Political Science

Introduction

            The 2016 US Presidential election was the cornerstone for the Democratic government under the leadership of Barack Obama to end its second tenure as the leading political party in the most anticipating polling in the world. The win over the Democratic Party was to some extent an expected result that cause a huge margin of victory by Donald Trump with 306 seats. As a result of that it became a major setback for the Democratic Party to get into the power for a third consecutive times. However, there are series of domestic and international factors that facilitated the victory for the Republican Party. For an instance, Article 2 of the US Constitution made Barack Obama as the incumbent President to participate in the US Presidential Election for the third time. Based on this understanding, this proposal tries to put an emphasis on the current situation of the US politics where Barack Obama will play a key role to influence the US Congress through different political activities. In addition to this, the research also incorporates a hypothesis and literature review that are important to provide a deal of light on the topic of the research. In addition to this, the research also incorporates a research design and analysis that make the research a success.

Objective of the research

            The aims and purpose of this research is to identify different process and practices that are responsible to influence the US Congress. However, the research is not so gross in discussion rather it specifies its discussion by putting emphasis on Barack Obama, the known figure and popular Ex-President of USA and a principle leader in the Democratic Party of US.

Research questions

What could present Obama done better to have a greater influence on congress?

Hypothesis

            For this research, null hypothesis model should be followed in order to get a clear and impartial outcome. Therefore, the hypothesis of the research are as follows,

H1: The present activities of Obama will help to influence the US Congress profoundly.

H0: The present political activities of Ex-President are not adequate enough to influence the US Congress effectively.

Literature review

            According to Clinton, Lewis and Selin (2014) 2014it can be stated that there are several factors that are directly or indirectly influence the US Congress. For an example, the political parties, staff, colleagues, the President or the interest groups are directly influenced the US congress. Besides this, indirectly, the regular socio-political and environmental issues can also affect the decision making of the US Congress. Furthermore, there are the foreign policy and the international politics are also influenced the US government highly effectively. In this regard, Burnham (2017) asserted that the international terrorism is considered to be an important factor that influenced the US Congress intensely. It can be argued that the US Congress is responsible to take the necessary decisions regarding the role of the government and the stance that US should take in order to combat with the threat with international terrorism. Tate (2018) pointed out that after the attack of 9/11 in the World Trade Centre, it became an open threat for US to participate in the anti-terrorism squad directly. As a result of that deploying US troops in foreign soil like Iraq and Afghanistan were very obvious. In fact, the research of Congress (2016) articulated that the violence and destruction caused by Al Qaida transformed the definition of terrorism and currently the identity of the international terrorism was annexed with the clash between Christianity and Islam. In this regard, effective decision making is highly pertinent for US Congress to deal with terrorism in one hand and change the image of US in international arena as not an aggression rather a victim of events. In this context, the characteristics of the congressional oversight with a legislative jurisdiction over the federal agencies’ decision making is very relevant. As per the research of Frimer et al., (2015) it can be stated that the role of the congress is to conduct a process of cheques and balance over the government policies and find out the gaps and flaws which is firmly resembled with the democratic principles.

            On the other hand, Thomsen (2015) claimed that the public policy making process was not adequate in United States due to the lack of effectiveness of the congress since 2013. The consequences of ineffective decision making facilitated the process of growing problem for US both in domestic and international platform. Henceforth, the role of the opposition party is to influence the ruling party policies in order to execute more effective measures to deal with certain issues. However, in case of the US congress, polarisation became a continuous problem that was tampering with the strong edifice of the federal democratic system. In this context, Becher, Stegmueller and Käppner (2018) carried out a research on the problems and gaps within the US Congress that identified that the public approval of Congress was decreasing in a rapid pace because of the clashes and sceptical attitude between the Democrats and the Republicans over many policies. It can be stated that the conflict between the two leading parties is an obvious event in the spectrum of democracy. According to Brunell, Grofman and Merrill (2016) in a federal political framework it is obvious to incorporate the political clash between political parties into the federal and democratic paradigm. However, it should be clear that the debates and clashes will constrain with the different political interests. The primary focus must be fixed on the progress and development of the country overall. From that point of view, it can be seen that the role of the Congress is to make a constructive decision making through continuous discussion in the legislative framework. Throughout the research of Finocchiaro and Jenkins (2016) it was seen that the high profile political leaders and political figures had a strong influence on the decision making process of the Congress. However, it required a strong bond or cooperation between both the parties in order to propose and procure effective decision making that was lack in case of the US Congress despite of having eloquent leaders. Perhaps, Ritchie (2016) advocated that this kind of trend in the US Congress could be formulated due to heavy imposition of pressure of the leading party on the opposition that led to an obstacle in the process of decision making.

