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| Daily News Brief November 7, 2012 |
Top of the Agenda: A Reelected Obama Faces Tough Hurdles
President Barack Obama was reelected to a second term (WashPost), winning a majority of both the electoral vote and the popular vote. In CNN exit polls, 60 percent of voters named the economy as their top issue.
The U.S. House will continue to have a Republican majority, while
Democrats retained control of the Senate, complicating prospects of
reaching a deal on the so-called "fiscal cliff" (Politico). Obama also could face a number of near-term challenges on Iran and Syria (CS). In his acceptance speech last night,
the president said he would seek to work with leaders of both parties
on reducing the deficit, reforming the tax code, fixing the country's
immigration system, and "freeing ourselves from foreign oil."
Analysis
What faces President Obama next
is not "overinflated expectations of partisan, racial and global
healing, but granular negotiations over spending cuts and tax increases
plus a looming showdown with Iran," writes Peter Baker in the New York Times.
"President Barack Obama's reelection will provide him with little time to celebrate in the face of an array of global problems
that include challenges posed by Iran's nuclear program and widening
political instability in the Middle East, which is fueling sectarian
conflict and chaos from Syria to North Africa. Behind these front-burner
problems, Mr. Obama in his second term likely will have to refine U.S.
policies toward China, in light of its growing economic might and
military power in the Pacific," writes Jay Solomon in the Wall Street Journal.
Foreign Policy asked fourteen top analysts
to peer ahead at the longer-term issues confronting the United States,
noting that the incoming president faces "a daunting list," including
Europe's debt morass, North Korea's nuclear program, sagging U.S.
competitiveness, and worsening climate change.
BBC correspondents around the world give their thoughts on what an Obama victory means for nations from Iran to China to Pakistan.
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