The facts are plain. The Republicans came up short in getting the number of senators elected they needed to get numerical control of the senate. Sometimes the numbers don’t tell the whole story.
Almost 30 Democratic senators must stand for election in 2012 while only 9 Republicans will be campaigning.
Applying common sense, one might conclude that several of those senators might want to unhitch from a president who is getting very unpopular. The mid-term vote must be making some or many of those Democrats think twice about continuing to support social engineering and big government and government spending. They may want to bail out on Obamacare. They may actually care about the future of our kids and grand kids. They may see the damage Reid, Pelosi, and Obama have done to this country in two short years. They may really want to do the right thing.
We will find this out in January. If not sooner. The first big issue is the Bush tax reductions. If the Senate agrees to extend these it will be quickly obvious they get the message from the voters. The budget will be the next test. In January, the big one comes. The vote to repeal Obamacare. Knowing Obama will veto the outcome, the Democrats are protected. They can vote for repeal and Obamacare will still remain. But, Obama will be gone.
The Democrats can’t play the game the Republicans played the past two years. They can’t hold solidarity. Too many Democrats like Joe Manchin the new senator from West Virginia, who got elected by running against Obama, will not support Obama. Sure, California, New York, Durbin from Illinois, and the senators from the few blue states from the last election, are safe. For the time being. By early 2012 it may be obvious that those state made a big mistake. When they are speeding to bankruptcy, they may also have second thoughts.
This will be fun to watch. Seeing if Obama can hold together his Democrats in the senate as his poll number continue to tank, will take more tact than we have seen Obama show. When Hillary resigns to start her run against Obama, it will get even harder.
Politics are going to be more interesting in 2011. As Republicans try to follow the pledges they have made to the voters, Democrats have few options. They either get on board or become the obstacle to doing the will of the public. It’s far different than being the obstacle to trying to keep from doing things the public doesn’t want.
