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Obama to run for president in 2012

21 January 2011 11:55 (UTC +04:00)

"We’ve made some progress on getting our economy back in order, and I think the president wants to continue to do that," AFP quoted White House spokesman Robert Gibbs as saying on Friday.

Gibbs also added that President Obama planned to file official candidacy papers in the coming months.

This is while the approval ratings of the first African-American president of the US are at their worst levels since he took office in 2009. The latest polls showed that less than half of Americans approve of his performance in the White House.

According to Gallup figures, Obama’s approval ratings stood at 45 percent in November, down from almost 65 percent during his first days in office in 2009.

Some experts believe that Obama’s chances to win a second term in office are little since he failed to keep the promises he had made.

"With regards to one, basically bringing the troops home from Afghanistan, he has failed on that; two, a real peace in his financial reform plan, he has failed on that; healthcare reform, he has failed on that," Allen Rolland, online columnist from California told Press TV on Friday.

According to more detailed information from officials, Obama intends to close the White House’s political office and send his deputy chief of staff Jim Messina to run the campaign in his home town of Chicago.

Messina will be joined by other Democratic operatives Julianna Smoot and Jennifer O’Malley Dillon in running Obama’s campaign for presidency.

Two years ahead of the next presidential campaign, the rival Republican candidate is yet to be determined.

Among possible candidates, though, are former governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney, former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, former Bush budget director Mitch Daniels, Mississippi governor Haley Barbour, and with little speculations, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

The United States continues to struggle with economic woes and jobless claims.

Republicans are likely to counteract Obama on the grounds that the unemployment rate -- currently at 9.4 percent -- will remain high in forecast.