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Title: Obama Post-Bloodbath: Harder To Govern, Easier To Win In 2012
Source:
SunTimes
URL Source: http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/201 ... _post-bloodbath_harder_to.html
Published: Nov 3, 2010
Author: SunTimes
Post Date: 2010-11-03 12:58:11 by Brian S
Keywords: None
Views: 2600
Comments: 7
The Democratic slaughter Tuesday will make it harder for President Obama to govern -- but might make it easier for him to win re-election in 2012. The Obama White House will shift into re-election mode in a few months, and the 2012 presidential campaign headquarters will be Chicago again, if all goes as planned. But for now, a lot of attention on the political front will have to be on dealing with a GOP-controlled House and a Senate where Republican gains will make it harder to get the 60 votes needed to get anything done. Obama will reach out to Republicans during his press conference today. The Democratic slaughter Tuesday will make it harder for President Obama to govern -- but might make it easier for him to win re-election in 2012. The Obama White House will shift into re-election mode in a few months, and the 2012 presidential campaign headquarters will be Chicago again, if all goes as planned. But for now, a lot of attention on the political front will have to be on dealing with a GOP-controlled House and a Senate where Republican gains will make it harder to get the 60 votes needed to get anything done. Obama will reach out to Republicans during his press conference today. The Obama team is bracing for what is coming under a GOP-run House, something we saw during former President Bill Clinton's years in office. There will be lots of House congressional investigations and subpoenas from committees with new Republican chairs. But sometime after the new year, the Obama political focus will not just be on presumed Speaker John Boehner, the Ohio Republican, but on the Republicans potentially in the running for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. Given the new climate Tuesday's election results created -- a repudiation of the Obama agenda -- one could argue that Republicans taking some responsibility for governing is not the worst thing for Obama. Obama passed his major items -- health care and Wall Street reform, to name two -- only with Democratic votes. The contrast between Democrats and Republicans will be drawn more sharply as Republican leaders wrangle with new members in their caucus -- some of whom are in Congress with the help of Tea Party activists -- who will have their own strong ideas on what they want to do. Heading into 2012 -- especially if unemployment and home foreclosures remain high -- not having sole ownership of the economy is not such a bad development for Obama. Those who see Tuesday's results as an indication that Obama cannot be re-elected are wrong. An embarrassment, yes. But after House Republicans swept to power in 1994, Clinton won re-election in 1996 with 49.2 percent of the vote to 40.7 percent for then-Sen. Bob Dole and 8.4 percent for Ross Perot. The Obama administration prudently loaded a lot of its major initiatives in the first two years, with Democrats in control of the House and Senate, so the shift will likely be an emphasis on regulations more than legislation. The era of passing major legislation may be over, leaving undone matters very important to the Democratic base: immigration reform, environment measures known as cap and trade, repeal of the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy and "card check," which unions want to make it easier to organize. Republicans have vowed to repeal the new health care and Wall Street laws -- just as the Obama administration in the coming months will be writing regulations on how these new programs will be implemented. Immigration and climate change/energy proposals might stay shelved. "Unless there is a dramatic change in Republican strategy," Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told me, "where they are prepared to sit down and work with this president over the next two years, I'm afraid most of our efforts are going to be stopping bad things from happening."
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#1. To: Brian S (#0)
Wishful thinking.
Obama's first all-by-his-lonesome budget, btw, calls for a $1.17 trillion deficit.
Past election results be damned, eh? {{{chuckle}}}
Never swear "allegiance" to anything other than the 'right to change your mind'!
CBS News agrees with me. Owe-bama can't win in Ohio now, Brian S. And without Ohio, you lose a Presidential race. The simple, ugly fact is your Messiah became a lame duck about 11PM est last night.
Obama's first all-by-his-lonesome budget, btw, calls for a $1.17 trillion deficit.
Owe-bama can't win in Ohio now, Brian S. And without Ohio, you lose a Presidential race. The simple, ugly fact is your Messiah became a lame duck about 11PM est last night. You are counting your chickens before they hatch. This is pretty much a repeat of 1994, which means an Obama come back is definitely possible. Furthermore if you are going to use this election to show Obama can't win, you should consider all the states that showed republicans couldn't win back from 2008. If there can be a swing in 2 years from blue to red, it can swing from red to blue. Obama is clearly weakened. But to assume he is dead is a blunder.
Not if the Clintons have a desire for Hillary to be POTUS! Obama is all but finished.
Soros , the Jewish Money changer who owns the DNC has pulled his support for Obama. Obama is a one term president.
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So wrong its actually amusing. 1. The economy is horrific, and its going to get worse. There is no stopping it now, this administration and congress didn't take the steps necessary in 2009. In fact, they EXCERBATED the problem. 2. In 1994, Clinton was a pragmatic politician, not firmly wed to 'ideology'. Owe-bama is, thats how we got from a ugly deficit under Bush to financial nightmare Owe-bama and Pelosi and Reid have brought down upon all of us via deficit spending. 3. We did NOT see in the 1994 mid terms what we witnessed last night. Look at the governorships that changed hands, just in time for redistricting. If you don't think THAT will make a helluva difference in Owe-bama's reelection chances, we shouldn't be having this conversation. You simply don't understand 'how things work' in this specific area. He's lost Ohio, there is no disputing it. And with that, the Presidency. 4. 19 STATE LEGISLATURES changed from Democrat to Republican last night. If you don't think that will make a helluva difference in Owe-bama's reelection chances...again, we shouldn't be having this conversation because you simply don't understand how things work in THIS specific area. 5. While the average American wasn't thrilled with Congress in 1994...TODAY they positively HATE IT. 6. IN 1994, the average American, about 40% thought fairly well of the Federal Government 'overall'. TODAY that percentage is THREE (3) PERCENT. 7. More Americans are unemployed TODAY than at any point in our nation's history, let alone 1994. 8. More Americans have experienced a foreclosure on their home than at any point in US History, let alone 1994. 9. More Americans are on Foodstamps today, than at any point in our nation's history, let alone 1994. 10. More Americans have experienced Bankruptcy since January of 2007, when Democrats took over both Houses of Congress, than at any point in our nation's history. 11. Overall, last nights election DWARF'S 1994 in every way you care to name. From County, to City, to State, to elective Federal Offices, there is NO COMPARISION beyond the fact Republicans won big. I could go on listing the differences...but if you can't see them clearly enough to avoid making this laughable comparision in the first place, its a waste of time and bandwidth.
Obama's first all-by-his-lonesome budget, btw, calls for a $1.17 trillion deficit.
#2. To: Badeye (#1)
Wishful thinking.
#3. To: Brian S (#2)
#4. To: Badeye (#3)
CBS News agrees with me.
#5. To: Rhino (#4)
an Obama come back is definitely possible.
#6. To: Brian S (#0)
but might make it easier for him to win re-election in 2012.
Barrack Hussein Obama
President of the United States of America said that some Americans ; "They can come for the ride, but they gotta sit in back."
#7. To: Rhino (#4)
This is pretty much a repeat of 1994, which means an Obama come back is definitely possible.
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