"Given
its many unresolved problems, the future of the United States itself is
threatened. … If in the wake of their electoral success, rather than taking
political responsibility, Republicans were to engage in the politics of
obstruction and denial - and with all eyes already on the 2012 elections -
governing in Washington could become well nigh impossible. The consequences
would be far reaching."
Washington: After the
landslide win by Democrats in the 2008 presidential and congressional elections,
not a few commentators were convinced that the party of Thomas Jefferson and
Franklin Roosevelt would hold on to power in Washington for quite some time.
The result of yesterday's congressional elections disproved this assumption: A
mere two years after the Democratic triumph of 2008, Republicans emerged as
victors of the 2010 midterm elections. They will now hold a majority in the
House of Representatives and they also made gains in the Senate.
Not that they were
campaigning on any new ideas: As always, tax cuts were touted as a political miracle
elixir, while smaller government and budget cuts are to reduce the looming
national debt. The fact that Republicans never once detailed precisely where
they plan to apply the red pencil didn't stop a majority of voters from carrying
them to victory. That is why this election result is such a potent reprimand
for a president who appeared incapable of charting a course through the crisis,
even if he was saddled when taking office with the worst catastrophe since the
Great Depression in the 1930s.
A SUPERPOWER IN TATTERS
Barack Obama will be forced
to rethink and engage with a reinvigorated Republican opposition which sees him
as a political accident, and which, under the influence of the Tea Party, may be
more hard line than before. With the fragmentation of power in Washington, where
Republicans control the House and Democrats the Senate and the White House,
chances are that things are likely to end in deadlock. Instead of paving the
way for a long overdue rehabilitation of this ailing superpower, whose citizens
are plagued by fear of social decline and national collapse, this new balance
of power could throw Washington into fresh chaos.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
At stake here is not just the
presidency of Barack Obama. Given its many unresolved problems, the future of
the United States itself is threatened. If in the wake of their electoral
success, rather than taking political responsibility, Republicans were to
engage in the politics of obstruction and denial for the next two years - and
with all eyes already on the 2012 elections - governing in Washington could become
well nigh impossible. The consequences would be far reaching.
