Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

alp227

(31,962 posts)
Fri Sep 7, 2012, 03:27 AM Sep 2012

(European Central Bank head) Draghi helps out Obama campaign

Barack Obama’s chances of re-election as US president rose on Thursday and the words that did it were not his but Mario Draghi’s.

Long before Mr Obama stood up to accept the Democratic nomination in Charlotte, North Carolina, the head of the European Central Bank had sketched out a new plan to buy the bonds of troubled eurozone countries.

That will not move the polls; it will not move a single vote. But Mr Draghi has lowered the gravest of risks to Mr Obama: a pre-election meltdown in the eurozone that would have blown up banks, pulverised Wall Street, and routed a fragile US economy back into recession.

If that happened, it would not be Mr Obama’s fault, but he would get the blame. Just as the failure of Lehman Brothers doomed his rival John McCain in 2008, a eurozone implosion would create economic odds too great for Mr Obama to surmount.

The eurozone has barely been mentioned in the US election campaign – swing voters in Ohio care little for Spanish bond yields – but economic advisers to Mr Obama and his Republican rival Mitt Romney know its wild card potential.

full: http://liveweb.archive.org/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bc1cf132-f831-11e1-bec8-00144feabdc0.html

I keep hearing on DU about Republicans sabotaging international events to gain ground in elections, first with the Paris Peace Talks in 1968 and then with Iran in 1980. Now that the economy is doing better than Republicans want it to be, and Israel is so far unwilling to initiate war with Iran, I wonder if Karl Rove or someone like him is trying to get tickets to Italy right this minute to fly to Europe and talk Draghi out of this.

1 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
(European Central Bank head) Draghi helps out Obama campaign (Original Post) alp227 Sep 2012 OP
Let's hope that is not the case abelenkpe Sep 2012 #1
Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Editorials & Other Articles»(European Central Bank he...