In 2008 Barack Obama was propelled into office largely by a financial crisis. In 2012, he might find that what goes around in politics comes around, as his bid for reelection risks being thwarted by yet another financial crisis. The main difference between then and now will be that this crisis did not originate in the U.S., but in Europe. And it will be one over which President Obama has no control.
Judging by recent events, the euro zone's end-game may not be far off. Greece's economic and fiscal reforms appear to be seriously off track, and the debt crisis has now spread from Greece, Portugal and Ireland to Spain and Italy. These latter two countries are aptly described as being both too big to fail and too big to bail.
Compounding matters is a growing German backlash against future bailout packages. This popular pushback is constraining Chancellor Angela Merkel's room to either increase the size of the euro-zone bailout fund or to propose a euro-bond issue commensurate with the size of these countries' financial problems.
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