Obama Changed by Voters Instead of Changing the Voters

Two years ago, with “Change” as his slogan, Barack Obama not only became the president of the United States but also brought overwhelming victories to the Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate. Two years later, the majority of voters said “No!” to the changes brought by Obama using their votes. The Republicans have gained 60 seats and taken control of the House of Representatives. They also have gained six seats in the Senate while the Democrats maintain the majority by one seat. The Republicans also won at least 10 new governorships.

Two years ago when Obama won the election, the Democrats had control over the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate. With this advantage, Obama got hasty on putting out new bills. From the health care reform, the stimulus package and bank reform, the Republicans and Democrats were never able to reach an agreement. Although Obama was extremely efficient on forcing the bills to pass, it also made some people think that he was arrogant.

The Democrats were also falling apart before the elections: democratic leaders were backstabbing each other and several the senior members resigned right before the elections, as they knew the defeat was coming and jumped off the boat. Six months before the elections, as the public’s dissatisfaction was on the rise, Obama attempted to change the tide by calling back David Plouffe, his chief campaign manager for the 2008 election for help. However, the effort was in vain.

Without a doubt, the Tea Party was the star of the elections. Although the Tea Party did not do as well as predicted — high-profile members such as Christine O’Donnell, Carly Fiorina and Sharon Angle lost their races — members from the Tea Party still won at least three seats in the Senate and many seats in the House. The Tea Party movement, which focuses on decreasing government expenses, has turned into a political party overnight. Once it enters Congress, will it remain as an independent party, or will it accustom to the rules within the system and become a third party? That is still under observation.

The Obama administration will have a tough time in the next two years. Now that the Republicans have gained the majority in the House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi will be replaced as Speaker of the House by John Boehner, a Republican who is currently the House Minority Leader. From now on, Democrats will face a lot of opposition from its opposite party on everything they do, such as setting the agenda for Congress or reviewing the bills. No party will have the power to single-handedly pass a bill. In the House, Republicans will pass bills that are against Obama’s plan; in the Senate, Republicans will be more effective on blocking bills that they dislike. Meanwhile, the White House also has the power to reject any bills sent by Congress. With the two parties refusing to compromise, the government may grind to a halt. It has happened before in the history of America. After Newt Gingrich and Republican’s big win in the 1992 elections, they met head-on with Bill Clinton’s Democratic administration. As a result, bills could not get passed and the federal government was essentially frozen.

It might actually not be a bad situation for Obama. In fact, the Republicans realized that the public would also hold them responsible and ended up compromising with the Clinton administration. In 1996, Bill Clinton was re-elected, and the Democrats successfully took Congress back. The compromise brought profit to both parties.

Foreign policy has not been a hot topic during the midterm elections. However, it was surprising for people outside of the U.S. that the Republicans and Tea Party both questioned and criticized Obama’s patriotism. Sarah Palin once said, “I don’t believe America is the only place on earth that is good.”* The Republicans and the Tea Party believe that America is the strongest, most moral country in the world, and cannot accept other countries to challenge America. Therefore, they restrict other countries’ policies, and ask for no restrictions on America. This is the mentality that drove Bush to start invading Iraq. The whole world refuses to imagine a future in which Obama loses his reelection campaign in 2012 and is replaced by a person with such a mentality.

People outside of America used to have high hopes for Obama. However, in the past two years, he has not achieved anything: peace talks in Middle East are still in a deadlock, the discussion on nuclear weapons in Iran and North Korea is not making progress, no agreement has been made at the climate conference in Copenhagen, the war in Afghanistan experiences failure after failure, and America’s relationship with China has been worsened. Obama needs to do more than just saying, “I am not like Bush,” in order to change his image. He must come up with solutions for all of the foreign issues if he wants to gain respect from the rest of the world.

Although the situation is different in Taiwan, predictions could be made for the Metropolitan Elections, which take place three weeks from now. First, voters vote based on their faith in the government. That was the case in America, and it will apply in the Metropolitan Elections. If the opposite party gets public support, the party in power should reflect their policies; if the party in power gets the support, the opposite party should also review its ideology and see if it is outdated.

Second, the results of the midterm election do not determine the result of the next presidential election. Independent voters are flexible on whom to vote for. Both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton got reelected after their defeats in the 1982 and 1994 midterm elections. People who think that the political power has completely shifted will discover that they are speaking too soon.

Last but not least, the campaign for the 2012 presidential election has officially started as the results of the midterm elections were announced on Nov. 2. The political campaign is a crude one, and it is hard to predict who will stay and who will go. The time between the Metropolitan Elections and Taiwan’s presidential election is even shorter: only one year and three months. Hence, the result of the Metropolitan Elections will greatly affect the presidential election.

*Editor’s Note: This quotation, accurately translated, could not be verified.