To those outside the United States, the Republican victory in this week’s midterm elections may seem like the latest instalment of a dystopian film franchise. Red skies have descended on the US, sweeping away the last idealist sentiment held since the beginning of Barack Obama’s reign.
The Republican Party have gained control of the Senate and the House, as well as winning many governorships. After four years of Congressional struggle, President Obama is left to face an ideologically opposed Congress. The phrase ‘lame duck’ is already filling website screens and newspaper headlines.
All this after the early promise of Obama’s reign. The hope of his Presidential campaign, when the indomitable phrase ‘Yes We Can!’ inspired support at home and abroad, is now extinguished. We could go round and round all day about what happened to that early promise. It disintegrated, breaking apart piece by piece. Congressional gridlock, poor leadership and deep seeded ideological differences all chipped away at that promise.
Obama, it appears, is an idealist. Watch any of his State of the Union Addresses and you will see grand ideas and hopeful schemes. Back in 2008 his campaign for change gave hope to many, a new era appeared to be dawning. As with all idealism, whether exhumed by King Arthur or Barack Obama, it came up against political reality. Or, in Obama’s case, a tough Republican Party with a clear right wing agenda.
Obama is certainly not without fault. Leadership demands consensus building, middle ground and decisiveness to force through an issue. Instead, the Obama administration has been hampered by indecision and a failure to build coalitions. The Democrats have suffered as a result.
Have we entered a Republican Camelot? Does 2014 herald the beginning of a Republican reign that will stretch to a 2016 Presidential victory? Commentators across the media are unsure. There’s little point in gambling on the Presidency yet when there are so many potential Presidential candidates.
To throw in more doubt, this Midterm election is not representative of the electorate who vote in Presidential elections. On Tuesday, the Democrats failed to mobilise their base of minorities, woman and young people. The same groups who gave President Obama the keys to the White House. BBC commentators have suggested that midterm elections are ‘whiter and more male.’ Coupled with low turnout, this may suggest that the Republican swing is in part a protest vote, characterised by voters refusing to turn up.
Both parties know that voter base is not set in stone. Evangelical Christians and working class whites, for example, were once on the side of the Democrats, now they are firmly in the GOP camp. Likewise, the GOP will be aiming to make inroads with minority groups, particularly Latinos, in the lead up to the 2016 election. In that regard the Democrats must tread carefully. They cannot assume support, but must reach out with a clear policy agenda.
For now Americans will live under red skies. Despite suggestions that Americans don’t like the GOP, this election tells us that it’s better to have your enemy make decisions than to live in constant gridlock.
Or perhaps the truth lies with Sideshow Bob, who once said, ‘Your guilty conscience may move you to vote Democratic, but deep down you long for a cold-hearted Republican to lower taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a king.’
Warm idealism has certainly given way to a calculated – perhaps cold – Republican agenda.
Timelines and Tantrums 