Midterm elections 2014 has come and gone, and it looks like the United States is seeing red. Although dissatisfaction with U.S. President Barack Obama was evident in his recent approval ratings (53 percent of Americans disapprove of him, according to Real Clear Politics data released Tuesday), the results of an election that largely favored the Republican Party are going to shake up Washington, D.C. for the next two years, a fact even Obama conceded to.
Democrats lost seven seats in the U.S. Senate, surrendering their majority to the Republican Party. And while the Republicans already had a steady majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, they gained an additional 13 seats, giving them a 64-seat advantage to the Democrats. And even the most blue of states, such as Maryland, Maine and Massachusetts, elected Republican governors, resulting in a United States with 31 of them and just 17 Democrats.
With Republicans dominating both the House and the Senate, Obama has been reduced to a “lame duck” president, meaning much of the legislation he passes in the remainder of his term could easily be vetoed by a defiant conservative Congress. Yet, the president has expressed his willingness to cooperate with the Republican Party, joking about “having a drink” with likely Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell or letting House Majority Leader John Boehner “beat me again at golf.”
“I’m eager to work with the new Congress to make the next two years as productive as possible,” Obama said in a Wednesday press conference. “I’m committed to making sure that I measure ideas not by whether they are from Democrats or Republicans, but whether they work for the American people. And that’s not to say that we won’t disagree over some issues that we’re passionate about. But we can surely find ways to work together on issues where there’s broad agreement among the American people.”
Former Senate Minority Leader McConnell, who was reelected as a senator from Kentucky, also expressed his willingness to cooperate with Obama during his Tuesday victory speech.
“Just because we have a two-party system doesn’t mean we have to be in perpetual conflict,” he said. “I think I have shown that to be true at critical times in the past. I hope the president gives me the chance to show it again.”
Cooperation is certainly a nice sentiment, but let’s face it, Obama had to have this press conference. Just because both Obama and the Republicans have expressed their desire to compromise with each other between Congress and the executive branch does not mean that either side is actually going to follow through on that promise.
The Republicans now have a majority in Congress, and that’s certainly cause for them to celebrate. But that doesn’t mean Obama will be forced to watch helplessly as conservative policies are pushed through Congress while his more liberal ones are rejected. The Republicans do not have enough of a majority to exercise any veto power, and it’s not as if the Democrat minority is going to turn on their party and veto Obama’s legislations. Conversely, Congress members from the Republican Party will likely be unwilling to work with Obama to pass any of the legislation on his agenda.
What will be the results of this back and forth? It means that judging from the knowledge we have right now, nothing of consequence is going to be accomplished in the next two years.
Nothing.
Sounds grim, but that’s the way both parties, who are more divided than ever, likely want it. Obama may not be campaigning for his own reelection, but he does have to worry about his successor as a Democrat presidential nominee for 2016. He must put on a cooperative front in order to save face for the Democrats, but it doesn’t mean he has to follow through.
And the Republicans likely know that a majority in Congress is no guarantee for a 2016 presidential victory. Passing ultra-conservative legislation, such as restrictions on same-sex marriage and abortion, would isolate them from some of the moderates they’ve managed to hook in this election, which is exactly the kind of thing they want to avoid. Thus, no liberal and no conservative legislation will be able to make it past either branch, resulting in a good old-fashioned gridlock.
Democrat dominated Massachusetts, now having elected Republican governor Charlie Baker, could be likened to a reversed version of the federal government. Baker won’t be able to pass ultra-conservative policies with a Democrat legislature, resulting in forced compromise between both branches. While this could result in some pouting in the Massachusetts State House, a little cooperation between parties is not a recipe for disaster.
The next two years may forecast a lot of finger pointing and little legislation in the federal government, but the good news is that both the executive and legislative branch will be on their toes for the 2016 election.
