Obama in the middle

How things change! It wasn’t that long ago that the Wall Street was under fire for its greedy ways causing The Great Recession. Ten years later, it has made a remarkable comeback. Several top bankers have served in the Trump presidency, successfully easing recession-era restrictions on complex trades. And they have been enriched, along with other HNWIs, via massive tax cuts under Trump.

The camel is back in the tent. Rational calculations for self-preservation should cause Wall Street types to keep on rooting for Trump. But it isn’t so simple to keep on backing a mercurial commander in chief whose bull-in-a-china-shop tendencies regularly alarm the paper financiers. Then there is this fear that another term for The Donald might weaken the country’s foundation if the divisiveness is not shed.

Last week, Michael Bloomberg’s almost-entry into the presidential race seemed to respond to the calls for “moderation” that are being made by wealthy Democratic donors. The rise of Elizabeth Warren has alarmed the corporate America, with her proposals on wealth tax and healthcare seen as an anathema. Together, Warren and Bernie Sanders round off the progressive left’s potential voting share among Democrats at 35 percent.

Even though Joe Biden is still the front-runner on a national level, regularly polling between 30 and 32 percent of the vote, his shaky debate performances and lack of championing a single campaign issue of import are causing dismay among the moderate wing of the Democrats. In the first four presidential primaries taking place coming February, Biden is not even the front-runner in the two opening states (Iowa and New Hampshire), leading only in Nevada and South Carolina, with Warren close by.

There are growing calls within the party that in order to beat Trump, the Democrats need to settle on a presidential candidate that can appeal to the independent voters as well. Barack Obama is now the leading voice calling for that in the open, as the former president has jumped in the ring. It is a bit too early for Obama to be making this kind of an intervention, but perhaps he feels the time is now.

“There are a lot of persuadable voters and there are a lot of Democrats out there who they just want to see things make sense. They just don’t want to see crazy stuff,” The New York Times quoted him as recently telling an audience of donors. The progressive left isn’t going to like such sermons, but the need is to find a bankable candidate for the general elections and to not tear the party in the primaries.

What Obama is suggesting is that America is divided and liberal ideals are the last thing that can unite it. Better, then, to have a candidate doesn’t ruffle the feathers much, a candidate who can defeat Trump, then govern from the center and try to achieve goals that are shared by a majority of Americans. Obama would know a thing or two about that. After all, he got himself re-elected in a tough race in 2012 by running on a similar message.