Letters to the editor

Now that Barack Obama has surged to a second term in the White House after overwhelming Republican Mitt Romney by 303 electoral votes to 206, his voters expect him to work harder for bipartisan support to reshape the welfare state and revive growth as they have given him an opportunity to redeem his promise to lift the US out of the economic mess it finds itself in. However, the US President faces challenges in his second administration that almost match those that he faced in his first and he knows that a second administration for a President can either be a time to build a legacy or a time of minimal accomplishment since there are huge challenges—like an ailing economy facing a major debt problem whose resolution cannot be postponed much further, a flat growth rate and unemployment with minimal job creation. Since the Republicans have retained control of the House of Representatives, they have the potential to block key legislation. Obama will need to find a way to work with a divided Congress and address the automatic spending cuts and tax increases that will come into force at the end of the year. For the Republicans, their divisive politics and regressive social agenda seem to have alarmed large sections of the working class, women and minorities. To survive, they need to adapt to the changing demographics in America and widen their political base.

Dilbag Rai, Chandigarh

Rate cut

“Yields fall on IIP data; rate cut debate revives” (FE, November 13). It

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