2010: the whiplash election
The results of this election represent a backlash against the machinations of President Obama and Congress. But it isn’t just backlash; it’s whiplash.
Whiplash in the medical sense is caused not just by a sudden wrenching movement, but by a one-two jerking: first violently in one direction, and then violently in the other: “the head snaps forward and then back again.”
Despite the fact that the Senate remains (barely) in Democratic hands, this election is being compared to other large and sudden transfers of power in Congress, such as occurred in 1994, 1948, and even 1894, which was the biggest change of all (see this and this if you want some of the details). I’m not an election history expert, but I wonder whether there have ever been two such dramatically opposed consecutive Congressional elections as 2008 and then 2010. That’s where the whiplash would come in.
In the double whammy of 2006 plus 2008, control went from the Republicans to the Democrats in a pretty conclusive repudiation of the earlier Bush congresses. But the pendulum has swung forcefully back again in only two years.
But as I mentioned in this post, the Republicans are only on probation. They seem to realize it, at least for now (as the Democrats did not in 2008-2010); Boehner’s victory speech reflected that knowledge in a subtle way; Rubio’s in a more obvious one.
And here are some words from one of my favorite voices from the past:
Next questions, what is Obama going to do to avoid being held in contempt by all but the true believers? Or is he even capable of realizing this was a reputation of him rather than George Bush?
I think the Republicans are on probation, but I think they have far more latitude than they will admit. Simply put, if Obama campaigned on his actual agenda has unfolded the past two years, he never would have been elected.
People wanted access to healthcare are reasonable prices; Not mandates to either purchase health insurance or face penalties from the IRS.
Also, Obama’s agenda admittedly kiss jobs. HCR adds to the costs of running a business to employers – Hence, no hiring, and some layoffs to account for the increase in healthcare expenses.
Cap and Trade has a provision for unemployment insurance for thise displaces in certain industries – Hence, most coal workers in the Appalachain/Smokey mountain coal mines will be displaced. Employees for natural gas companies will be displaced. Employees for electric companies will be displaced. So on, and so forth.
In short, once Obama’s agenda was revelaed to reflect that of Western Europe/EU states, he lost Indy’s. And because companies have already admitted that, they are not hiring in anticipation of rising costs for various taxes and regulation in 2011, the lagging economy is laid at Obama’s feet. Bush is a non-issue on this point.
correction : Not kiss jobs, KILLS jobs
What will obama do?
what i said a long time ago…
and now even glenn beck has started to catch up to some of the names i mentioned a long while back.
Like looking up gompers, wobblies, and other things…
I try to be short, and say the names so we can read and know whats going on… but who wants to look up something…
i am long and try to put it in, and the other camp says i am too long (but will not help by reading)
This situation parallels another few for a reason
and the other stuff i said can now proceed…
war in south america
potential war in korea
many more attacks, some will succeed
food shortages
housing shortages
welfare riots as the prices go up and there is no money to increase payments.
hyperinflation’s first clear steps start today
[20% devaluation of currency. in this way, you can pay minimum wage and it meets marginal production rather than exceeds it as it does now, so we cant compete. however, this is kind of cutting off your head so your knees are higher]
and more!!!
ALL of this i said long ago…
is anyone keeping track?
