Democratic values in 2012 Presidential election
“Discuss the key foreign and domestic issues from the 2012 Presidential campaign. Evaluate to what extent each party’s policies were consistent with democratic values.”
The 57th quadrennial United States Presidential Election was held on the 6th of November 2012, with a fight out between the incumbent, President Barack Obama for the Democratic Party, and Mitt Romney as the Republican candidate. The election saw two candidates with largely different approaches to key foreign and domestic issues.
The centre point of the Presidential Election was the economy. The Democrat’s Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which was a stimulus package worth $768 (USD) billion that included tax cuts, investment in education, infrastructure, energy research, health and other programmes that would benefit the economy. Obama also bailed out the US auto industry and signed trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. However the Republican’s Romney planned to centre on tax cuts, repeal of Obama’s 2010 healthcare reform law and the repeal of 2012 Wall Street and banking regulations. Romney argued that reduction in regulation would stifle economic growth. In response to Obama’s actions and Romney opposed the auto industry bailout and proposed to reduce federal spending significantly. Issues such as the auto industry bailout is a reflection of individualism, Romney emphasised the need of self-reliance from within the industry whilst Obama did not. However overall both candidates agreed that the economy was in dire need of repair.
A key foreign issue from the Presidential Election was the ‘War on Terror’. The Democrat’s Obama initially agreed to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan during his first term as President however he has since begun to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan with the end of the combat mission to end by 2014. This can be linked to Democracy itself and the implementation of it. However the Republican’s Romney initially
The 57th quadrennial United States Presidential Election was held on the 6th of November 2012, with a fight out between the incumbent, President Barack Obama for the Democratic Party, and Mitt Romney as the Republican candidate. The election saw two candidates with largely different approaches to key foreign and domestic issues.
The centre point of the Presidential Election was the economy. The Democrat’s Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which was a stimulus package worth $768 (USD) billion that included tax cuts, investment in education, infrastructure, energy research, health and other programmes that would benefit the economy. Obama also bailed out the US auto industry and signed trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. However the Republican’s Romney planned to centre on tax cuts, repeal of Obama’s 2010 healthcare reform law and the repeal of 2012 Wall Street and banking regulations. Romney argued that reduction in regulation would stifle economic growth. In response to Obama’s actions and Romney opposed the auto industry bailout and proposed to reduce federal spending significantly. Issues such as the auto industry bailout is a reflection of individualism, Romney emphasised the need of self-reliance from within the industry whilst Obama did not. However overall both candidates agreed that the economy was in dire need of repair.
A key foreign issue from the Presidential Election was the ‘War on Terror’. The Democrat’s Obama initially agreed to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan during his first term as President however he has since begun to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan with the end of the combat mission to end by 2014. This can be linked to Democracy itself and the implementation of it. However the Republican’s Romney initially