For all the hours of pre-election predictions and post-vote analysis, the 2010 midterms came down to a very simple truth: If unemployment were near double digits come November, Democrats would take a beating.
It is, and they have.
Exit polls found that nearly nine in ten voters believe the economy is in bad shape. The same percentage said they feel pessimistic about America's economic future. That's practically everyone!
And while a large majority of voters still believe that George Bush is to blame for getting us into this mess, they are clearly holding Obama accountable for not fixing it.
The Pottery Barn rule -- "you break it, you own it" -- was given a twist tonight. Turns out, sometimes even if you weren't the one who broke it, you own it. So it is with our broken economy. Bush broke it, but Obama, underestimating just how broken it is, owns it.
Indeed, the president laid claim to it back in July 2009 when, during a speech in Michigan, he strayed from his prepared text and said: "I love these folks who helped get us in this mess and then suddenly say, 'Well, this is Obama's economy.' That's fine. Give it to me!"
Many compared it to Bush's defiant "Bring 'em on!" And like that brash taunt, Obama's has doubled back to kick him in the butt.
He now owns an economy that 9 out of 10 people are unhappy with. Is it any wonder that they took their ire out on the Democrats?
With the "real unemployment" figures around 17 percent, it means almost no one in the country isn't being adversely affected by the economy -- or knows someone who is. And they were not going to be mollified by health care reform that doesn't kick in until 2014 and financial reform that isn't slowing down foreclosures or making borrowing money easier for small businesses.
As a result, voters no longer trust Democrats to fix things. Hard to believe, but Collier County in Florida, the county with the biggest unemployment jump in the country from March 2009 to March 2010, voted Republican.
Democrats still have the White House and still have the Senate, but they better do something about the economic devastation if they want to win back Collier County -- and the trust of the American people.
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Huffington Post: Election Results 2010: HuffPost Bloggers React (SLIDESHOW)
Will he say "wow I thought Islamic extremists loved us now. I underestimated the threat"?
I read that 40 million fewer people voted this election than in 2008. Many people just choose to stay home because they believe that it doesn't matter which party is in control..............same or similar result.
Dems should have said, "It's a referendum on the man, Obama, not the policies or the unemployment numbers." That way they'd at least defend the man and what he's done right instead heading for the exits.
The Republicans and Tea party people were willing to crawl to vote. People on the LEFT were discouraged by the slow pace of the socalled CHANGE.
Out of touch? oh yeah he's so far out he could be the next planet.
New: President Tin Ear.
Guess what no one went to Jail for making bad decisions...................so America is bound to repeat it in the near future.........................CAPITALISM is destructive if the major players don't have to follow the rules.
Obviously, Bernanke's favorite quote is, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting a different outcome."
We're long overdue for a third party; one of the Founding Fathers did say that having a two-party system would be our undoing. They also stated that there should not be such a thing as a career politician.
This country hasn't learned a thing.....
about the
REPUBLICAN DEPRESSION we were facing !
I know Obama wanted to seem like we would work our way out of it,
like it wasn't the end of the world, but he was too much about
Hope and not enough about the economy falling off a cliff,
mostly because of GOP policies.
As much as I like him, and respect the incredible burden he's taken
on, if his numbers don't get better we must look to a stronger
candidate for 2012.....Hillary, Dr. Dean ?
I think Hillary would have been much less easy to smear
by the ugly Fox channel and we'd have done much better
in the midterms. And I was a strong Obama supporter
in 2008. She didn't run a very strong campaign herself
at first, but almost got it done at the end and has
learned from it I'm sure.
the cold hard truth, is bipartisan and sobering
No the problem is the plutocratic instincts of the Republicans period