EPIC TRANSFORMATIONAL POLITICS

 

 by Chriss Street

 The Founding Father crafted the Constitution to make sure that the President of the United States had weak domestic powers by constitutionally requiring that all tax and spending bills must originate in a House of Representatives elected every two years.  This was designed to make it extremely difficult for any President to wield enough power to permanently change the country in an unpopular fashion.  

The Congressional Democrats achieved an election mandate in 2008, but Barack Obama won a much more mundane Presidential victory.  After ramming through policies equally unpopular with conservatives and progressives, Barack Obama actions have caused an epic surrender of the Democratic Party’s mandate to the Republicans.

The 2008 election was a mandate for the Congressional Democrats.  They successfully ran on a platform of domestic change and reform at the height of the economic crisis.  They accumulated a 10 percentage point advantage in party registration and 12 percentage point advantage in voters “leaning” Democrat versus Republicans.  The Democrats dominated the Congressional elections by gaining 13 million more votes than the Republicans.  Democrats captured another 21 seats to amass a 79 seat majority in the House.  They also gained 7 seats in the Senate for a 16 seat majority.

But Democrat Barack Obama was elected President with only 52% of the votes cast.  More than half of the 56 Presidents elected have received higher percentages of the popular vote.  Richard Nixon in 1972, Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, Franklin Roosevelt in 1936 and Warren Harding in 1920 won true mandates by winning over 60% of the vote.

Over the next four years, Obama’s arrogantly acted like he won a historic mandate squandered the Democrat’s mandate.  According the Wall Street Journal:

“Obama misread his Republican opponents from day one. If he had been large-spirited and conciliatory he would have effectively undercut them, and kept them from uniting.  Instead he was toughly partisan, he shut them out, and positions hardened. In time Republicans came to think he doesn’t really listen, doesn’t really hear. So did some Democrats.”

In fact, lots of Democrats have not only abandoned Obama, they have abandoned the Democratic Party!  Since 2008, the Republicans Party has captured an 11% change in registration from the Democrats and 15% party affiliation change.

Party Affiliation	Democrat	Republican	Affiliation Change
2008 Registration	39%	29%	+10%   Democrat
2008 Lean	54%	42%	+12%   Democrat
2012 Registration	35%	36%	+11% Republican
2012 Lean	49%	46%	+15%   Republican

Most Americans understand that the rejection of President Obama’s authoritarian nationalization of healthcare and egregious regulatory Executive Orders motivated independents to launch the powerful Tea Party Movement.  But they are generally not aware that the President has created a rebellion among progressive who plan to boycott his re-election.  Some of these powerful progressive rejectionists include:

Camille Paglia is disappointed that Obama ran as a moderate, but has been “one of the most racially divisive and polarizing figures ever. I think it’s going to take years to undo the damage to relationships between the races.”

Matt Stoller in Salon.com last week published: “The Progressive Case Against Obama.”  Stoller states: “The bailouts and the associated Federal Reserve actions were not primarily shifts of funds to bankers; they were a guarantee that property rights for a certain class of creditors were immune from challenge or market forces.”

Conor Friedersdorf wrote in The Atlantic: “Why I Refuse To Vote For Barack Obama.” He states: “I’d have thought more people on the left would regard a sustained assault on civil liberties and the ongoing, needless killing of innocent kids as deal-breakers.”

Barack Obama ran for President four years ago as a transformation candidate.  Since that time, he has energized conservatives and undermined many progressives.  His transformational legacy will be the politician who handed the Democrat’s epic mandate to the Republicans.

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