Jan 21, 2010
A Need for Mutiny
It is stunning to see such a reversal in the Democrat’s fortune in the course of one year. As the electorate sees the hopes and dreams degenerate into deficits and taxes, the administration will be inclined to spin the outcome into something other than the rejection that it is.
It is clear that the Democrats misread the mandate. But what should they have done?
Clearly the financial system needed reform. Obama could have started by addressing problems in the banking and financial system that would have clearly enjoyed bipartisan support, and would have been seen as a consensus builder.
The administration could have addressed unemployment with tax credits rather than reckless deficit spending. But when the first program out of the box is to force unions down the throat of business, trample bankruptcy law in the case of GM, pass a hugely flawed Cap and Trade bill, and then force and even more flawed Health Care bill riddled with blatant bribes, then he has created such political uncertainty that economic remedies are effectively neutered.
But the voters’ rejection is as much about style as policy. The unmitigated partisanship, arrogance and deafness to public concerns has pissed off the electorate.
The president prefers making grand speeches to the dirty process of passing legislation. He may have promised change but what we got were old leftists exploiting a crisis to pass unpopular legislation. His call for openness was greeted with contempt by his own party leaders.
If I were a Democrat I would place a large portion of the blame for this destructive hubris at the feet of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. The party picked two horribly divisive leaders. If the Democrats hope to save the ship they need to mutiny and get better captains.
Up here in MA, the general feeling is not that this debacle is anything but bad politicking….that Coakley had never run for such an important office before, her campaign staff was amateurish and not prepared for an election that had such national visibility and outside interest, that she was overly confident, etc. If you look at approval ratings of the Obama administration (60%), one sees that the national ratings in this state don’t reflect what happened to Coakley.
Are people upset with Obama. Sure…lots of folks still out of work. But I’ve heard rumors that there’s a phone polls up here show that a lot of lefty Dems stayed home because they’re upset about the lack of public option in the healthcare bill, i.e. the Dems are losing the LEFT of the party…that would be an interesting development, no?
I agree- The Dems lost the far left just as the Repubs lost the far right when McCain ran.
Obama inherited a shitty economy and we would be hurting regardless, yet the policies of the first year have made it worse- I see it weekly. Employers are frozen.
I think the revolt is over style. The promises of bipartisanship, openness, and transparency became lies. The blatant corruption of payoffs (Nelson) and favoritism (unions) is just more of the same or worse.
The approach to health reform was all wrong. It was a blatant abuse of the majority. Reform does not have to be comprehensive- you focus on the areas of agreement and there were many.
I agree that Brown ran as great a campaign as Coakley ran a bad one. It was not a referendum FOR Republicans as many on the right will play it- I think what we are witnessing in Mass and elsewhere is a period of post partisan politics.