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United States presidential election of 2016

Wednesday, 9 November 2016 - 11:50 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Knut Wingsch
Category/Kategorie: General, Editorial Reading Time:  15 minutes

🔊 Listen to this Post In the face of the 18-month presidential election campaign, which more and more degenerated into the mud fight, not only the Americans will be happy about the fact that at least this very inglorious episode has now been surpassed. The US voters initially elected the electors of choice in their federal state. On 19 December 2016 the so-called Electoral College will officially elect the new president. The inauguration of the president of the United States will take place on 20 January 2017. Until then, Barack Obama fortunately remains still US President.

Over the past eight years, it has become clear that Democratic US President Barack Obama, to whom nearly Messianic powers have been attributed at the beginning of his first term, but has then been significantly blocked by the Republican Senate and Congress, couldn’t walk on water or share the sea. Nevertheless, much has been achieved. This includes the economic turnaround of the US through clever and prudent economic policy, to cushion the consequences of the legacy of the predecessor George W. Bush and the effects of the bursted real estate bubble and the following financial crisis, the still great health care reform, which has some start-up difficulties, but allows the majority of Americans affordable access to health care plans for the first time, the creation of several 100,000 new jobs, the Iran Deal and the beginning of reconciliation with Cuba, but above all that the President has succeeded in significantly improving the image of the United States in the world, regaining trust and confidence, and reasserting dignity in the office of the US President. There were no presidential scandals. On the contrary, the First Family has presented itself as a role model and still looks gorgeous. Where the sun is shining, there is always shadow. In this case, it is the further alienation of the Republicans and Democrats, and an increasing social division, which is particularly noticeable in economic terms. While the US economy is recovering more and more from the crisis years and is able to generate solid growth rates, an increasing part of the population is slipping through the grid. Particularly far away from the big metropolises, in the rural areas, the economic decline has not yet been completely stopped and this has consequences. One of these is the most irresponsible presidential election campaign the United States has ever experienced. Foreign policy shadows are above all the non-closure of Guantanamo blocked by the Republicans and the not always successful policies in the Middle East and North Africa. The full reorientation of US foreign and economic policy hasn’t been achieved yet. These include the Transpacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Unfortunately, a US president can only act for a maximum of two terms. Given the excellent rates of consent, Barack Obama would undoubtedly be able to win a third presidential election. So far, only very few presidents have succeeded in reaching such a high level of consent at the end of their term of office. All in all, it can be assumed that the one or the other US voter will wish the current incumbent back in the not too distant future. During the election campaign, Michelle Obama has made very noteworthy points, so that it isn’t impossible that we will hear from the Obamas during the 2020 elections again (The Guardian, 26 March 2019: Michelle Obama’s memoir sells more than 10m copies). In the big picture, Barack Obama can already be pleased that history has placed him as the first black, intellectual president between the significantly less presidential and intellectual George W. Bush and Donald J. Trump, giving him extra appeal and nearly Kennedy-like sympathy status.

The result of the presidential election is that the US and the rest of the world unfortunately isn’t spared Donald Trump or as Claus Kleber from ZDF recently formulated: “In the face of global challenges, crises and wars, the office of the US president isn’t a job for career starters.” No one can seriously want a nationalistic, xenophobic, and isolationistic USA, but this is the result of the election, on the memorial day of the Reichskristallnacht and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The candidate was chosen, who obviously has the least knowledge of politics, diplomacy and economics of all candidates. His dubious and unacceptable views on world events will not only concern us extensively in the coming four years, but will also permanently endanger the world order, as we know it. Trump obviously didn’t understand the “Make America Great Again” election slogan, originally used by Ronald Reagan in his presidential campaign. His destructive behavior can hardly be interpreted differently. Adults with children will probably the “Opposite Day” of SpongeBob SquarePants come to mind. In addition, America has been, remain, and will be great without Trump, because it is the Americans who make the country great. How big the damage to the Republican Party through the election campaign will be, will be seen in the future. But there is also a weakened US democracy, the oldest democracy in the world, which need to recover from the “election campaign” in the coming years. The social divide will deepen further. With this Trump delivered his first gift to the equally dubious Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Trump praised and celebrated, and who was one of the first to congratulate him, followed by numerous right-wing populists and right-wing extremists from all over the world, among them of course the Ku Klux Klan (The New York Times, 1 October 2018: 11 Takeaways From The Times’s Investigation Into Trump’s Wealth, The New York Times, 1 October 2018: 4 Ways Fred Trump Made Donald Trump and His Siblings Rich, The New York Times, 2 October 2018: Trump Took Part in Suspect Schemes to Avoid Tax Bills, The New York Times, 4 October 2018: City Officials Join Effort To Examine Trump Taxes, The New York Times, 15 October 2018: A Scheme Aided the Trumps. Tenants Are Paying.).

Chancellor Angela Merkel said about the election result: “Germany and America are linked by values: democracy, freedom, respect for the right and dignity of man, irrespective of origin, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation or political attitude. On the basis of these values, I offer close co-operation to the future President of the United States of America, Donald Trump.” One can almost only wish that Trump will make his promise come true, that the vice president will do all the future work and that Trump himself will only travel the golf courses of this planet, without interfering in politics. But Mike Pence isn’t a real candidate of choice either, which is another representative of post-factual politics.

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