There’s no arguing that the sweeping changes made by voters to the electoral map was caused by their disappointment and disgust that government was unable to make similar changes to the health of the economy. However, both the Republican winners and the Democrat losers are misreading why voters are frustrated with the government in particular. Instead, they are again sticking to the same old talking points- is the election a repudiation of Obama’s policies or voters frustrated with the pace of change- with the media happily following along and keeping score as if this was a boxing match.

Let’s start with the Republicans. Despite Boehner’s acknowledgement that the election is not cause for Republicans to celebrate, he and other Republicans clearly think that the election results represent a broad rejection of Democrat policies such as the health-care legislation and Wall Street regulation. To wit: his pledges focus on repealing the Democrat health care plan and curbing government spending. However, what he fails to see is that both Wall Street reform and health care reform have consistently shown broad support in polls. Therefore, revulsion against the Democrat legislation addressing these issues seems to be a symptom, rather than cause, of voter frustration.

But does that make Democrats’ assessment of the sagging economy as the main cause of election results correct? I don’t believe voters are stupid- they mostly think, rightfully, that Bush and Wall Street’s culture of lax regulation caused the financial crisis, and recognize that the crisis will take some time to work itself through. I think voters’ pessimism with the economy is based on reality and experience rather than a sense that Democrats can’t do anything right.

However, the Democrats aren’t blame-free- they lost the House elections by such a wide margin for a reason. Voters are frustrated with them because they have failed to provide a steady, strong leadership presence on an emotional basis. They should have made clear to America that their number one priority was recovering the economy. Instead, sensing a historic majority, Pelosi, Reid, and Obama instead chose to focus on making sweeping reforms that read like a liberal wish-list. They pushed for health care expansion, not reform. They focused on adding overseers to the financial markets, not making structural changes to prevent what caused the financial crisis from happening. They focused on adding cap-and-trade legislation when there was no clear demand for it. Most importantly, they failed to tie their legislative goals to what the voters wanted- rallying Americans from the economic crisis. It’s no surprise that, as a result, we see a chastised and subdued Obama, Reid barely surviving elections, and Pelosi set to lose her speaker’s gavel.

What voters wanted to see was clear, strong leadership from government saying that they will see the American people through this crisis and into recovery. An FDR-like presence assuring them that everything’s going to be alright, and a legislative agenda 100% focused on that- the New Deal’s overriding emphasis was putting America back to work. Instead, we saw a Democratic Congress and White House focused on enacting their vision of America, and a Republican minority demonizing them while offering no realistic solutions of their own. It’s no accident that both parties’ approval ratings are so low.

What got lost was someone outlining a plan on how America will get back to being successful. Hopefully, this new, divided government will put economic recovery into focus, instead of spending all their time fighting over health care, illegal immigration, and a host of secondary concerns.


(Photo: music2work2)