Deja Vu

Watching the recent events play out in the US Congress was, to quote Yogi Berra, “Déjà vu all over again”.

Some of you may remember that we’ve seen this drama before in the US. Early in his term, George H.W. Bush had to confront the problems of a huge deficit created during the Reagan administration. That George Bush, while dedicated to curbing the deficit, famously promised “NO NEW TAXES”. The Republicans wanted to cut government spending, while the Democrats wanted to raise taxes. Sound familiar?

Oh by the way, in 1990 this HUGE U.S. DEFICIT was about $220 Billion Dollars. Seems like chump change now, doesn’t it?

Anyhow, much like Obama, Bush had to yield to the opposition party’s wishes. The result was a budget with higher taxes and more spending. Bush would later state that he regretted signing this Democratic bill.

This alienated him from his Republican base. At the same time the U.S. entered an economic slowdown. Unemployment rose, and real estate prices declined. Things weren’t as bad as they are today in the US, but these circumstances resulted in that George Bush being a one term President.

You know the saying “those that do not learn from the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them”?

Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign slogan was “Change We Need.” But what the last few weeks has shown, is that there has been a turn for the worse, not the better, in the good old USA.

The deficit is REALLY HUGE. The economy is a disaster. Home building and home equity have not rebounded. Jobs have not materialized. Economic growth is all but stagnant, and the world… Doesn’t seem to be a much better place.

While President Obama inherited many of the problems facing the US today, there seems to have been little progress in solving these problems that are crucial to American voters.

Just as George Bush didn’t get the result he wanted from Congress and alienated his supporters, President Obama did not get what he wanted from Congress and may have alienated a large portion of those who supported him in the last election.

If history does repeat itself, then Barack Obama may well be a one term President like George H.W. Bush and for many of the same reasons.