For Obama, Long-Term Problems and Short-Term Pain

By FLOYD NORRIS
NYT

Barack Obama’s victory in Tuesday’s presidential election was in many ways a repeat of Ronald Reagan’s win 28 years ago.

His eventual success as president may depend on a willingness to do what Mr. Reagan did: be willing to combat long-term economic problems while accepting short-term pain and the risk of a prolonged slowdown that could damage his popularity.

Both men were elected in a year when a recession had severely damaged the popularity of the incumbent. In each race, the incumbent party’s candidate attempted to paint the challenger as a dangerous risk.

Reagan was portrayed as a right-wing actor with extremist views; Mr. Obama as an inexperienced liberal who was weak on national defense and had “palled around,” as Governor Sarah Palin put it, with a terrorist.

In each case, it appeared that the presidential debates helped to persuade voters that the candidate was an acceptable choice.

(More here.)