How to Lose a Midterm Election

By: Ameek Sodhi

It’s always humorous, as students of American politics, to observe the arrogance of politicians. It’s funny for us, because history tends to repeat itself – even recent history. But their arrogance, unfortunately, is only funny for a moment. When we realize our politicians are talking down to us, ignoring us and abusing their power, we as a citizens have every right to be angry. Our system is designed so that the joke’s on them. This is why the Democrats will get nailed in 2010.

Priorities out of whack. The economy is still our biggest problem, Democrats. The verdict is in amongst economists, and it will be a jobless recovery. The $800 billion stimulus package is proving to be even more non-stimulative than was previously thought. It’s moving slower than Washington expected – go figure. Unemployment is headed towards ten percent, and people are rightfully wondering why that’s the case. What does Washington do when small businesses are shedding jobs? Push a trillion dollar health care entitlement through. Surely, that will fix the recession they tell us. People aren’t against health care reform, but they’re against having priorities out of place. No one will be able to afford any kind of health care if no one has a job. The Obama Administration has been about expanding government, not about helping the millions of Americans who are suffering from this recession. Their priorities are incongruent with what Americans want, and that’s their first problem.

Selling a Bad Product. Speaking of health care reform, let’s talk public option. People understand that health care is getting too expensive, but they also understand they do not want socialized medicine. People are not buying the fact that the public option will not put private insurers out of business by operating at a loss. President Obama has gone on Sunday afternoon shows, done interviews, and given countless speeches, selling his health care plan. His problem is not his presentation, it’s that the product he’s selling, government-run health care, is unpopular and unwanted. The Congressional Budget Office has given out crushing report after crushing report regarding all the bills that are coming out of the democratically controlled congressional committees. Simply put, Americans believe independent surveys and not the unrealistic arguments coming from the White House.

Devaluing Dissent. If you can’t convince people to support your agenda, claim that all those on the other side of an issue have no merit. They’re pulling the descent card. Anyone who disagrees with Obama’s Agenda has no alternative and must be a loon. Nancy Pelosi goes as far to say that we are unpatriotic and unsympathetic towards the uninsured if we have different ideas on how to achieve universal coverage. Excuse me as I step away from my Anti-Americanism to make my next point.

This anti-dissent speech proves how detached Washington is from Main Street. The vast majority of people at Tea Parties were not racist, right-wing extremists as the Democrats portray. They were small business owners wondering why the big guys got bailouts and they got nothing. People angered with Washington are college students that understand, like our founders, that a government big enough to give you everything is powerful enough to take it all away. We are everyday citizens with the everyday right to oppose a policy prescription from Washington because they are using our money to do things we don’t want.

People are rightfully angry. The good thing is that people have seen this story before. No American president has successfully governed from the far-left and managed to stay in office for the last 40 years. A large part of President Obama’s problem moving forward is the 35-40% of the population that identifies as Independents. In every poll, whether it be from Gallup, Pew, or CNN, the message is clear – Independents are angry with President Obama’s agenda. They are the same people who put him in power, and they are the ones that by every indication will be revolting against him in the polls in 2010. Midterms will be ugly for the Democrats, as they have abused the trust they were bestowed when they were elected last November. Come Election Day, the joke’s on them.