WELL NOW THEY CAN! The Duke of Wellington said of his close-run victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo that the French came on in the same old way, and we sent them back in the same old way. Something like that happened to the Democrats in Tuesdays midterm elections, as they lost the Senate, a few more seats in the House and additional governorships. They came on with the same old strategy, and this time they went down with it. Obama and the Democrats chose not to defend the administrations record of the last six years. On foreign policy, no Democratic chorus seconded Obamas 2013 claim that this chaotic period in world affairs has been the most stable time in recent memory. No Democratic senator insisted that Obamas Russian reset had calmed Vladimir Putin. Democrats did not argue that Obama had rightly distanced the U.S. from Israel. Could Democratic candidates have pointed to the Middle East — the Iranian bomb-making efforts, the civil war in Syria, the collapse of post-surge Iraq, the rise of the Islamic State — to confirm Obamas diagnosis that these were mostly manageable problems? On the home front, why didnt Democratic candidates run on their own prior overwhelming support for the Affordable Care Act, which passed without a single Republican vote? Could they have told voters that at some future date, ObamaCare, as promised, really would lower premiums and deductibles, reduce the deficit, expand coverage and ensure that people could keep their existing plans and doctors? Could a few Democrats have at least made the re-election argument that stimulatory policies of adding $7 trillion in new debt, maintaining continual near-zero interest rates and approving a $1 trillion stimulus had led to a robust recovery after the end of the recession in mid-2009? Obama certainly believed in government — the bigger, the better. In both of his successful presidential elections, he had run on the promise of both expanding the federal government and running it competently. So why werent Democrats claiming positive changes in most federal agencies — at least those other than the IRS, NSA, ICE, GSA, VA, NASA, the Justice Department and the Secret Service? If Democrats didnt wish to run on their partys past record, why didnt they promise to fulfill Obamas incomplete agenda that was short-circuited by the loss of the House in 2010? In 2009, the Democratic House had voted to pass a cap-and-trade bill under Obamas direction, but the Senate never passed it. Why didnt Democratic candidates vow that they would see it through in 2015? Or promise to reject the Keystone XL Pipeline for good? Or vow to keep with the Obama agenda of curbing new federal leases for gas and oil exploration? Read More At Investors Business Daily: news.investors/…/110514-725123-even-running-from… Follow us: @IBDinvestors on Twitter | InvestorsBusinessDaily on Facebook
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 23:47:47 +0000