Sunday, November 15, 2015

Crashing the Party

During the tenure of George W. Bush as President, the Republican party suffered down the ticket.  Nine Senate seats (and control of the Senate in 2006), 42 House seats (plus control of the House in 2006), 7 governorships, and 324 seats in the various legislatures & assemblies through the states. which saw the switch of control in 13 chambers.  When the Democrats took the Presidency in 2008, James Carville looked at this recent history and viewed it as a generational switch to the Democrats, a new period like that from 1932 to 1952 of Democrat control of the Presidency.
 
During the tenure of Barack Obama as President, the Democrats have suffered down the ticket.  13 Senate seats (and control), 69 House seats (and control), 11 governorships, and 913 legislators at the state level, shifting control in 30 chambers.  President Obama has been a disaster for his party's elective offices.  Will anyone, other than me or someone on FOX News, ask Carville about his prediction?
 
This clearly demonstrates that Obama is not as popular as he is portrayed in the media.  Following his prescriptions for the nation, his party had suffered massive setbacks, far worse than the supposedly hated Bush inflicted upon his party.  If the Republicans manage to retake the Presidency and the new president is just as unpopular as Bush was, the Democrats will still be in the hole from where they stood in 2008, especially at the state level.  This shift in power at the state level does not bode well for the 2020 gerrymandering that will greatly impact the Congress from 2020 to 2030.
 
Looking at this, it makes one wonder why the Republicans in Congress are so cowed by the President.  With all this growing strength, why the continued spinelessness?

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