Dec 7, 2014:
Last night in the Louisiana runoff election Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu lost to Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy.
Landrieu Loses LA Senate Race to GOP Rep. Cassidy | CNN
Nov 6, 2014:
The mid-term U.S. general elections were held on Tuesday, November 4, 2014.
36 of the 100 Senate and all 435 House of Representatives seats were included in the vote, along with 38 state governor races. Assuming the runoff election for Louisiana is won by the strongly favored Republican, the Republicans will pick up 9 seats in the Senate leaving the final tally at 45 Democrats and 54 Republicans. The Republicans also gained 16 seats in the House of Representatives, maintaining a majority.
Factors that contributed to the outcome of this election:
- History shows that the incumbent President's party nearly always loses seats in both the House and Senate in the 6th year of a President's term
- A good percentage of the Senate races were in traditionally "red" states
- Low voter turnout of minorities and younger people, possibly influenced by new, restricted voter ID laws and new campaign spending laws
- Low approval ratings of President Obama
Source:
Tanenbaum, Andrew S. (November 2014). "News from the Votemaster". electoral-vote.com. Retrieved 2014-11-06.
Commentary:
Of course, the victory speeches and post-election news conferences included the same claims, promises, and rhetoric that we as American citizens have been accustomed to. But, is a shift in congressional power going to result in any positive change for the American people?
In my opinion, no, nothing is going to change. Yes, I believe that Democrats, Republicans, and President Obama might be able to find some common ground on issues of lesser importance. But when it comes to the issues where Democrats and Republicans fundamentally disagree I think it's going to be "business as usual" in Washington. The only difference is that now it will be the Democrats invoking filibusters, and President Obama vetoing legislation that manages to pass both the House and Senate (vetoes that most likely will not be overruled by a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate).
A couple of things said over the past couple of days by John Boehner stand out in my mind:
"Finding common ground is hard, but it's even harder if the president isn't willing to work with us."
"When you play with matches, you take the risk of burning yourself...and he's going to burn himself if he continues to go down this path."
Regarding the first quote - to anyone who's been paying attention to what's been going on in Washington since Obama took office in January of 2009, it's obvious that the Republican agenda has been to stonewall most everything Obama and the Democrats have brought to the table. Yet, Boehner has the audacity to make a comment about the President not willing to work with Republicans.
Regarding the second quote - Boehner is referring to the President's "threat" of issuing an executive order to enact some degree of immigration reform. Back in June of 2013, the Senate passed an immigration reform bill by a margin of 68-32, a margin showing that even some Republicans in the Senate were "on board". Yet, Boehner has refused to bring that bill up for a vote in the House (claiming there is not a House majority to pass it), stating he wants to pursue the House immigration bill instead. Why not just bring the Senate bill up for a vote in the House to see if in fact it passes, ending all speculation? But Boenher has refused to allow a vote and the House has not put forth it's own bill, leaving Obama with no other alternative but executive order.
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