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So what now?

soccerboy22

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Well I think we can call tonight a crushing defeat for the Democrats. But now, come January, what are the Republicans going to do? How nice are they going to play with the barely Democratic Senate? How will they play with the President? Also, how will both the Senate and the President play with the Republicans? The next two years will be interesting to watch since it can have major political ramifications in 2012.
 
Well I think we can call tonight a crushing defeat for the Democrats. But now, come January, what are the Republicans going to do? How nice are they going to play with the barely Democratic Senate? How will they play with the President? Also, how will both the Senate and the President play with the Republicans? The next two years will be interesting to watch since it can have major political ramifications in 2012.
i fully expect them to try to stonewall the President at every turn, and to continue to be the party of 'no'...they will continue to push for a continuation of the bush tax cuts, they will make every effort to repeal health care(they will fail), and i suspect they will call for 'investigations' of everyone democratic...translation, jack squat will get done, and they will claim that everything is Obama's fault.
 
I don't think that now the Republicans have a majority in the House and almost split the Senate they can continue this party of no stuff. It most likely would backfire in the end.
 
Well I think we can call tonight a crushing defeat for the Democrats. But now, come January, what are the Republicans going to do? How nice are they going to play with the barely Democratic Senate? How will they play with the President? Also, how will both the Senate and the President play with the Republicans? The next two years will be interesting to watch since it can have major political ramifications in 2012.

Here's my take on the situation.

It isn't just the bad economy that swept the republicans back into controlling the House... It goes much deeper than that.

Obama and the democrats passed 2 of the largest, and arguably most expensive pieces of legislation is American history... The nearly trillion dollar stimulus package and the Obamacare legislation. Not only were both of those bills opposed by the majority of the American people, but both were opposed nearly unanimously by republicans. Then add in the fact that both bills ended up not being what they were advertised to be by Obama and the democrats, and what you have is a lot of very pissed off people.

Obama and the democrats passing that stimulus package, and then putting universal health care at the top of their agenda next, was directly responsible for the creation of the Tea Party movement. What made it grow to the point that democrats lost control of the congress, was when they ignored the American people and passed that damned health care bill anyway. That was the last straw.

This election makes it very clear what the American people want and don't want. What they want is a different and hopefully more effective legislative agenda, that focuses on the economy and fiscal responsibility before anything else. What they don't want is a highly partisan government that ignores the will of the people in order to pursue their own personal, political agendas. They've had quite enough of that the last 2 years.

It's obvious that the American people didn't elect republicans into office and vote democrats out, because they expected republicans to go along with Obama and the democrats progressive agenda. What the American people want, is for the republicans to set the legislative agenda, putting a priority on the economy and less government spending. If the Obama and the democrats are smart, they will play ball with the republicans. If they don't, and decide they are now going to be the "party of no", they could end up dead in the water in 2012. When the republicans were the party of "no", they were saying no on behalf of the majority of the American people. If the democrats say no, they better make damned sure it represents the people rather than their political agenda, or it's bye bye white house, and bye bye senate after the next election.
 
i fully expect them to try to stonewall the President at every turn, and to continue to be the party of 'no'...they will continue to push for a continuation of the bush tax cuts, they will make every effort to repeal health care(they will fail), and i suspect they will call for 'investigations' of everyone democratic...translation, jack squat will get done, and they will claim that everything is Obama's fault.

:2party:

That's awesome because we need a break from getting stuff done.
 
While the state of the economy helped the Republicans, I also see their huge gains as a backlash against the Democrats who vastly overestimated their mandate from the last election. '06 and '08 Democratic gains were largely about a backlash against a Republican party that abandoned all pretense of fiscal conservatism not a wholesale embrace of leftist policies that the Democrats would enact. So I see the Democrats as being vulnerable to more losses in 2012 if they don't move towards the center.

Plus, I've heard from the pundits on TV tonight that a number of Democratic senators up for re-election in 2012 are from red states. This coupled with a narrowed Democratic hold on the Senate means the Senate could be forced to play ball with the Republican House if the Republicans don't overplay their hand. If they stick to modest but popular proposals that fit with their message of low taxes, lower spending, and fiscal responsibility, some Senate Democrats might be tempted to cross the aisle to preserve their own political hide. Especially since they know Obama has the veto. That will either force Obama to be the No President in face of a strong mandate given to the Repubicans or force him to move to the center and allow some modest Republican measures to be passed.

The Republicans are really well placed for 2012. They only control the House, so the Democrats still have more power and influence and they'll likely be the ones held accountable if things don't change.
 
