Hold cheers

There seemed to be a collective sigh of relief last night when it became apparent that Americans had re-elected Barack Obama to a second term in the White House.
But the euphoria that surrounded Mr. Obama’s election in 2008 as the first black president of the United States is decidedly lacking this time around. In fact, the party-like atmosphere which greeted yesterday’s outcome already has given way to a hangover, with North American stock markets suffering triple-digit losses as of mid-day trading today over nagging concerns about the U.S. economy.
The election, in effect, changed nothing. Mr. Obama will continue to occupy the Oval Office but over on Capitol Hill, the Democrats remain in control of the Senate while the Republicans held on to their majority in the House of Representatives—raising fears the political gridlock that gripped the last two years of the first Obama administration simply will drag on.
Sure, there were the usual pledges last night to extend hands across the aisle and work together in a spirit of bipartisanship. But we hear the same thing here in Canada after an election—and we know all too well how long that lasts.
Compounding the problem south of the border is that tax increases and $1.2 trillion in spending cuts automatically will kick in come January unless Congress reaches a budget deal to avert this so-called “fiscal cliff” that risks plunging the U.S. back in recession. And that, in turn, now poses the biggest threat to Canada’s economic health, as Finance minister Jim Flaherty warned Monday evening.
The American economy has shown signs of improvement of late, and Mr. Obama was re-elected with a solid majority of electoral college votes.
But until Democrats and Republicans make real progress in bridging their ideological divide—and quickly, let’s hold any cheers that happy days are here again just because Mr. Obama is at the helm for four more years.