The Aug. 5 edition of The Economist caricatured the U.S. president as mimicking Japan's "absentee" Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who seems content to "lead from behind the crowd" and who is at a loss about what to do to end Japan's political and economic paralysis, even as corporations and ordinary people at the grassroots level seem dedicated to reviving the economy and employment in Japan.
In Washington, meanwhile, President Barack Obama seems to have all but turned over his governing responsibility to Republicans controlled by the anti- government and anti-democratic tea party.
In 2008, Americans voted in Obama to reject the Republican-led attack against middle-class and working Americans. Criticizing President George W. Bush and Republicans for dismantling democratic America, Warren Buffett, one of the richest Americans, quipped: "It is class warfare. The government is letting my class win hands down."