Naturally, there will disappointment among Republicans, not only for the defeat in the presidential election, but also over the poor performance in several Senate contests and (for some) over the results of a handful of ballot initiatives. But the 2012 election was nevertheless a victory for federalism.
After all, with the Republican majority in the House resoundingly endorsed, the Democratic majority in the Senate affirmed, and the President returned to the White House in a close reelection (he is the first to win reelection by a smaller margin than his initial election) and therefore with a fairly weak mandate, Americans have voted for gridlock. And gridlock, despite all the problems it presents, is actually what the federal government is designed to produce, because government was not intended to be so intrusive at that level.
Moreover, with the presidential vote so close, national division is obvious. Indeed, both President Obama and Governor Romney barely scraped a third of the vote in some states, and in some cases not even that. And some of the ballot initiative results also confirmed disagreement state to state: gay marriage is constitutionally banned in a majority of states and until yesterday had failed on each of the thirty-two occasions it has been put to statewide popular vote (including in North Carolina earlier this year), but yesterday it was endorsed on the ballots in a handful of blue states. (Another state, Wisconsin, also elected the country’s first openly gay senator.) Marijuana usage had mixed results, and Obamacare fared poorly where voters were asked to limit its impact in their state. America is divided, but in crafting a federal system, that is what the Founders anticipated and embraced.
The United States may constitute one nation under God, but America remains fifty different states under the president, and the country will be well served when its leaders remember that.
Gridlock only applies if the executive branch observes the rule of law. a president as promiscuous as Barack Obama with executive orders (over 600 so far) has little to fear from gridlock. If Congress won’t act, he will—-as any caudillo would.
Federalism isn't the issue now. What concerns me is the House being run by a bunch of lunatics, be they federalists or not. Allen West and Joe Walsh may be gone, but Louis Gohmert and Michele Bachmann remain.
Bachmann is back by the skin of her teeth and because her district was redrawn to take a conservative district and turn it into a staunchly conservative one.
it's correct to understand that Obama didn't receive any great mandate. n nYesterday's election was all about the American center's repudiation of the Republican Party policies and tactics of the last couple of years. n nObama will be greatly strengthened not because America loves him, but because America wants an end to the Republican policy of withholding cooperation.
The less that Obama can accomplish the better off the country will be. His "accomplishments" so far are limited to the disliked – Dodd-Frank, to the reviled – Obamacare.
Obama is doing rather well in foreign affairs and Obamacare, while presently a VERY flawed thing, is a marvelous accomplishment for the country and its unpopularity is the product of a massive campaign of distortion and outright lies from the insurance companies and the knuckle-draggers of the tea Party wing of the Repubs. n n
There has been a lot of misinformation spread about the health care bill by your average citizens. However, it is President Obama and the Democrats who have out right lied about the health care bill and what is contained within it. n nIt is to be expected that Joe the Plumber doesn't fully understand what is in the health care bill. Obama on the other hand, knew you couldn't keep your old plan (unless of course you make no changes to it until you die, or switch health care providers).
I don't think it is really fair to say the election was a repudiation of Republicans when Obama only won by two percent of the popular vote and the Republicans maintained control of the House. Until the last week before the election it looked like Romney was going to win considering he was consistently ahead in the polls despite the oversampling of Democrats. n nIf two years from now the Democrats take back control of the house, then we will have a better picture of how the American public sees Republicans. Until then, there is just the wishful thinking of Democrats.
I think to be quite fair, Josef when expectations within the party and the nation were that a VERY beatable Obama would be beaten and that the odds were stacked so that the Republicans would pick up several Senate seats and control of the Senate. n nthe Republicans were poised to hold both houses of Congress AND the presidency ….and they were repulsed by an electorate that came out in numbers to reject Republican candidates n n
You won. That doesn't change the results of the first four years. If your idea of "rather well in foreign affairs" is the results of Obama's policies, than your vote for Obama is explained. Aside from destroying the situation in Iraq by a premature complete withdrawal, and US citizens being murdered on US soil on 9/11 in Benghazi, abandoning our allies in Eastern Europe by caving in to Russian pressure on the missile defense system which was supposed to go there, and allowing Iran additional time to develop nuclear weapons while ignoring the Iranian citizens attempt at revolution, what is it that he has done "rather well" at? Obamacare is presently a VERY flawed thing because it is a VERY flawed thing. Its unpopularity is the product of people having read it and analyzed its provisions and consequences. As Nancy Pelosi famously said, we have to pass it to find out what's in it. Well, they passed it and now we know what's in it and we don't like it. If you want to get an educated opinion of the ACA, refer to healthcare providers or health plan administrators, or employers who are dropping their medical insurance plans, or the employees who are losing their health insurance to be dropped into the "government exchanges". It is also a massive tax … er, mandate on the middle class, along with a score of other taxes which ultimately will increase medical care costs for millions of Americans. The Tea Party did not create ACA, they only pointed out its provisions. My own opinion – note, I'm now giving you an opinion, rather than a fact – is that the ACA is a Trojan Horse. Obama knows that it can not succeed, and he can then use that fact to foist social medicine upon us where all medical care will be provided by the government. You may be in favor of that result, I am not.