Caesar’s Mask: Obama Scrambling Through Red Waves

As predicted by various polls before the midterm election, the Democrats were defeated, and the red wave swept the states. Obama, who was pushed into the White House by the people’s will, is now scrambling through red waves.

After Obama was elected as president, the Democrats’ brain bank predicted that in the coming four decades, the presidency would be in the hand of the Democrats. However, in only two years, the House of Representatives has been handed over to the Republicans. To add salt onto the wound, the two parties share power in Washington. The wake-up call interrupted the Democrats’ nice dreams. But how did the Democrats degrade so soon? Why was the popular president deserted by the voters? Why did Americans not give a damn about the warnings that to split is to lose? And more importantly, why the tea party?

The sole answer to so many questions is desperation, downright desperation. Obama promised changes, but over the past two years people have not felt any. The soaring unemployment rate is concrete evidence. However, Obama defended that he had a lot things in store for the states, like saving the economy, Wall Street and the auto industry, and advocating healthcare for all and supervision of the financial industry. But why do the masses think that those changes are not enough to improve their livelihood? In the polls prior to election, why did 80 percent of people think that Obama is going down the wrong road toward reform?

Obama’s reform followed the Democrats’ fundamental beliefs, which went in the opposite direction of the people’s ideal of small government and low taxation. According to the poll, 22 percent of voters claimed to be liberals, 32 percent conservatives and 44 percent moderates; that means 76 percent of voters are moderates or conservatives. However, Obama has chosen a liberal road. The ruling party and the president ignored the composition of voters and set the wrong priorities in terms of policymaking. For example, they placed universal healthcare before promoting employment and pushed the disgruntled public to the peak of its anger during the midterm elections.

The tea party is the biggest beneficiary of the disgruntled public. Without a national leader, the loosely organized party leeched onto the Republicans to sweep across the country in the election. Those tea party members in the Republican suite will become key players. This new force will impact Washington politics significantly; the fighting among parties will inevitably heat up.

On the political spectrum, the tea party is the right wing of the Republicans. Being the most conservative, they defeated many moderate opponents in the Republican primary elections and then won the midterm election over moderate Democratic candidates. This brought the tradition of moderation as a virtue to an end. In the future, both houses of Congress will be dominated by the extremely conservative and liberal, without a sign of moderation.

In Clinton’s first term, the Republicans controlled Congress. The White House and Congress stood up to each other and even brought the federal government to a halt. However, the fight brought more votes to Clinton and eventually led to his re-election. This time is different, though. The tea party has sworn that it will never compromise with the White House and will not give Obama one more term. It’s foreseeable that even if Obama offers an olive branch after he wins a second term, the conflicts between the two parties will be more intense than ever and even worse than shutting down the federal government. Clurman predicted that historians will label this election as an American disaster.

Obviously, the victim most hurt by this election is Obama. He turned a new page of the history books, but he’s turned over so soon. He promised to change the tone of Washington politics, but he was eventually changed by politics. During the election he heard a lot of voices: “Turn the government over to Americans!” and “March to Washington, and take our government back!” Most of those voices were from the tea party, but since he was sworn in, he has failed to solve the racial problems plaguing America, which fueled more political hatred.

“We have heard the people’s voice.” is something said by most politicians after they are elected. But what Obama hears now worries him a lot. “God bless America,” a columnist quipped. I suppose this must be Obama’s current state of mind.