2010 Midterm Elections: Low Turnout Yields Coalition Government To Deal With Deteriorating Economy
American voters generally turned
out in the 40% to 44% range to sweep the Republicans into power in the House of
Representatives. This is a sign of deep,
deep economic trouble. Sometimes voters
elect the solution and sometimes they elect the problem and force it to govern.
The Republicans, with Tea Party kibitzing,
ran against the health care reform, the bailouts and deficit spending. By taking control of the House, but not the
Senate, the Republicans are going to be hard pressed to deliver on any of their
promises. Are the Republicans really in
favor of letting the banks and international payment system collapse? Stay tuned in the next round. Can the Republicans repeal the health care
bill without the cooperation of the Senate and White House? My guess is no. Unmentioned in the election analysis is that
the Democratic retention of the Senate is a sign voters approve of Obama’s
foreign policy.
When Obama was elected, the
Republicans refused to cooperate. Now,
the voters have given them a seat at the table and forced them to take some
responsibility for the serious situation (economic collapse and two wars) for
which they are primarily responsible.
Sarah Palin Has A Bright Future In
Entertainment
One question that was answered in
the election was “Can Sarah Palin be elected president?” The answer is “no.” Senator Lisa Murkowski’s re-election victory
as a write-in in Alaska, Palin’s home state, is the proof.
A Good Day for Inherited Power
The election was good for the sons
and daughters of former high political office holders. On both coasts, in New York
and California, Jerry Brown and Andrew Cuomo, sons of former Governors, won
election. Brown was even a former
Governor himself. Ah, it brings back
memories of those halcyon days when the president was the son of a former
president. And, of course, Bush
exercised the counter-programming tradition of his family to inject his new
book into the election returns.
Rand Paul,
the son of former Libertarian and Republican presidential candidate and
Republican Congressman Ron Paul, won election to the Senate in spite of saying
he opposed the Public Accommodation Provisions of the 1964 Civil Rights
Act. Fortunately for Rand, he was
running against an Attorney General. Ben
Quayle, the son of former Vice-President Dan Quayle, won election to the House
from Arizona and, as mentioned above, Liza Murkowski, the daughter of former
Senator and Governor Frank Murkowski, who appointed her to the Senate seat he
vacated, won re-election to the Senate on a write-in vote. She lost the Republican primary to a Tea
Party candidate backed by Sarah Palin.
Is the United States a great democracy, or what?
And let’s not
forget newly elected New York Senator Kirstin Gillibrandt,
the daughter of a powerful upstate political leader, who was appointed by
Governor David Paterson, who is the son of longtime State Senator Basil
Paterson. Let’s face it,
politics in America is a family affair.
A Bad Day for the Self-Financed Millionaire Candidates
While the sons and daughters of the
politically connected were having a field day, the multi-millionaire
self-financed candidates who spent up to $140 million of their own money did
not fare so well. Meg Whitman, former ebay CEO lost to Jerry Brown. Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett-Packard CEO lost to Senator Barbara
Boxer. Linda McMahon, CEO of the World
Wrestling Federation, lost to Senator-elect Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut
Attorney General who lied about having served as a Marine in Vietnam. Carl Paladino, the
wealthy Buffalo businessman, lost to Andrew Cuomo. Tom Foley seems to have lost the Connecticut
Governor’s race. Even former Senator
Mark Dayton almost lost the Minnesota Governorship.
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