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Democrats Sift Through Midterm Wreckage
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
November 5, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Sifting
through the wreckage of Tuesday’s Midterm Election, President Barack Obama falls
victim to Reince Priebus and Republican National Committee’s relentless
propaganda campaign. No time in
U.S. history has an incumbent president been so vilified with the kind of
positive economic metrics, with Wall Street at record levels, unemployment at a
seven-year low of 5.9%, the federal budget deficit shrunk to under $500
billion—the lowest share of GDP in recent memory and U.S. Gross Domestic Product
pushing 4%. No president with those
numbers has been so slammed by conservative-funded negative advertising. Putting their cash where it counts,
the GOP has set the narrative that the country is somehow worse off under Obama,
mirroring the strange disconnect resulting in the GOP picking up at least seven
seats in the Senate and another 18 seats in the House.
Beaten down by the results, Obama called for Congressional leaders to
meet at the White House to plot a new national agenda. Obama hasn’t reconciled how it’s
possible for one of the most popular presidents in modern history to wind up a
political goat in less than six years in office.
Head of the Democratic National Committee, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz,
needs to be held accountable for failing to deal with the GOP narrative that
cost Democrats control of the U.S. Senate.
No matter how well-intentioned, Wasserman Shultz is over her head, now
responsible for tanking the Party Nov. 4.
“It was a powerful repudiation of the Obama agenda,” said conservative
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-FL.), a possible 2016 presidential candidate. Cruz’s remarks highlight the bizarre disconnect between a relatively healthy economy with
what Cruz refers to as a “repudiation of the Obama agenda.”
Since taking office Jan. 20, 2009, Obama’s agenda was to stop the
hemorrhaging U.S. economy losing up to 200,00 jobs a month. By the time the dust settled in
2010, the economy had lost over 7 million jobs, heading to what most economists
called the “Great Recession.”
Working with former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Obama saved the U.S. auto
industry, re-supplied cash-strapped banks and created the economic conditions
for the biggest bull market in U.S. history.
Certainly Obama’s economic success is not what Cruz calls “a repudiation
of the Obama agenda.” Cruz and his
GOP fraternity acknowledge nothing about Obama’s economic success: They only highlight problems with Obamacare, something the GOP refuses to fix. When voters “repudiated” former GOP
candidates John McCain (R-Ariz.) in 20008 or Mitt Romney in 2012 it was because
of Obama’s improving economy.
Reince Priebus and the GOP did their best in 2012 to discredit the Obama
economy, despite the hard numbers showing most economic indicators swinging in
the positive direction. “It’s time
for government to start getting results and implementing solutions to the
challenges facing our country, starting with our still-struggling economy,” said
House Speaker John Boehner, repeating the RNC’s preposterous talking points. Compared to Bush’s economy of 2008
or Obama’s economy since 2012, all Federal Reserve Board metrics point in the
right direction. Proving that
narrative is everything, Boehner continues the same nonsense bought hook, line
and sinker by GOP voters. Democrats
had the disadvantage of a low voter turnout [under 30% nationwide], giving
gerrymandered GOP districts the best chance of success of picking up House and
Senate seats.
With the 2016 presidential sweepstakes heating up, the DNC must find a
new chairman that’s capable of confronting the GOP spin machine. Boehner’s statement about the “struggling” U.S. economy is precisely why Wasserman
Schultz must go. If the DNC can’t
correct the fake GOP narrative with the Dow breaking all records, it won’t
matter who represents the Party in 2016.
Newly minted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned Obama
against unilateral presidential actions without Congressional approval,
especially on immigration. McConnell plans to push the White House to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline, bringing
Alberta Canada’s tar-sands crude oil to the Gulf of Mexico. Obama vetoed the Keystone XL
Pipeline Jan. 18, 2012, citing environmental issues. If Obama wants to turn over a new leaf, the Keystone XL Pipeline is a good place to
start.
Obama’s problems with Congress
started the day he took office Jan. 20, 2009.
He allowed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to hijack his presidency, pushing national health
care at all costs. When the Senate
passed the Affordable Care Act Dec. 24, 2009 without one Republican vote, Obama
upended his promise to serve as a post-partisan president. Nothing was more partisan than
railroading Obamacare at all costs. If
Barack wants to play ball with the new GOP Senate, he needs to pick legislation
wisely. Approving the Keystone XL Pipleline would be a good first step in restoring
bipartisanship, despite objections from environmentalists. Looking ahead, heads must roll before
it’s too late. Wasserman-Schultz failed
to confront GOP propaganda and did little to highlight Obama’s accomplishments. Now she must go
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