'Barack Obama Was the Biggest Loser of 2010'

From Spiegel, telling us what we already know. Nice to see it in print even if it is from a German rag.

"Barack Obama was the biggest loser of 2010. He allowed the angry Tea Party movement to grow powerful, he did not pass any decent laws despite his majority in Congress and he was aloof, elitist and indecisive. He had to accept a formidable, yet entirely understandable, defeat in the midterm elections as a result. No one expected much from Obama, at least not during the rest of this year."

"Now, just days before Christmas, Congress has ratified the New START disarmament treaty with Russia. … Will Obama build on this victory? Is it Obama's breakthrough as a president? Will it mark his comeback as a reformer? … Is a new era of cooperation beginning?"

"The opposite is much more probable, namely that the disarmament treaty will be Obama's last significant achievement for a long time. In January, the new Congress will convene. The new representatives who won in the midterm elections will come to Washington, including those Tea Party activists who have little interest in making compromises with Obama. With them, Congress will move to the right …. Possibly the only reason why so many Republicans voted for Obama's law was because they themselves fear the new era and see few chances of passing sensible, bipartisan laws in the new Congress."

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