'The challenge for Obama is to re-ignite the grassroots enthusiasm..'

As the American political system gears up for election 2012 Amy Rose Harte ponders the prospect of Obama's re-election.

Many Americans feel President Barack Obama has an audacity to hope of re-election next year.

Faced with an unemployment rate of 9.1 per cent, sluggish economic growth, rampant foreclosures and projected public debt of $15 trillion this year, it's fair to say the American people are less-than-enthused about the current campaign to put Obama back in the Oval Office.

Despite the lacklustre sentiment, it's shaping up to be a fascinating battle, with no small part due to a line-up of Republican candidates more colourful than a bag of skittles.
The most recent Gallup polling put Obama's job approval rating at a term-low of 40%, with his rating among groups who previously gave him strong support - 18 to 29 year-olds, Hispanics, post-graduates and those on low-incomes - now sinking below the 50% threshold. It's shaky territory for Obama, especially when one considers that out of 10 incumbent Presidents who sought re-election since the Second World War, not one with final pre-election approval ratings below 48% has won.

With Republicans ebullient on the back of mid-term gains and the growing Tea Party movement, Obama appears to be on an electoral back-foot.

Meeting the boundless expectations of millions of Americans in the wake of the warm and fuzzy 'change' election was never going to be easy. Agitating this further has been a two-year run in office characterised by compromises in key policy areas, accusations of dispassion, mid-term election losses and more recently, the debt-ceiling debacle.

Although an eleventh-hour deal was eventually struck by Congress, the protracted impasse meant Obama's reputation took a sledding. Many believe that his over-conciliatory approach to Republican demands confirmed rather than confounded his critic's beliefs that he is indecisive and overly-accommodating.

It's not the only headwind Obama will have to endure over the next 12 months of course. Critics say his small-donor army is already proving less willing to dig deep this time round, with a vast majority of Obama's past donors - some four million - not yet giving him any money. Then there's the $447 billion American Jobs Plan which he must sell, and which has already drawn stern opposition from congressional Republicans who argue that his 'Buffett Tax' on millionaires is akin to a 'class warfare' of sorts.

Camp Obama remains upbeat however, albeit on a public level. As David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist outlined out in a recent memo, the President's base support continues to be strong and among Democrats it is stronger than any Democratic President dating back to Harry Truman through to this point in their Presidency. Furthermore, the base has mobilised, says Axelrod, who points to some 12,000 individuals who applied to join the campaign over the summer, as well as 552,462 donors who have given to the campaign in the second quarter of 2011, more than they had in all of 2007. Axelrod is also holding out that one key but indefinable factor -Obama's likeability - might push him over the line.

The real challenge for Obama is to re-ignite the grassroots enthusiasm for his re-election, and to remind people why he wowed in the first place. Although given the souring economy and an increasingly bitter electorate, this could be easier said than done.

Amy Rose Harte works as Parliamentary Assistant to Michael McCarthy, TD.