Democrats have a hit the lowest point since Obama entered office; much has fallen, including: the number of seats they have in Congress, the number of governors, a party approval rating that’s fallen behind Republicans for the first time in recent history, enthusiasm, energy. For the next two years, the White House needs to focus on getting the party into a better shape, and Obama’s the best person to do so. The GOP, however, does not want this to happen. Instead, they have warned Obama not to make rash decisions that could affect the next two years. As Indiana Governor Mike Pence says, “The American people sent a deafening message to Washington, D.C., that they want a change on Capitol Hill.”
With only a little over a month left before the 115th Congress enters office, Obama needs to be wary of the actions he takes. While the Senate has been busy trying to get as much as it can done while it still holds power (like defeating Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu’s Keystone XL Pipeline), they will not get far. The GOP has pledged to reintroduce all of these topics once sessions begin again, hoping their majority will allow them to have veto-proof passage of many of the bills.
However, despite the progress, or lack thereof, that has occurred since the midterms, the controversy surrounding the election has been close enough. There were many upsets during election night, including but not limited to: the margins some Democrats lost by, the fact Republicans clearly won the Senate on Tuesday night, the Virginia and North Carolina Senator race, the result of many House races (including New York Representative Michael Grimm), and the number of incumbents who’s re-election or loss was an upset.
Many have attributed these to the strict Voter ID laws that have been recently enforced, including the stopping of 22,000 people in Kansas because they lacked proof of citizenship and over 600,000 people in a tight Texas race where a Representative lost by only 2000 votes. Democrats claim Republicans did this as another attempt to ensure their reelection and bid for the 2016 presidential election. As Wendy Weiser, director of the democracy program at the Brennan Center for Justice, challenged, the GOP won many of their tight raves by what she called the “margin of disenfranchisement.” With this thought, many bitter Democrats are ready to battle to the end in 2016 to stop Republican takeover of the government.
Personally, I think that the Republicans got lucky in a lot of their races, especially in the ones where the won; I do not think they intentionally sabotaged the Democrats (although one couldn't put it past them). In respect to the 115th Congress, I think that they will hold true to their promise to pass Republican measures and their threatening of Obama if he tries to bypass Congress by issuing executive orders. I think New Jersey Governor Chris Christie summed the country up nicely: the talk of a potential government shutdown is “hysteria” as “people [are] looking to make news.”
Questions:
What do you think of Indiana Governor Mike Pence’s claim :“The American people sent a deafening message to Washington, D.C., that they want a change on Capitol Hill.” Do you think he has fairly represented the American sentiment?
Although I agree with Christie’s statement, others may not. Do you think the chance of the government shutting down is only talk as people want to have a headline? Why?
What do you think will happen in the 115th Congress? Will they be successful in getting GOP bills through or will they fail and be a continuation of the lame-duck season that occurs for the duration of the 114th Congress?
Sources:
6 comments:
I agree with Indiana Governor Mike Pence. On November 4th the American people showed that they are sick of what is going on on Capitol Hill. The approval rate of President Obama is horribly low and so is that of Congress. People want change, and they need it. Very little has been accomplished in the last couple of years with President Obama and this will most likely hurt the Democratic party in 2016. Right now, Obama is thought of in a negative light and that was shown in the mid-term election. Nobody who was running in mid-terms wanted to be supported by President Obama. He can either continue to get nothing done, or he could try to push through a lot in the next two years. Most lily, one has to think that he will continue to get little done. I think that if President Obama decides to work with the Republicans in Congress, than something could actually get done. However, many believe that he will continue to add to the gridlock in Washington.
I also agree with Pence. It is clear that people are dissatisfied with Obama, which is reflected in both his low approval ratings as well as the overwhelming success of Republicans in the midterm elections. Although Obama has made some progress during his time in office, he has not done enough to satisfy voters. Consequently, people hold the Democratic party in an unfavorable light, which will undoubtedly hurt it in the 2016 election. With regard to Christie's assertion that a government shutdown is simply "hysteria" and "people looking to make news," I would have to disagree with that. As we saw last year, the government actually did shut down - the threat is very real, especially considering how polarized the parties have been in recent times. Although the Republicans now control Congress, they still have to contend with Obama. Hopefully GOP bills will pass in the 115th Congress, but many people are not optimistic considering it is still the "lame duck" season. Like Will said, it is likely that political gridlock will continue.
