A Divided Government Will Cost President Obama Dearly

All things considered, for Barack Obama, the midterm elections will not be disastrous for the time being. But what about for America? A process in the paradoxical results that has, in effect, been inflamed coast to coast by the tea party, with that almost childish will to see itself clarified on the landscape. They are giving the people their country back! They will lower taxes, get rid of the Department of Education and make the state disappear!

The American state is not going to go away like that. On the contrary, the unchecked rage against elites in Washington and the effects of the economic crisis will further complicate the political game just a little. The White House and the Senate are in Democratic hands, the House of Representatives controlled by Republicans and the whole is livened up by governors everywhere of all stripes; the complexity of this situation reflects that banal strand of French cohabitation.

If there is a threat for the United States today, it’s certainly that of paralysis. While all guarantee, hand over heart, that they heard the will of the people and that their first worry will be to respond to concerns about returning to work, the political wars will resume at full speed, rendered even more useless by the new terms that are created around Capitol Hill.

In reality, the only sure thing about these midterm elections is the preparation for the next vote in two years. The relative unity that the Republicans have shown up until now will be given a beating as soon as Sarah Palin becomes seriously interested in the White House. Her possible rivals at the heart of the Republican Party are accurately labeled by tea party sympathizers as “elitist enemies of the people.” The battle will be fierce.

On the Democratic side, it will depend in part on the attitude Barack Obama adopts during this “cohabitation.” He is, above all, a candidate of the left that elected him. And he will be nailed in with each compromise he makes with the new leaders of the House of Representatives.