Political Convenience Won Over Chimerica

There seemed no miss that every time when a politician was forced to choose between his domestic political support and sound international relations, he'd have picked his base over his reach. Obama was no exception. Though his selection for the jobs to handle Chimaerica relations is excellent, he has to obey the rules of gravity after all. Particularly this time of the year, when big business is fighting back with entrenched ideological weapons and wide conservative reinforcement.

On the one hand, tires and steel tariffs are bad precedents for global trade, but the damage so far is amendable if communication channels are properly opened and maintained. Also, if the majority of the trade relations is untouched. Chinese protests lacked teeth and further restrictions would produce domestic backlash, and Obama's advisors should know these. The real question here is : can these actions even bring the support from the unions as his political advisors imagined? The answer actually is unlikely.

Protectionism can only buy Obama limited number of votes. Unions alone have very small chance of boosting his job ratings or health care reform. In fact, China continues to buy US bonds will lend more support to his costly programs than anything else. Therefore, I think some actions to flex the musle and show his willingness to "protect American interest" are enough. But rolling down the path of protectionism and thinking of no future domestic consequences would be stupid to say the lest.

Apparently, the president's anachronism on timing of reform has caused him too much trouble. Hopefully he won't generate vicious chain reactions from this.