While the state of the economy helped the Republicans, I also see their huge gains as a backlash against the Democrats who vastly overestimated their mandate from the last election. '06 and '08 Democratic gains were largely about a backlash against a Republican party that abandoned all pretense of fiscal conservatism not a wholesale embrace of leftist policies that the Democrats would enact. So I see the Democrats as being vulnerable to more losses in 2012 if they don't move towards the center.

Plus, I've heard from the pundits on TV tonight that a number of Democratic senators up for re-election in 2012 are from red states. This coupled with a narrowed Democratic hold on the Senate means the Senate could be forced to play ball with the Republican House if the Republicans don't overplay their hand. If they stick to modest but popular proposals that fit with their message of low taxes, lower spending, and fiscal responsibility, some Senate Democrats might be tempted to cross the aisle to preserve their own political hide. Especially since they know Obama has the veto. That will either force Obama to be the No President in face of a strong mandate given to the Repubicans or force him to move to the center and allow some modest Republican measures to be passed.

The Republicans are really well placed for 2012. They only control the House, so the Democrats still have more power and influence and they'll likely be the ones held accountable if things don't change.

Hey, that sounds pretty good, actually.
 
How will they play with the President?

the Rs already said how..


"The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."
-Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

"This is not a time for compromise. We're going to do everything -- and I mean everything -- we can do, to kill it, stop it, slow it down."
-Congressman John Boehner (R-OH)
 
Looking at the exit polls. It looks primarily like the population is frustrated about the lack of progress on our economy. The majority seems to dislike both parties.

Ultimately this means that whoever can deliver (or happens to be in office at the right time) will reap the rewards of trust from the citizenry.
 
It is interesting seeing who actually won rather than the Republicans picked up x number of seats. There were a few Tea Party candidates that won, but from what I understand they were fairly moderate Republicans. And from what I have read so far it seems that moderate Republicans won most of the races. I think that is a good thing for a few reasons. Also, mind you this is for the toss up seats, no reason to examine and study the give-me seats.

1. For Republicans it increases the likely hood of holding on to the seats. If the seat went from a moderate to left Democrat to a Republican pretty far right, I think the likely hood of the seat going back to the Democrat would be high.

2. I hear all this talk, especially here, how Americans reject liberalism and the Democrats, yada yada, but in reality the nation sits center/center-right. So in reality, if who was elected last night really due turn out to moderate Republicans, some will probably be named RINOs, then I think it will be best for the country considering that is where the country stands.

3. It will be interesting to see how, probably, Speaker Boehner will act. He and Pelosi are not that different and it will be interesting to see how the public reacts to him.

4. Without question one party holding both houses and the White House is bad, at least now there will be some gridlock. And regardless of what Boehner says I honestly believe it would be a terrible political decision to continue to be the Party of No, especially when you really leveled the playing field. This strategy could really come back to bite them in the ass. I am not saying you go along nicely with President Obama and the Democrats, but lets be honest if they don't do anything they are giving the Democrats a free shot at them in 2012.
 
:2party:

That's awesome because we need a break from getting stuff done.

You would say that. You Libertarian pinko commie.


Also, thanks to everyone so far for keeping it respectful. I sort of wanted to keep the mood going from last night and beat a partisan hack from starting some retarded thread where it quickly devolved. So you have my thanks.
 
The Republicans are really well placed for 2012. They only control the House, so the Democrats still have more power and influence and they'll likely be the ones held accountable if things don't change.



I agree. By not getting the senate, the Dems still will bear the brunt of responsibility for the bad times come 2012.
 
You would say that. You Libertarian pinko commie.


Also, thanks to everyone so far for keeping it respectful. I sort of wanted to keep the mood going from last night and beat a partisan hack from starting some retarded thread where it quickly devolved. So you have my thanks.

Well honestly, I'd be fine with doing things, if it involved a reasonable review of the facts.
To me though, that isn't happening.
 
Well I think we can call tonight a crushing defeat for the Democrats. But now, come January, what are the Republicans going to do?

The same **** the Democrats have been doing. Eventually we'll get pissed off at the Republicans and vote the Democrats in. Wherein they will then continue doing what the Republicans were doing until we get pissed at them and vote the Republicans back in. Back and forth we'll continue to go and no progress shall be made.
 
The same **** the Democrats have been doing. Eventually we'll get pissed off at the Republicans and vote the Democrats in. Wherein they will then continue doing what the Republicans were doing until we get pissed at them and vote the Republicans back in. Back and forth we'll continue to go and no progress shall be made.

I know right? In all seriousness though I am speaking tonight at some stupid political science event and this is the stance I took. I decided it would be fun to act libertarian for a night.
 
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