No matter how the White House and Democrats spin it, the voter revolt in Massachusetts to elect Republican Scott Brown is about the American people rejecting President Obama and his big government agenda. Democrats and President Obama and his inner circle of advisers grew overly arrogant from their 2006 and 2008 victories and thought it was a mandate to dramatically steer the country into the left. With majorities in the House and Senate and constant White House pressure, Congress was able to push forward legislation which resulted in unprecedented levels of national debt and deficits, as well as transforming the federal government into a corporate holdings entity. All the while pouring fuel into the angry fire that’s scorching big cities and small towns across America.
The efforts of the White House and Democratic Congress failed to reverse the course of the American economy. The housing market is in shambles and many financial institutions continue to struggle. Unemployment rate is still creeping higher. The cash injection promised by the W.H. to jump start the economy proved to be ineffective and only managed to expand government and burden our future generations.
It’s obvious now — even with the liberal, progressive base which catapulted Obama’s career — that the president’s promises of change and hope were nothing more than poetic rhetoric. More importantly, the progressives now realize that the majority of the American people won’t be pushed around anymore and will soundly defeat candidates in support of Obama’s agenda. It happened in New Jersey, Virginia, and recently, Massachusetts — all blue states which went for Obama in 2008.
Remember Democratic mavericks Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod? Supposedly Obama’s captains, they frequented the political TV circuit and called out anyone who deviated from the W.H. plan. However, after Brown’s victory not a peep has come out from them:
“The administration has got to be in the forefront now, instead of throwing some meat on the track and seeing what the House can work out,” said New Jersey Rep. Bill Pascrell, expressing the frustrations also voiced by about two dozen Democratic elected officials and aides interviewed by POLITICO.
“I haven’t seen Rahm Emanuel except on television. We used to see him a lot; I’d like him to come out from behind his desk and meet with the common folk,” added Pascrell.
“What happened was they got so caught up in all these other issues like health care and cap and trade and all this other stuff, that because of that they maybe didn’t put enough focus on the economy,” said Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson, a moderate who represents a conservative, rural district hard-hit by the economic crisis.
The W.H. now faces anger from both the right and the left. Even the SEIU, traditionally a major labor union which supports the Democrats, is putting out threats of abandoning Democratic candidates during the 2010 midterm elections if Congress doesn’t pass the health care bill. If you’re a Democratic strategist, you’d be wise to advise your clients to distance yourself from President Obama and the W.H.
What seems evident now is that the pinnacle of Obama’s presidency may simply be the day he was inaugurated. In an year’s time since his coronation by the world and America, he’s fallen hard with no end in sight. There’s something to be said of a presidency in which his approval rating drops below 50% within 365 days, especially when he was commanding 65% job approval rating on the day he entered the Oval Office.
A word of advice to President Obama: It is time to listen carefully to the American people — not your advisers. People would love to have a friend in the W.H., but if the president keeps ignoring popular sentiment against socialist agenda, then he’d better be ready to govern alone.