Bea, you bring up a very interesting topic. I definitely believe that Governor Mike Pence’s claim,”The American people sent a deafening message to Washington, D.C., that they want change on Capitol Hill,” while accurate in principle, is slightly dramatic. While I agree that the American people are certainly looking for a change in Congress (this change is also known as taking action and making decisions) I do not believe it can be said that the American people in their entirety sent a “deafening” message to Washington. While the voters clearly favored one party and strongly expressed dissatisfaction with the other, I do not think these voters can be considered completely representative of all Americans. For example, this midterm hit an historic 72-year low in voter turnout with only 36.4% of eligible voters visiting the polls. The last time turnout was this low Americans were headed out to fight Hitler’s third reich and Mitch McConnell was only nine-months old. Back then men and women were kept from the polls due to military service or war preparation, not because of a simple lack of interest. To say that this tiny turnout is a “deafening message” is a slight overstatement. Likewise, ehe election was not only bad for Democrats, but bad for democracy. In fact, in 43 states less than half the eligible population voted and no state broke more than 60%. The decline in voter turnout was especially notable in youth voters who went from making up 19% of the voter turnout in 2012 to only 13% this November 4th. Just as much as the results show the American people’s demand for change it also shows their disinterest or frustration with government. The American people were fed up with negative campaigns and each party’s inability to take a definite stand on certain matters. Therefore, through the lack of interest and attendance of voters, the American people have sent an underlying message to Washington: “to encourage participation, politicians need to stop suppressing the vote, make the process of voting as easy as possible, and run campaigns that stand for something.” (NY Times)
http://time.com/3576090/midterm-elections-turnout-world-war-two/
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/opinion/the-worst-voter-turnout-in-72-years.html
Personally I stand with the message that their needs to be a change on capitol hill because of my personal views and the lack of action that has taken place over the course of the last 2 years. I agree with Indiana governor Mike Pence that American Citizens have sent a deafening message that they want a change, according to the latest public opinion polls which are highly unfavorable towards specifically John Boehner and Harry Reid with disapproval ratings between 45-50 percent for both of them. I believe this is quite a fair representation of the general populous; few are actually happy with the situation and of those most are content because they are unaffected. I disagree with Christie's statement because the shutdown has happened recently and with now congress being controlled by the republicans and Obama being a democrat there is an even greater chance of another shutdown. I believe there will be a stalemate at the 115th congress unless Obama allows the republicans to go ahead with their agenda or republicans back down from the threats they have made. Overall at the 115th congress I think a majority of the republican bills will be passed because Obama does not want even lower approval ratings. If he turns down these bills than the country will look to him as the problem for vetoing everything and place the blame on him, essentially helping the republicans gain support.
I agree with Kassie's point in that while the message the public sent to may be accurate in that change is desired, it is definitely a bit exaggerated and not necessarily representative of the entire population. Since voter turn out has it an all-time low, the "message" voters sent to capitol hill could not possible encompass the thoughts and feelings of the entire American Public. If fact, I think it may even suggest the opposite. The public's inactivity in midterm elections may be more of a sign of their dissatisfaction with the government and more of a fed up attitude than a burning desire for change. If that was the case, more of the public would have gotten out and voted in the midterm elections to allow their voices to be heard and the changes the want to be enacted to be noticed. While most of America may be unhappy with the progress in government at this time, a more "deafening message" to capitol hill could have been sent by larger voter outcomes and more political participation from the citizens who want change so desperately. These last two years of gridlock and lack of progress have definitely angered some, but not enough to attract the attention of citizens who have just lost faith in the government at this point.
Kassie does make an interesting point, those who have expressed their discontent for the job being done on capitol hill are not representative of the American public. I honestly do not agree with the dissent of the masses because the majority of Americans are quite inept in terms of political knowledge or knowledge in general for that matter. As a result of this I think their opinion of what is occurring in the government is somewhat useless due to their lack of intelligence. A democratic system depends upon an informed public and therefore the woes of the uninformed should be taken with grain of salt because of how easily swayed and convinced they are. In the grand scheme of things the president and the people in government should be less influenced by the will of the public because it is corrupted by political misinformation and apathy.
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