall, and the need to reduce taxes. "

Professor of Finance and Law at the University of Pennsylvania's Lehigh George Nation believes that these differences are due to the peculiarities of each candidate's philosophy: "President Obama deeply believes that the federal government can directly improve the lives of citizens. The governor Romney believes that the government can only give people the opportunity to improve their lives. "

John Gilmore, professor of public policy from the College of William and Mary in Virginia, said that the political views of the two parties for a long time have been changed: "The Democrats have always supported big government programs such as Social Security - Social Security and Medicare. Social Security provides the elderly pensions and Medicare - health insurance. There is also a health insurance program for low-income people - Medicaid. Earlier, Republicans approved of these programs, but not more.”

The author says that Obama is the only true conservative in the race. He is the candidate defending the modestly redistributive and regulatory federal government the country has relied on since the New Deal, is a series of economic programs enacted in the United States, They involved presidential executive orders or laws passed by Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were in response to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call the "3 Rs": Relief, Recovery, and Reform. That is, Relief for the unemployed and poor; Recovery of the economy to normal levels; and Reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression. The Republicans, meanwhile cast the federal government as an oppressive force, a drag on the economy and an enemy of private initiative. The author of the article as we see, supports the Democrats and their position, saying that the federal government is an essential actor in the nation’s economy, a guarantor of fair rules of competition, a countervailing force against excessive private power, a check on the inequalities that capitalism can produce, and an instrument that can open opportunity for those born without great advantages.

In conclusion, I want to say that the title of the piece is meant to be ironic. We ordinarily think of a conservative as a right-winger, but Dionne wants to draw on the original meaning of the term: a conservative seeks to preserve a hallowed tradition under attack by radicals.

I believe that the Democrats are right saying the federal government, if it is given power, can improve the lives of all American citizens. And I think that Barack Obama, as a Democratic president, can change the economy, conduct a new course that will improve he lives of Americans.