the following is just stuff from between oct 20 and today
Hugo Chavez completed his ninth visit to Russia, meeting counterpart Dmitry Medvedev
Chavez and Ahmadinejad signed 11 agreements promoting bilateral relations in the fields of oil, natural gas, and textiles production
Chavez is also to go nuclear
Chavez signed a series of accords with Qaddafi
Evo Morales also went to Tehran after Chavez left
Violence in mexico and near areas is approaching the historical violence in the Cristero War…
Russian Air Force carried out a cruise missile test at the Pemboi
Vladimir Popovkin announced that a Bulava SLBM was launched from the submarine Dmitry Donskoy and successfully reached its target at Kura. [this was the missile that they said wont work]
Russia’s Pacific Fleet test fired an RSM-50 SLBM from the ballistic missile submarine K-433 St. George the Victorious
Russian Strategic Missile Forces launched a Topol-M ICBM (RS-12M) and successfully hit a target in the Kamchatka Peninsula 20 minutes later
Gunmen storm and shoot dead 14 teenagers and young people at a birthday party in Ciudad Juarez
October 24: Gunmen storm a drug rehabilitation center in Tijuana, in the border state of Baja California, lining up and executing 13 recovering addicts
October 27: Gunmen massacre 15 people at a car wash in Tepic in the Pacific Coast state of Nayarit
October 28: Gunmen ambush three buses carrying factory workers in the small village of Caseta, near Ciudad Juarez, killing at least five women. The deceased include three women and a man, all employees of Eagle Ottawa Leather, a firm headquartered in Detroit that makes upholstery for automobiles
October 28: Gunmen in two trucks shoot dead six young men in Mexico City
10 SUVs ambushed 20 police on patrol in Jalisco state a few days later
five people were injured in grenade attacks in a suburb of Guadelajara, the capital of Jalisco. Two of those wounded were toddlers and a third was a 17-year-old girl.
7,000 victims during the first 10 months of 2010
Four Police Headquarters Attacked In Mexico Nov 1
ore than 29,000 people have died in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched his campaign to crush the drug cartels in late 2006 [american deaths in the veitnam war was 50,000]
Nicaragua has escalated its border row with Costa Rica, troops crossing borders, armies amassing
There is a Nicaraguan flag and tents belonging to the Nicaraguan army. … Because of this, the National Police will reinforce its presence in the zone to protect national territory. Costa Rica, which doesn’t have an army, is looking for a solution to this conflict through diplomatic channels. We are looking for a solution that, if possible, will not further aggravate the situation.
October 28 gunmen in Caracas opened fire on a car carrying leaders of Venezuela’s national business federation Fedecamaras
Siderurgica del Turbio SA has now been naitionalized by Obama friend Chavez.
Industrias Venoco (Nacional de Grasas Lubricantes and Aditivos de Orinoco) as well
300 companies in just the last two years
Uribe warns of Venezuela nuclear threat
colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/12607-uribe-warns-of-venezuelas-nuclear-threat.html
Word on the street is that Russia only backed out of S-300 to Iran so that they can transfer through Venezuela… (this way both get the S-300)
The S-300 is one of the most advanced multi-target anti-aircraft-missile systems in the world, with a purported ability to track up to 100 targets simultaneously while engaging up to 12. It has a range of about 200 kilometers and can take out targets at altitudes of 90,000 feet.
Costa Rica is bellicosely threatening Nicaragua with elite troops dressed like “Rambo.” Who has any doubt that it’s part of the geopolitical vision of Costa Rica to claim ownership of the San Juan River? – Ortega
urban guerrilla Dilma Rousseff won the election against her opponent Jose Serra to put Brazil on which end of the spectrum?
30 people have been murdered over 10 days in Acapulco
In eastern Veracruz state, six male bodies were thrown from a moving vehicle
Mexican and US authorities are probing the killings of four US citizens, two with criminal records, who were shot in Ciudad Juarez
Vice Marshal Ri Yong Ho (DPRK) went and coordinated actions in south america with Cuba
[recently the DPRK torpedoed a south korean ship]
National Intelligence Service Says 1,000 Cyber Terror Hackers in North Korea
http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nseq=108471&code=Ne2&category=2
AND that is just the past 2 or three weeks..
given we look at minutia, and for me to paint a large picture requires too much space…
we are missing the bigger picture as the other states are re-aranging for the fight that i said is coming (They say its coming too!)
