By Alexander Miza americanhellenic.org
In this past election, the United States as a nation spent upward of $6 billion in electoral races (most of them State and local) and we got the same exact result as before: a Democrat in the White House and a split Congress with a Democratic Senate and a Republican House. Although the result in the composition of our national government is roughly the same let’s take a look at a few items that are of particular interest to the Greek-American community how they might affect Hellenic issues in the next two and/or four years.
The Presidency & the Administration:
President Obama was reelected with a larger-than-expected margin. Although neither of the candidates had taken any solid positions on Hellenic Issues during the campaign, the result can be seen as slightly positive for the following two reasons.
• President Obama did not engage in anti-Greece rhetoric like his opponent Mr. Romney did during the debates or election rallies. Even if Mr. Romney did not make his comments on Greece with a derogatory intent and only spoke of Greece for brevity’s sake and during the debate, his statement was still critical of Greece en-face.
• More importantly, the economic policies implemented on behalf of a Democratic administration and in particular those of President Obama are expected to be generally more fiscally accommodative due to the economic ideology of advisors and party base. To be more exact, the United States, under the Obama administration has been rumored to have pushed its large European allies (Germany) in a more accommodative stance when it comes to monetary and fiscal policy.
Although this was not done out in the open for political reasons (the US does not want to show that it is meddling in exclusively European affairs), there are several instances that the US Administration has urged the EU to monetize debt and resolve its sovereign crisis in a more accommodative manner for Greece compared to what the Bundesbank preferred.
This policy on behalf of the IMF and the US Administration can be seen as marginally aiding the Greek people and the Greek government in its negotiations vis-à-vis the Troika. A Republican White House could have possibly followed the same course but due to pressures from fiscal conservatives and the Tea Party, that was unclear.
With regards to the Secretary of State, Ms. Hillary Clinton will be leaving the post, possibly to be succeeded by Senator John Kerry. Although Ms. Clinton was well educated on Cyprus, FYROM and Turkey, her stance was at best one of tiptoeing around Turkey’s positions. Mr. Kerry might not be as well versed on our issues and it is unclear what positions he will take.
We do not expect much to change on these issues under Senator Kerry’s (or anyone else’s) leadership of the State Department primarily because of Turkey’s elevated importance in the region. With Syria in constant civil war, Israel and Gaza entangled in a barrage of hostilities, the ongoing Israel-Iran standoff and the situation in Libya and Egypt still very fragile, the US will need Turkey’s assistance more than ever, especially since the latter is the US’s largest NATO ally in terms of manpower.
As a result, although hopeful, we do not forsee the US pressing Turkey on issues like Cyprus and the religious freedom of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. That said, as a Hellenic Community, we need to make our best effort to approach the new leadership in the State Department and the Administration to educate them on those issues and advocate for action. For the reason mentioned above, it is now more imperative than ever to do so.
The US Senate:
Unfortunately, for the first time in decades, the US Senate is left with no Greek-American members. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) retired citing a polarization in American politics and Shelley Berkley (D-NV) failed to win the Senate seat by only ten thousand votes. Although not Greek-American by heritage, Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) remain in the Senate and have been vocal advocates of our issues. It’s now more important than ever to support those Senators and educate new ones.
The US House of Representatives:
In the US House, the Greek-American community lost a great friend: Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA). Luckily, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), who beat him in that election, has been a great supporter and has a great record on Hellenic issues. He is also likely to become the ranking Democrat in the Foreign Relations Committee. On the Republican side, with Ileana Ros-Lehtinen being termed out as Chairman of that committee, Ed Royce (R-CA), another great friend of our community and someone who is very well-versed on the issue of Cyprus and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, is potentially going to become the new Chairman.
In other California races, candidates that have had a good record on Hellenic Issues, such as Loretta Sanchez, Linda Sanchez and Adam Schiff were easily re-elected. Across the country, Greek-American members of the House such as Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), John Sarbanes (D-MD), Niki Tsongas (D-MA) and Dina Titus (D-NV) were elected with a wide margin and are said to be in safe districts for the 2014 mid-term election.
Overall, with new members joining the House of Representatives, especially in California where the re-districting had some additional effects, it becomes imperative to approach and educate the new Members of Congress. The AHC is inviting people across CA and the US to join our Congressional District Committees comprised of members that are located in specific districts to act as representatives and educate the locally elected officials on our issues.
