Out of the Woods

Reports from around the world suggest that the global recession is ending.  It will be interesting to see what the political consequences of this emergence will be.  It would appear that the fast, and very aggressive, government action in country after country had the desired effect.  So, political benefits should accrue to the political leaders who had the wisdom, foresight and courage to act. 

Early signs, however, suggest otherwise.  In the U.S., Obama seems to be in a defensive mode and the opposition Republicans are getting traction from their attacks that his stimulus legislation was a “failure.”  It is ironic that Obama critics claimed that Obama was imposing “European socialism” on America and must be stopped.  Yet, Europe, and other countries, seem to be coming out of their recession faster than the U.S.  According to the BBC:

Japan, France and Germany have all recently emerged from recession in the second quarter between April and June, as have Asian economies like Thailand and Hong Kong.

Now, the Republicans are saying that Obama is a failure because other countries are seeing better economic performance that the U.S.  Presumably, he because he didn’t adopt the more socialist policies from Europe.

Still, the political benefits are elusive.  Incumbent governments all over the world are at risk.  Fortunately for Obama, he has quite a bit of time before he faces the voters again.  But his Democratic majority in Congress is under pressure.  Recent studies have forecast Republican gains in the House and possibly the Senate.  Similarly, with Gordon Brown in the UK.  It is all but assumed that the Tories will retake the government in next year’s general election.

Alas, no good deed goes unpunished.