Junior Andrew Clark, a Hatchet columnist, argues that Tuesday’s election prove that Obama has not been able to maintain an effective majority.
Republican Bob McDonnell, who addressed GW conservatives earlier this year in a speech, swept Virginia’s gubernatorial race. Republican Chris Christie, running for governor of New Jersey, exceeded all expectations in his victory. Voters in two states that Obama won in 2008 have firmly rejected the policies of taxing, spending and perpetual unemployment, and elected Republicans to right the economic ship. While Republicans are celebrating their hard-fought victories, the Obama White House and Democrats in Congress should be reminding themselves that it’s time for an adjustment.
I would hesitate to tout the conservative party’s vote in upstate NY as anything close to a Republican victory. First of all, it simply wasn’t. The Republicans got 5%, the Conservatives got 45%, and the Democrats got 49%. Looks like a loss to me, especially when you consider that Republicans won this seat with 65% of the vote in 2008. If anything, this highlights the dysfunction rampant in the Republican party right now.
Uber-Conservatives like Sarah Palin would rather marginalize moderate Republicans and scare the party in half by warning voters of imaginary death panels and the plan to become the next USSR. In NY, we had a Republican drop out of the race to endorse a Democrat. Is that Sarah Palin’s attempt at rebuilding the party? Sure, the Republicans won two governerships last week. NJ, a state that is generally democratic, is an accomplishment (also, a candidate that never had Ms. Palin visit). In Virginia, its about time.
Oh, and exit polls in both VA and NJ indicated that those who voted for Obama in November generally still supported him, regardless of how they voted in the gubernatorial elections. It’s better to address these statistics than to ignore them – even if you have to pull a Palin and fictionalize your argument.
I’m wary to celebrate on behalf of my party until we can convince those on the far right that we have a better chance somewhere in the center of our party than if we evict moderates. On the path that we’re on, I’ll be jumping ship in the 2010/2012 elections,and every election thereafter, until the leadership of this party can speak with one (rational) voice.