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by Don Azarias
November 21, 2010
With a sizeable House majority and added seats in the Senate, Republican leaders vowed to roll back the size of government and repeal the unaffordable health care reform law. Republicans scored sweeping victories in the midterm elections to take a commanding majority in the House and make significant gains in the Senate.
President Barack Obama, politically weakened by Republican midterm election gains, accepted blame for failing to deliver the economic security Americans demand. However, he remains steadfast in his belief that his health care overhaul was the right thing to do. He also called the election results a “shellacking.”
Speaker-in-waiting, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), had this to say, ”I think it is important for us to lay the groundwork before we begin to repeal this monstrosity.” On the Democrat side, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who survived a tea party challenge in Nevada said, “I’m ready for some tweaking” on the health care law but would fight its repeal. Obama, too, indicated he was open to changes, saying Republicans who complain about the burden on small businesses might have a point. But he was not about to see his signature achievement——the health care reform law——gutted without a fight.
Repealing the expensive health care reform law, which would provide subsidies to extend health insurance to nearly all Americans, has been a Republican rallying cry for months but Obama, with his veto power and the Democrats still in control of the Senate, can prevent that from happening. I, personally, don’t believe that Republicans can repeal the health care reform law since they don’t have enough votes to override a presidential veto unless enough Democrat lawmakers switch sides. So, until it happens, the Republicans may have a difficult time in Congress fulfilling that campaign promise.
The GOPs, through Boehner, are describing the outcome as a clear mandate to shrink the government. They seemed to be right on target as both, voters and Capitol Hill, witnessed the largest turnover in the House in more than 70 years.
With their lopsided win, Republicans are ushering in a new era of divided government and dethroning Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a prime target of their campaign.
After two years of Democrats’ control of Congress, Obama now must accept the fact that, for the rest of his term, he has to deal with with a Republican-controlled House and a diminished Democratic majority in the Senate.
“I’ve got to do a better job,” Obama said, “like everybody else in Washington.” And he took responsibility for not doing enough to alter the ways of the capital, whether its hyper-partisanship or back-room dealing. “We were in such a hurry to get things done that we didn’t change how things were done,” he added.
The Republican Senate leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, had this to say, “We are indeed humbled and ready to listen.” At a news conference with Boehner, McConnell said Republicans will cooperate with the other side to the extent Democrats “pivot in a different direction.” He predicted enough Democrats may support the GOP on spending and debt matters to achieve action on that front.
According to the Associated Press (AP), the president, at a White House news conference, said that when Congress returns, “my goal is to make sure we don’t have a huge spike in taxes for middle class families.” He made no mention of his campaign-long insistence that tax cuts be permitted to expire on upper-income families, a position he said would avoid swelling the deficit but put him in conflict with Republicans. He also virtually abandoned his legislation——hopelessly stalled in the Senate——featuring economic incentives to reduce carbon emissions from power plants, vehicles and other sources. “I’m going to be looking for other means of addressing this problem,” he said. “Cap and trade was just one way of skinning the cat,” he said, strongly implying there will be others. In the campaign, Republicans slammed the bill as a “national energy tax” and jobs killer, and numerous Democrats sought to emphasize their opposition to the measure during their own re-election races.
Obama also acknowledged that voters who felt frustrated by the sluggish pace of economic recovery had dictated the Republican takeover in the House. Asked to reflect on the returns, he said, “I feel bad,” adding that many Democrats who went down to defeat had done so knowing they risked their careers to support his agenda of economic stimulus legislation and a landmark health care bill. Obama said he was eager to sit down with the leaders of both political parties “and figure out how we can move forward together.” He sought to tread a careful line, suggesting he would cooperate with Republicans where it was possible and confront them when it was not. “No one party will be able to dictate where we go from here,” he said, a clear warning to Republicans that he won’t simply bow to their demands for a sharply conservative switch in economic policy.
With unemployment at 9.6 percent, both the president and the Republicans will be under pressure to compromise. Yet neither must lose faith with core supporters——the Republicans with the tea party activists who helped them win power, Obama with the independent, liberal and younger voters whose support he will need in 2012.
The thrill and suspense of the 2012 presidential election are now starting to build up and are only bound to get better and rouse the American voters’ attention in the upcoming months.
Let’s just hope that the best candidate wins the presidency of the United States. And, if you’d ask me, I would prefer one who is a Republican.