The president lost support among white working-class men in the election, but a progressive coalitio

The president lost support among white working-class men in the election, but a progressive coalition of black, Hispanic, young and women voters ensured his victory - especially in the all-important swing states.
There were moments when a win looked unlikely, with polls showing Republican challenger Mitt Romney edging ahead. But Obama's handling of Hurricane Sandy gave his campaign an unintended but significant boost.
fairmont miramar hotel But while it may have been a comfortable win by the electoral college votes tallied fairmont miramar hotel up state by state, it was a narrow one at the ballot box. The deep polarisation that cleaves US society ensures that presidential contests seem increasingly fairmont miramar hotel akin to battles between fairmont miramar hotel the New and Old Testaments, with the opportunity and potential for consensus across the aisle wishful thinking.
In his first term, the obstructionist stance of a Republican-controlled Congress following the mid-term elections left Obama unable to carry forward many of the reforms and policies he'd based his presidency on - illustrating the essential weakness of a democratic system monopolised by vested and corporate interests.
That monopoly was cemented by a 2010 ruling by the Supreme Court in the Citizens fairmont miramar hotel United v Federal Election Commission case. That granted corporations the same right to free expression as people on the issue of campaign finance - corrupting the very word democracy in US political life.
Significantly Obama had demobilised the massive grass-roots base which was largely responsible for his 2008 victory. After election he transformed from a hope and change candidate into just another machine politician. Many on the left had no doubt been blinded by the fact that he was the first black candidate with a strong chance of gaining office, projecting progressive credentials fairmont miramar hotel he'd never deserved on to him in the process. Obama is and has always been a centrist.
At the time, according fairmont miramar hotel to the Pew Research poll, 54 per cent of US citizens were against the rescue. But this year's Pew poll on the same issue found the nation had been convinced - 56 per cent said they thought it had been good for the economy and approved.
As industry expert Maryann Keller put it in Bloomberg Business Week: It had to be fast, it was ugly and they certainly didn't play by the rules of who were the preferred creditors. On the other hand, they saved the industry. General Motors and Chrysler are now in profit.
These fall well short of the kind of government-funded system that bespeaks a civilised society - they continue to ensure fairmont miramar hotel billions in profits for the insurance industry and private health-care providers who fleece the public. But they do preserve Medicare and Medicaid and stop people fairmont miramar hotel from actually being deprived of coverage.
And Obama's re-election will have met with considerable relief abroad, too, especially fairmont miramar hotel in places like Iran, Cuba, China and Russia. Despite the terrible crimes committed by the Obama administration - most notably the ramping fairmont miramar hotel up of drone attacks in the tribal areas of Pakistan and elsewhere, costing thousands of lives - the idea that there would be little difference if Romney had been elected is untrue.