By President Barack Obama is expected to make public next week his plans to seek another term and continue with the major economic reforms initiated under his administration, officials from the Democratic Party bared on Saturday.
The President would be firming up re-election plans with the filing of campaign papers with the Federal Election Commission, according to party officials who also added that the filing with FEC signals the start of series of campaign fund raisers for Obama. They further stressed the fund raising for the 2012 campaign is expected to top records in political spending.
The Democratic officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said that no final date has been set yet for the announcement or filing but hinted it would be a matter of days.
In 2009, Obama, then a Senator from Chicago ran for President under the popular banner of change and was convincingly swept into power as the first ever black American President in history.
But Obama’s high political capital at the start of his administration was slowly eroded by persistent problems of economic recession and unabated job loss that left many Americans wanting for more concrete government action.
Midway into his term, Obama also suffered a huge blow in his hold on Congress when the Republicans wrestled the House leadership from the Democrats thereby rendering Obama’s legislative agenda under heavy pressure.
Recently, the White House entered into a tough budget battle with the Republicans in Congress, citing the need for less dependence on foreign oil and allocation of more resources for innovation and education.
While pressed to make deep spending cuts, the White House is also defending the US government’s costly participation in the enforcement of UN-sanctioned military actions against Libya.
Recent surveys cite Americans are split over Obama, with several polls showing 47.4 percent approving of his performance while some 46.6 percent disapproving, according to polls by Real Clear Politics.
Political pundits said Obama’s likely opponents could be anyone from Republican rivals that include former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, and former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, and former Alaska Governor and former vice presidential contender Sarah Palin.
