Likely House Speaker John Boehner alongside Sarah Palin during campaigning in 2008
U.S. President Barack Obama’s Democratic Party suffered a major defeat at the polls Nov. 2, losing control of the lower house of Congress and shedding seats to Republicans in the Senate.
Republicans picked up at least 60 seats in the House of Representatives, with several races still too close to call. Ohio Republican John Boehner will likely become the next speaker of the house. In the Senate, the GOP have picked up six seats with three races still undecided. Republicans needed 10 seats to change hands to gain control of the Senate.
The much- hyped Tea Party movement delivered mixed results, raising questions about whether it actually helped or hurt Republican chances in several races. While Tea Party candidates were able win Republican primary races, they may have been proved too extreme for more moderate general election voters in some cases.
The Tea Party-affliliated Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky will take up senate seats as Republicans, as will Mike Lee of Utah. Other high profile candidates lost however, including Christine O’Donnell in Delaware to Democrat Christopher Coons. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid successfully defended his seat in Nevada against Sharon Angle, and Democrat Joe Manchin beat Jon Raese in West Virginia.
“The message to America today is that we’ve got to start working together,” Reid said on an early morning television appearance in the United States today.
It is common for parties led by the president in power to lose their first midterm congressional elections. However, with unemployment at 9.6 percent nationwide Tuesday’s results are a reflection of a true anger among American voters. The shift in House seats is the largest in a single election since 1948.
Republicans now find themselves with some power and responsibilities. The party has been criticized for intentionally slowing progress on even non-political issues for the past 18 months in preparation for the elections. Among those issues is the failure to allow a confirmation vote on Obama’s nominee for ambassador to the Czech Republic, Norm Eisen.
“While our new majority will serve as your voice in our people’s house, we must remember, it’s the president who sets the agenda for our government,” Boehner said of the overall results. “The American people have sent an unmistakable message to him tonight, and that message is, ‘change course.’”
While the election day was undeniably a good one for Republicans and a defeat for the president, it leaves the levers of power fairly evenly divided between the two parties. The Democrats control the White House, the Republicans the House, and the Democrats the Senate (only narrowly). This makes the prospect of the two parties working together an avoidable one if anything is to be accomplished in the next two years. The alternative is complete government gridlock at a time of severe crisis, an almost inconceivable prospect… almost…
Comments are closed.