jillian
Princess
An interesting perspective from the always interesting ragin' cajun.... James Carville.
FT.com / Comment / Opinion - Obama can avoid midterm blues
There are 14 months to go before a majority of Americans go to the ballot box again. Frequent comparisons are being made to the 1994 Clinton healthcare debacle and the ensuing Newt Gingrich-led Republican wave at that year’s midterms, of which I had a front-row view. But it is rarely noted that unlike then, there is plenty of time between now and the 2010 midterm elections
Historically, the first midterm election has usually been bad for a president’s party, often the result of giving back seats won on the president’s coat-tails. According to the latest Gallup poll, Mr Obama’s net approval rating (53 per cent approve, 40 per cent disapprove) is far more promising than Bill Clinton’s in 1994 (45 per cent approval, 46 per cent disapproval) and Ronald Reagan’s in 1982 (42 per cent approval, 47 per cent disapproval).
Much of the Republican hopes are pinned on Democrats’ economic policies failing over the course of the next year. The reputation of congressional Republicans is staked on the economy not getting better under President Obama. Democrats’ archives are full of Republicans promising Americans that Democrat policies won’t work. They offered meaningless alternatives and vehemently opposed each and every measure the economists and budget experts came up with.
If there is some improvement in job growth next year, Democrats will make the case down the home stretch that they not only staved off a major economic calamity inherited from a disastrous Republican administration but also managed to make progress despite unrelenting opposition.
The problem with Republicans, is that, as Ray Charles might have said, they are Republicans. In spite of all these Democratic troubles, the Republicans are held in lower esteem than they were in November 2006 (37 per cent warm, or favourable, against 48 per cent cool) or in November last year (37 per cent warm against 45 per cent cool). There’s been no improvement from elections in which they got clobbered. Our recent Democracy Corps polling showed the Republicans with a 32 per cent warm, 44 per cent cool rating. Sure, the right-wing Republican base is energised – with the “birthers”, tea parties, and town halls as proof – but they have to sustain their agitation, anger and general nuttiness for 14 more months. In elections, you don’t play against yourself; you have an opponent. Luckily, the Democrats are up against a still very unpopular Republican party.
FT.com / Comment / Opinion - Obama can avoid midterm blues