            In addition to this, the local and national non-governmental organisations had a great influence over the Congress. For meeting their interests and getting more privileges from the government those local and national non-governmental organisations played a significant role by imposing pressure on the government and the ruling party effectively. From the research of Barberá et al., (2014) it can be stated that the local union organisations are always trying to make an impression over the US Congress to fulfil their interests. Myriad of instances are there that can identify the significant role of the local and national non-governmental organisations on the US Congress. Lawless & Theriault (2016) mentioned that the non-governmental organisations were part of the indirect members of the US Congress who were entitled to rephrase and re-evaluate the decision making process of the Congress. As they did not have any direct scope to intervene into the Congress activities directly therefore they tried out different practices to influence the Congress more intensely. From that point of view, it is an important aspect in the American legislative system where the non-governmental organisations are responsible to influence the policy framework of the US Congress and try to turn it towards serving their interests. For an instance, the research of Loftis and Kettler (2015) mentioned the importance of the Labour Union in US that constantly pressurised the US Congress to serve and fulfil their interests in a first place. In most of the cases, as Ritchie (2016) argued that the opposition party also tries to put pressure on the US Congress to take necessary steps in order to mitigate the labour union problems. In course of this understanding, the bipartisan and gender issues are also coupled with influencing factors. From the search of Frimer et al., (2015) it can be stated that the question of gender equality is also an important and significant factor. As per the report of Burnham (2017) there are low percentage of the female senators in the US Congress. One of the astonishing reason was resembled with the practice of male chauvinism that created problem for the representation of women in US Congress. As a result of that it became an important aspect for the US Congress to get influenced by the social structure of the US society. However, Clinton, Lewis and Selin (2014) asserted that the role of women in US congress is highly required as they are effectively make a social approach with the people.

            Furthermore, the US Congress is also under the scrutiny of lobbying and corruption. As the report of Thomsen (2015) highlighted the fact that the Senate members believed that they were beyond the reach of the laws and regulation. Therefore, they tried to exploit their monetary influences to overpower the interests of the commoners. Lobbying is also identified as an important aspect in this regard. In the research, Finocchiaro and Jenkins (2016) advocated that the US citizens elect their members of Congress to represent the interests of their local areas. However, in reality, they have to pay a huge sum of money to the federal government in order to get a seat in the Congress. This kind of corruption further obstructs the very nature of federal democracy. as a matter of fact, the efficacy and the efficiency that the US Congress should have was curtailed due to holding positions in the Congress by people who were not fit for the designation. As a result of that it became a problem to run the government and procure effective decision making that are benevolent and effective for the citizens as well as creating an optimistic global image for the people.

Research design

Methodology

            For this topic, it is effective to set the research on the basis of mixed method. It means the research will follow both the qualitative and quantitative method in order to develop an effective research practice. The research is primarily based on the secondary resources that contains both the academic journals and articles in one hand and press and media publication on the other. It requires an in-depth scrutiny of the articles and journals that leads to the insights of the theme of the research. As a matter of fact, as the research is considered to be based on the social science paradigm therefore knowledge through reviewing the articles and journals is necessary instead of conducting a primary source oriented analysis. Furthermore, it can be asserted that most of the journals are used in the literature review portion whereas the news articles will help to draw attention over the analysis section. Therefore, it is important to choose the academic articles and the news articles very carefully. According to Maguire et al., (2015) it can be stated that the role of the mixed method is to put more concern on both the number of articles and the quality of the articles and journals so that it can deliver a dynamic understanding of the concept.

Analysis

            Based on this methodology the research finds out some measures taken by Barack Obama in order to influence the Us Congress more effectively. However, before analysing the activities of Barack Obama it is important to understand the political discourses of Barack Obama that certainly played a significant part in the process of influencing the US Congress. According to the Guardian, it can be argued that there is still opportunities for Barack Obama to come to power by not only renovating the image of Democratic Party but also influencing the Congress from different aspects (Siddiqui, 2018). For an instance, Obama’s speeches on the health of US democracy was clearly identified his keen intention to shake the Congress mind-set on choosing Donald Trump as the President. During the campaign for mid-term election of 2018 Obama exposed the ethic and morality of a government and put more thrust on the edifice of democracy (bbc.com, 2016). Making counter arguments over the authoritarian politics and policies, Obama tried to shift the gaze of the public as well as the US Congress over the role and performances of the current government of Republican government. From that point of view, he revealed his frustration against the Trump government for repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act introduced by the Obama government.

