What the election means

[kinvore.livejournal.com]

This was about more than Obama's victory. Several Tea Party extremists were also defeated. Todd Akin, Allen West, Joe Walsh (not of Eagles fame hehe), Richard Mourdock, and others were among them. While Democrats made gains in the House, the GOP still holds the majority.

The question is will this end GOP stonewalling in Congress? It would be nice if the House could pass something (aside from a repeal of Obamacare that has no chance of becoming law). It would be nice if the Senate would stop filibustering everything that Obama proposes. If the GOP continues their obstruction tactics, how will it affect them in 2014?

Comments

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

This means just as much as the nearly-unanimous re-election of the entire Progressive Caucus in 2010 did.

[rimpala.livejournal.com]

Dunno, sometimes I wonder if they have too much money to care about anything.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

But only sometimes.

[dwer.livejournal.com]

it won't end the stonewalling. But if the GOP cannot change, they will surely wither and die on the vine.

Women favored Obama by 11 points while men backed Romney by 7; the gender gap has been bigger just once, in 2000 (when men were +11 Bush and women were +11 Gore). Add in marital status and the gaps become garish: Married men for Romney by 60-38 percent; unmarried women (younger, more Democratic, more aligned with Obama on social and role-of-government issues) backed the incumbent by 67-31 percent. Latinos broke for Obama by over 70%. African Americans by more than that. Young people turnout was over 30%, up over 2008 and they broke overwhelmingly for Obama.

All of those demographics are getting larger.

[kinvore.livejournal.com]

This is what I am hoping for. Either they will realize they are shooting themselves in the foot and learn to play nice, or they will stubbornly stay the course and hasten their own demise. GOP voter suppression efforts backfired on them as well. They are alienating Americans one group at a time but when an enemy makes a mistake don't stop them. Or something like that. ;)

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

There was a GOP senator (can't remember which one) on the radio here this morning and he said that Obama's "appeal to minorities" was divisive and bad for the country. I thought, "well if you guys hadn't completely isolated those minorities, like women ;), then it wouldn't have worked".

Seriously, old white men have got to stop pretending like they know peoples' issues better than they do. I'm not saying they can't have opinions and legislate on matters not immediately pertinent to them, but doing so with apparently no consultation is turning people off them.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Vote View * (http://voteview.com/dwnominate.asp) said the Senate is even more polarized than before the election (partially due to several moderate Republicans either leaving, or were primaried-- allowing the Democratic party control of the Senate by a comfortable margin). Harry Reid is going full speed ahead on Senate rules reform, including abolishing first the "motion to proceed." He will maintain the filibuster, but the other time delaying tactics will be thrown to the wayside. The House is a polarized as ever, so don't expect much there.

Sorry to be a Debbie Downer :-/


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* Vote View (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOMINATE_%28scaling_method%29) is a research lab with UCLA's political science dept, and they maintain a huge database on all the votes in Congress, and do statistical analysis on that data.

[kinvore.livejournal.com]

Not a Debbie Downer at all. I meant more about GOP attitudes than the more practical changes in procedure. I'd be all for changing the filibuster to requiring 51 votes to stop it, though.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Nope, I don't think their attitudes will change all that much.

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

It would change a lot if anybody had spine enough to make them actually stand there and fillibuster.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

I don't want to say that nothing will get accomplished until the mid-term elections in 2014 (and even then there's no guarantee that Dems would get a majority in the House or a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate). It would imply that half of Obama's 2nd term is spent waiting for something to give in Congress. There has to be something he can do, but I'm not sure what.

It's annoying to think that the next 2 years are just gonna be spent making the case to vote Republicans out of Congress, while unable to create any real legislative change.

What's going to happen from now on?

[devil-ad-vocate.livejournal.com]

I don't see any immediate change, other than the Benghazi horse which FoxNews has been riding may be finally put out to pasture.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

I'm getting flashbacks to Ayers, Wright, and that slum lord guy. And Satan.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Vince Foster's ghost wanders in the Rose Garden, seeking justice.

[rimpala.livejournal.com]

I just know that the American government still has a lot of work ahead of itself.

[devil-ad-vocate.livejournal.com]

Rumor has it Mitch McConnell will work to ensure that Obama is only a two-term president.

[kinvore.livejournal.com]

Haha it's sad that I helped start this community but never remember how to change the daily quote, because this one should win IMO. ;)

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

[vitsli.livejournal.com]

Which of Obama's proposes obstructed by Congress do you miss the most - top 5 or 10?

[kinvore.livejournal.com]

Man that's a tough one. Unemployment extensions? Wall Street reform? Campaign Disclosure? Ending tax breaks for sending jobs overseas? And so many more to choose from.

[rimpala.livejournal.com]

All those times the government went or threatened to go into default

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

My desire is that the Republicans end the continuing resolution practice and force a budget. The Republicans are dumb, however, and probably won't do so. Thus, I don't know what to think.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Just don't make any predictions!

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

I did not realize that Akin was achin'. That is good to hear.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

He needs a Caesar Salad, that'll unplug him.