Yes we can!  Those were the buzzwords about one year ago with the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States.  It was quite a night when President-elect Obama walked out onto the stage at Chicago’s Grant Park.  He was the 1st president of color to be elected in the United States and it was an electrifying moment as the world realized the reality of the moment.

So I wonder how that “hopey changey” thing is working out for our American friends?  It is a bit of a rhetorical question because Mr. Obama has been faced with some terrible economics since he was handed the Presidential reins from George W. Bush.  I cannot imagine how much worse an economic transition for any President to accept going back to the Great Depression.  It hasn’t worked out for President Obama mainly because of the economy.  Since 2008 the US economy has done very little.  Unemployment has been terribly high and it’s only in the last few months that we have seen some good numbers coming from of the American economy.

Those good American economic numbers are being drowned out by the problems in Europe.  I don’t have to go over that story again.  Every day in our economic news, headlines are dominated by the problems in Greece, Italy, Portugal and other places in Europe.  That bad economic news is almost helping President Obama deflect some of the blame for the economic problems in the United States.

So a year ago he was elected and in another year we will see if President Obama gets another 4 years in the White House.  I do find it quite interesting watching the political race in the United States partly because of the anemic opposition that is being put up from the Republicans.  American television is inundated with 9 candidates from the Republican Party debating populist issues.  This debate has been hijacked to a large extent by the populist tea party movement, which can’t agree about anything other than less government, less taxes and less liberals.

I’ve lost count of the Republican Presidential candidates.  There is Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, Texas Governor Rick Perry, former House leader Newt Gingrich, former Utah Governor, John Huntsman, Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, businessman Herman Cain and a host of others.  There’s nobody that stands out other than maybe former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.  He however, does not have the Royal jelly of the Republican Party, seen as hostile to tea party motives.  So front-runners for the Republican nomination have been going back and forth, the latest flavour of the day has been Herman Cain.

Of course Mr. Cane has had many problems over the last week with accusations of sexual harassment dogging his campaign.  He actually led the Republican field in the polls before the sexual harassment allegations came to light.  However, it is hard to imagine a black conservative candidate winning the Republican nomination.  Now with these sexual-harassment allegations gurgling on every tabloid television show, it’s going to make it that much harder.

It shows you how dirty politics can be, especially in the United States.  It also shows us how despite the problems that Mr. Obama has politically, a year from now it might be 4 more years of “Yes we can!”  Mr. Obama is leading Mitt Romney in a “put together” a poll by major news firms, but of course it’s all conjecture at this point. Nobody knows what is going to happen but it’s pretty clear to me that any solidified political opposition to President Obama is not coalescing anywhere.  If the economy improves and Mr. Obama avoids any mistakes, I think you will be reelected a year from now.

For Canadians it is difficult to understand why the Republican Party would have such a problem with Mitt Romney.  Sure, he is a Mormon and in the United States that creates some negatives for a lot of people.  However, he also orchestrated the Massachusetts health care plan, which is about as good as it gets in the United States.  However, something like that is anathema to the Tea partiers within the Republican Party.  So the debate continues as the Republicans look for a candidate to defeat Obama.

The high water mark so far for the Obama presidency has been the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden.  I’m sure as the Presidential election gets closer, the Democratic Party will bring that up.  It hasn’t quite worked out for Barack Obama like he may have thought 3 years ago.  However, unless the Republicans mount a better challenge, I don’t see him losing a year from now.