Republicans Benefit from Obama’s Streak of Bad Luck

Thirteen months: That is how long it will have taken the Republican opposition to reap the fruits of the beginning of Barack Obama’s catastrophic second term. According to a CNN poll published on Dec. 26, the Grand Old Party emerged on top for the fall 2014 midterm election, with 49 percent favoring [the Republicans] versus 44 percent favoring Democrats. If this trend turns out to be true, Republicans could consolidate their grip on the House of Representatives and capture the Democrat-controlled Senate.

The survey constitutes a net trend reversal, [as] the opposition takes the lead for the first time. The party capitalized on the president’s huge drop in popularity, which fell to 41 percent in December, a poor statistic after five years in power. As such, only 22 percent of Democrats consider themselves enthusiastic for the upcoming polls, versus 36 percent of Republicans.

The affront is significant for the current leader in the White House, who, however, knew how to benefit in October from the fall in the popularity of his adversaries, who were deemed responsible for the disastrous government shutdown that followed a prolonged budget paralysis. Then, the balance of power was the inverse, with 50 percent intending to vote for the Democrats, versus only 42 percent for Republicans. This nosedive in two months hardly reveals an annus horribilis for Obama, who did not know how to take advantage of the prolonged honeymoon period after an easy re-election in November 2012.

According to general opinion, concerned about perfecting his record, the first black president struggles to leave his mark on the executive office. Critics believe his fault to be his chronic inability to get his hands dirty in the search for a bipartisan compromise, contrary to the clever Vice President Joe Biden, who is more aware of the federal mysteries.

An apprentice transformed into a leader despite himself, Obama has emerged groggily from a vicious confrontation in Congress on the Benghazi bombing in the spring, followed by the abominable online launch of the Affordable Care Act via the HealthCare.gov website in the fall.

The litany of presidential missteps does not stop there: The Edward Snowden affair and his escape from the National Security Agency to Russia, with a host of secrets, lifted the veil on the U.S. government’s ultra-sophisticated citizen-surveillance systems. The pursuit of antiterrorist operations, helped along by killer drones despite the promise of a moratorium, continues to alienate allied nations in the Middle East, as well as in South Asia, starting with Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Nevertheless, having left to re-energize himself for two weeks in his birth state of Hawaii, Barack Obama wants to be optimistic: “We head into next year with an economy that’s stronger than it was when we started the year, more Americans. And I firmly believe that 2014 can be a breakthrough year for America,” referring to tackling immigration reform, job creation and firearm laws. And the midterms? Obama sweeps critiques of his unpopularity away with a wave of his hand, “If I was interested in polling, I wouldn’t have run for president.”