Two years after Barack Obama swept into office and Democrats regaled the country with silly stories about a political realignment that would change the course of politics, voters last night sent Democrats packing in dozens of House districts around the country.
That realignment promise turned out to be a bit like Karl Rove’s earlier claims of a pending “permanent Republican majority.”
When will both parties start listening to voters? They keep misreading elections to mean that somehow the country has suddenly shifted to believe that one party’s ideology is sacrosanct.
Guess what? In 2006 voters didn’t suddenly become liberal ideologues. Not in 2008, either. They got fed up with George Bush and Republicans and decided to try something different.
They gave Dems a try — and again got fed up, so last night they threw them out to give Republicans a chance.
We’ve now seen three wave elections in a row, a historic anomaly. It seems pretty clear that voters are wildly unhappy with Washington — and for good reason. In CNN’s exit polls, only 43 percent of voters had a positive opinion of Democrats, and 41 percent of the GOP.
They’re willing to give Republicans control of the House, but there’s little doubt they’ll be just as willing to throw them out again. They haven’t given anyone carte blanche to pursue their partisan interests or to consolidate their power.
A series of decisions by the White House sealed the Democrats’ fate. All grew out of an oversized sense of support from the American people and a dangerous belief that President Obama could overcome any difficulties with speeches and persuasion.
First, he pursued health-care reform when voters were terrified about their economic future. This aggravated some voters but, more important, it energized conservatives.
Overall, voters aren’t animated by this topic. In yesterday’s NBC/WSJ poll, only 3 percent said their vote was meant to send a message of opposition to health-care reform — but conservative voters are enraged by it. It accounts for a serious portion of the “enthusiasm gap.”
To make matters worse, the outcome depressed turnout among Democratic voters, who believe that the health-care law didn’t go far enough. In Fox’s exit polls, 31 percent of voters said they wanted the law expanded; 16 percent said leave it as is. Together, that’s about the same percentage as said they wanted it repealed.
So, Obama managed to please almost no one while expending serious political capital.
Second, the White House fumbled in promising that the stimulus would keep unemployment below 8 percent. When unemployment ticked up to 10 percent, Americans were alarmed. If the White House underestimated the seriousness of the crisis, then how could Americans believe its other promises?
Third, the president talked a lot about bipartisanship but strangely failed to ever invite GOP Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell to meet him at the White House. That’s disgraceful, especially for someone who claims to be all about outreach.
Yes, the GOP dug in on a policy of obstruction, but so did Newt Gingrich when he came to power, and that didn’t stop Bill Clinton from building a relationship with him — a relationship that ultimately helped Clinton get reelected.
Finally, the White House operates in a bunker mentality. It’s isolated from the rest of the world and isn’t interested in listening to criticism. It’s so insulated from reality that it clings to the belief that the election results aren’t, at least in part, a serious rebuke of the president. Perhaps Team O will reassess that in the early morning hours as they have the full data before them — but don’t count on it.
It’s true that many House members who lost last night hailed from conservative districts and rode the waves of 2006 and 2008 into office. They were essentially renting the seats; it wasn’t a shock to see those districts tilt back toward the GOP. But far more members lost than just the conservative or moderate Dems.
Obama must acknowledge that, no matter how justified he feels on his policy decisions, he just isn’t connecting with many Americans on his pet issues.
kirstenpowers@aol.com