Some pundit said the election of 2014 was “The Seinfeld Election” or “The election about nothing”.
That’s true to a large extent. For Republicans, it was “We’re not Democrats”. For Democrats, it was “We’re not Obama”.
Republicans were accused of not having a unified message, except anti-Obama’s policies. But now, after the Republicans were given the reins of government at every level that was available, they’ve got to be about something.
Here’s the list voters gave exit pollers:
The Economy
In spite of media spin and massaged unemployment numbers, voters made it plain that the economy is not good where they live and they want “Change”. Republicans will have a firm grip on the national purse strings, and they need to restrain spending and get control of the national debt. And maybe even pass a budget in the Senate. What a concept!
Healthcare
Read “Obamacare”. It’s hard to know what the new Republican-led Senate will do about Obamacare, but it hasn’t even been fully implemented yet, and is profoundly unpopular. It should have been obvious that adding a level of government bureaucracy and mandated coverages to health insurance would only increase costs and it has. Better to get government out of health care. Insurance companies may be bad but government bureaucracy is much, much worse.
Border Security
Ebola, ISIS, and thousands of pitiful children crossing the border, possibly trafficked, raped or diseased, put into stark relief the need to get control of the Southern border and that probably had a real effect on the outcome of this election. Someone needs to find a way to block President Obama’s stated intention of unilaterally enacting “Immigration Reform”.
Foreign Policy
There may not be much Congress can do besides manage funding of Obama’s agenda. They can’t make Obama love America or suddenly commit to defending our interests. They cannot make him less of a buffoon in the eyes of Vladimir Putin and others who have thumbed their noses at him. Restoring our country’s honor may have to wait until 2016.
