Der Spiegel says it's time for the world to say good-bye to Obama

Der Spiegel, the Leftist German publication, doubtless over-interprets Tuesday's victory by Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts' special election to fill the seat of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy when it seemingly concludes that POTUS is toast. On the other hand, the other German publications it quotes imagine successes for President Obama during his first year which pretty much exist only in their own fantasies, and those of his other supporters around the world. Moreover, they attribute to Mr. Obama a bi-partisanship and a centrist ideological bent which are also largely imaginary. Barack Obama is an ideologue who, whatever his water-carriers in the media and around the world may claim, has governed as such during his first year in the White House. And from his first day, he has done so with remarkable ineffectiveness.

But Barack Obama is far from finished. His re-election is still more likely than not. And it seems clear that the major obstacle to passing at least the Senate version of health care- over eighty percent of which is identical to the House bill- is the petulance of the furthest Left of the Democrats in the House, who will accept nothing less than what they've already passed. It's not that Brown's victory displays Republican strength; it's more a matter of Democratic weakness. And with three years before the next election and all the prerogatives the presidency has to offer, Mr. Obama is inevitably going to be in a far stronger position when he has to run for re-election than our German friends believe.

Despite Brown's victory on Tuesday and a national mood which clearly tilts Republican, I would be surprised if the Republicans re-captured either House of Congress this November. And if I had to place a bet on the result of the 2012 election, it would still be on Obama. Time- and the media- are, after all, on his side. The former cannot help but bring some improvement, however small, to the unemployment rate before Mr. Obama has to face the voters. And the latter will continue to imagine successes and triumphs which aren't really there, while covering up for the fecklessness one of the most engaging and at the same time least effective chief executives of modern times.

HT: Drudge