UK: Obama will be hard to beat

Telegraph

Republicans admit Barack Obama will be hard to beat
By By Alex Spillius,
US Republicans have abandoned the gloating rhetoric that followed their midterm election gains in November, admitting that President Barack Obama will be difficult to beat in 2012 and expressing deep admiration for his political skills.

Just months after condemning Mr Obama as a certain one-term flop in the image of Jimmy Carter, senior Republicans now acknowledge that sitting presidents have historically started US presidential campaigns with a major advantage. A series of polls have recently shown the president leading all his potential opponents by a margin of five percentage points or more.

"I consider him a favourite, albeit a slight favourite," said Karl Rove, a former adviser to George W Bush, the previous president. "Republicans underestimate President Obama at their own peril."

Mr Obama's opponents have been taken aback by his readiness to move to the centre, agreeing to extend tax cuts passed by Mr Bush and making concessions on his treasured health care legislation.

Meanwhile the unprecedented grassroots operation that helped Mr Obama win in 2008 is still intact, and it is expected that he will easily surpass the record $700 million raised in his first presidential campaign.

Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who is likely to compete for the Republican nomination, said: "When Republicans act giddy and start measuring the drapes for the [White House] family quarters, I just want to remind them that this guy is going to be sitting on a billion dollars in a campaign fund and he is the incumbent president.

"I have no disagreement with President Obama as a human being. In fact, I will go so far to say one of the things I respect very much is the role model that he has served as a husband and father."

Haley Barbour, the Governor of Mississippi and another potential White House contender, called Mr Obama "one of the greatest politicians in the history of the United States", though he insisted the president was beatable.

Analysts have said that high unemployment and record deficit levels mean Mr Obama will not enjoy a comfortable re-election. But he will be helped by the fact that the likely Republican contenders have not yet shown themselves capable of rivalling his charisma or fund-raising capabilities. Some, such as Senator John Thune of South Dakota and Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, have already dropped out of the reckoning, preferring to wait until 2016 when Mr Obama's two-term limit would expire.

Although midterm voters heavily punished the Democratic Party for the nation's poor economic performance, handing the Republicans control of the House of Representatives and nine state legislatures, polls have shown that many ordinary Americans are not embracing the conservative agenda being pushed by some recently elected Republicans.

In Wisconsin, Governor Scott Walker has become the darling of conservatives across the country for trying to weaken the collective bargaining rights of public sector unions, leading to a two-week stand-off with thousands of protesters. But a New York Times-CBS poll found Americans opposed his efforts by a margin of almost two to one. Mr Obama has called the Wisconsin proposals "an assault on unions".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/republicans/8355285/Republicans-admit-Barack-Obama-will-be-hard-to-beat.html