TONS TONS TONS More stuff we are not looking at…
Hopefully this election is the first sign of awakening of the critical American mainstream, who are only beginning to realize that, for just one example, the Dems HCR an elaborate bait and switch con, in which prices are going up, anyway, but now choice and quality is going down; except probably for the government-party elite, and the very wealthy. People have been incredibly naive in recognizing the true gravity of the dangers which America and its allies faces, from individual-manned terrorism to the possibilties of small nuclear devices in shipping containers or semi’s driven across the southern border; to the potential for Chinese Communist tactical nuclear weapons targeting our aircraft carriers over the Taiwan dispute; to coming hyperinflation. If we continue to devalue the dollar in order to evade the ultimate responsibility of trillions of dollars of debt, the Chinese, who are no fools, will be less motivated to behave in their usual benign form. Life has always been very cheap to the Chinese Communists, especially of their non-party masses.
From Arizona to Jerusalem, and everywhere in between in both directions, the Dems have abruptly orchestrated a pattern of policies which can only be construed as self-serving political opportunism at the best; in the case of Obama himself, however, it seems deliberately treasonous. The Dems have been using Obama for his pied piper marketing value, but when one looks objectively at his personal history and associations, he may well be the Soros operative’s manchurian candidate. Obama and Soros have both been quoted, at times, as not being particularly concerned about genocide as a prime issue in their own personal behaviour or ideology. One thing a whiplash does is wake you up, but by that time, the chronic pain is just setting in…
I think I saw on Instapundit:
This is not an election. It is a restraining order.
The Republicans are currently the beneficiaries of this restraining order. But the Tea Party will be a whole lot more organized and better able to police the GOP ranks. They will have a more than a year to line up primary challengers to those R’s that lean towards compromise instead of facing challenges. And Dem’s cannot count on “scary” tea party candidates making their re-election an easier ride, as there will be more time to research and test the candidates.
Republicans are returned to power, but the Tea Party won.
This might cheer all y’all up: From Redstate.com, Erick Erickson.
“[UPDATE]: The whole of the Maine legislature has flipped to the GOP. Several people I have talked to said such a deep and thorough shift to any one party has not happened in one election in the past 100 years.
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“This is an unusual Morning Briefing because you need to understand what happened while you’ve been sleeping.
“Republican gains are massive. And when I say Republican gains are massive, I mean tsunami.
“No, the GOP did not take the Senate and some races are still outstanding, but the Senate GOP has moved to the right. More so, the Republicans picking up, in the worst case, seven seats is historically strong.
“But consider that as you wake up this morning the Republican Party has picked up more seats in the House of Representatives than at any time since 1948 – that is more than sixty seats. Ike Skelton, Class of 1976, is gone. Many, many other Democrats are gone.
“That, in and of itself, is significant. But that’s not the half of it. The real story is the underreported story of the night – the Republican pick ups at the state level.
“There will be 18 states subject to reapportionment. The Republicans will control a majority of those – at least ten and maybe a dozen or more. More significantly, a minimum of seventeen state legislative houses have flipped to the Republican Party.
“The North Carolina Legislature is Republican for the first time since 1870. Yes, that is Eighteen Seventy.
“The Alabama Legislature is Republican for the first time since 1876.
“For those saying this is nothing because it is the South, consider these:
— The entire Wisconsin and New Hampshire legislatures have flipped to the GOP by wide margins.
— The State Houses in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Iowa, Montana, and Colorado flipped to the GOP.
— The Maine and Minnesota Senates flipped to the GOP.
— The Texas and Tennessee Houses went from virtually tied to massive Republican gains. The gains in Texas were so big that the Republicans no longer need the Democrats to get state constitutional amendments out of the state legislature.
“These gains go all the way down to the municipal level across the nation. That did not happen even in 1994.
“This was a tsunami.”
Reality: Obama 2011 will have about the same amount of control of government as Bush had in 2001. Feelings of momentum and liberal handwringing to the contrary, the Republicans are not in control. I am hoping to post at length on this soon.
On to 2012 – and I will broach the topic, 2014 – when the Senators elected in 2008 will be up. Long term strategies now. Marathon thinking.