            Besides this, the report of Eilperin (2016) identified that after the end of the Obama term he planned to continue his philanthropic tasks by pointing out the international as well as the domestic issues. Problems like criminal justice reform, immigration, race relations, gun control and nuclear non-proliferation were considered to be the most important aspect on which Obama intended to put more concern. This is also related to the influencing the congress to take second thoughts in order to make any decision. The political manoeuvrings of Obama further turned towards the ‘Advantage 2020’ that is resembled with the vision formulated by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. One of the major purpose behind this was to attract the US Congress about the malfunctioning in the recent government and benevolent practices that Obama still continues. This also tried to differentiate between the present government and the previous ones. Democratic establishment and its preservation are considered to be the most important aspect that Obama follows in its political activities.

            In addition to this, the racial allegation is also identified as one of the crucial point that Obama made against Trump. Based on the report of Baker (2018) it can be argued that during the year of 2011, Trump was passing comments against Obama on the basis of his colour and birth origin. As racism is a very important threat to the democratic foundation of US therefore Obama tries to deal with it more expertly and tried to influence the US Congress over those matters.

Conclusion

            Based on those understanding, it can be articulated that the purpose of this research is to point out the role of Obama in order to influence the US Congress. From that point of view, the research identifies both the purpose and the implication of pressures on the US Congress by Barack Obama after his loss in the election of 2016. Moreover, the research also tries to put emphasis on the process of other influential factors that contribute to the change the US Congress. In fact, the research also underlines an effective methodology in order to procure an effective research on the basis of the theme. Therefore, it can be concluded that the research seems highly effective and relevant enough to deal with the relationship between Obama and his activities to influence the US Congress effectively.

Reference

Baker, P. (2018). Obama Lashes Trump in Debut 2018 Speech. President’s Response: ‘I Fell Asleep.’. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/us/politics/obama-2018-campaign-trump.html

Barberá, P., Bonneau, R., Egan, P., Jost, J. T., Nagler, J., & Tucker, J. (2014, August). Leaders or followers? Measuring political responsiveness in the US Congress using social media data. In 110th American Political Science Association Annual Meeting.

bbc.com. (2016). US Election 2016 Results. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/election/us2016/results

Becher, M., Stegmueller, D., & Käppner, K. (2018). Local Union Organization and Law Making in the US Congress. The Journal of Politics, 80(2), 539-554.

Brunell, T. L., Grofman, B., & Merrill, S. (2016). The volatility of median and supermajoritarian pivots in the US Congress and the effects of party polarization. Public Choice, 166(1-2), 183-204.

Burnham, J. (2017). Congress and the American tradition. Routledge.

Clinton, J. D., Lewis, D. E., & Selin, J. L. (2014). Influencing the bureaucracy: The irony of congressional oversight. American Journal of Political Science, 58(2), 387-401.

Congress, U. S. (2016). Congressional Record-House. Statement by Congressman William D. Ford (D, MI) on “Student Loan Ineligibility for Certain Institutions of Higher Education,” Apr, 12, H2192.

Eilperin, J. (2016). Obama’s post-presidency political focus: Redistricting. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/10/17/obamas-post-presidency-political-focus-redistricting/?utm_term=.f55a193bd40b

Finocchiaro, C. J., & Jenkins, J. A. (2016). Distributive politics, the electoral connection, and the antebellum US Congress: The case of military service pensions. Journal of Theoretical Politics, 28(2), 192-224.

Frimer, J. A., Aquino, K., Gebauer, J. E., Zhu, L. L., & Oakes, H. (2015). A decline in prosocial language helps explain public disapproval of the US Congress. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 201500355.

Lawless, J. L., & Theriault, S. M. (2016). Sex, bipartisanship, and collaboration in the US Congress. Political Parity ‘Impact’Project.

Loftis, M. W., & Kettler, J. J. (2015). Lobbying from inside the system: Why local governments pay for representation in the US Congress. Political Research Quarterly, 68(1), 193-206.

Maguire, N., Beyens, K., Boone, M., Laurinavicius, A., & Persson, A. (2015). Using vignette methodology to research the process of breach comparatively. European journal of probation, 7(3), 241-259.

Ritchie, D. A. (2016). The US Congress: a very short introduction (Vol. 244). Oxford University Press.

Siddiqui, S. (2018). ‘He still has the ability to inspire’: Barack Obama returns to campaign for Democrats. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/07/barack-obama-returns-campaign-democrat-candidates

Tate, K. (2018). Black faces in the mirror: African Americans and their representatives in the US Congress. Princeton University Press.

Thomsen, D. M. (2015). Why so few (Republican) women? Explaining the partisan imbalance of women in the US Congress. Legislative Studies Quarterly, 40(2), 295-323.