In national politics, 2014 is “the year of magical thinking.”
The Democratic Party's ideals match up better with the average person's. Voters in four states upped the minimum wage and voters in Oregon and D.C. legalized pot. These ain't Republican platform planks.
But Republicans captured the Senate, even though their plans weren't in the interest of most of us.
Why?
First, for decades, whenever a president has reaches his sixth year with his party holding the Senate, his party loses the Senate. It ain't just Obama.
Second, Republicans blamed Obama for ebola, ISIS, gas prices, and the weather. Meanwhile they projected that they could easily solve our problems, most of which do not have easy solutions.
The Republicans were aided and abetted by:
The Supreme Court decision in Citizens United: Both parties, but particularly the Republicans, used a bundle of money, cleverly concealing its sources, on huge and mostly false attack ads within the final days, too late for meaningful defense by victims, or analysis by journalists.
Short memories and poor analysis: When Bush deceptively dragged us into the Iraq War, it was obvious that Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11 and that attacking Iraq would create a bunch more terrorists clamoring for our scalps.
Although our underlying economic difficulties preceded him, Bush exacerbated our problems by supposing we could fight two wars while lowering taxes, and by doing nothing to address inequality; Obama staved off Depression, got more people on health care with generally better policies, and reached agreement with Republican leaders on a reasonable Immigration Bill that other Republicans then shot down.
Barack Obama: Obama isn't the Socialist Dictator the screamers scream he is; but he has distinct deficiencies as a president. He's a much better orator than he is a manager; he's less aggressive than I wish he were, particularly about articulating his accomplishments to the citizenry; and he's a little too proud or particular to schmooze easily with donors or Senators he doesn't really feel like schmoozing with. I doubt even Lyndon Johnson could have schmoozed and conned his way out of the Republican intransigence Obama faced right from the start; and Barack's no Lyndon.
Democrats could have campaigned on what they believed, and what Obama had accomplished. Probably in some states the anti-Obama sentiment was so deep that trying to run from him made sense. In most, it didn't. A true low point was the Kentucky candidate for U.S. Senate refusing to admit she'd voted for Obama! She looked like a weak, waffling idiot. Everyone knew the answer. The falsity rang clear.
Racism: Although Republicans spoke of FDR almost as harshly as they do of Obama, I believe the fact that he's a black man (and “uppity,” light-skinned and highly articulate) played a role in the depth of animosity he's inspired without actually doing anything very radical. Race also played a role in his election: his color and his eloquence convinced voters he was a lot more of a change than he truly was. Enhanced expectations meant greater disappointment.
This should not be overstated: it's just a piece of the story; but it made demonizing him (to whites) a whole lot easier.
Mostly, The Republicans attacked Democrats wildly and offered us easy-sounding false solutions to everything.
We have serious problems neither Bush nor Obama created.
The answers aren't easy. Denying science, economics, and logic won't help. Nor will claiming problems don't exist (climate change), are natural (rising economic inequality / people without healthcare), or have easy answers (immigration, Ebola, the Middle East, and the economy).
But “It's morning in America” still sounds great!
Peter Goodman is a local writer, photographer, and sometime lawyer. He initially moved to Las Cruces in 1969, holds two degrees from NMSU, and moved back here in 2011 with his wonderful wife. This is his most recent Sunday column in the Las Cruces Sun-News. His blog Views from Soledad Canyon contains further information on this subject, as well as other comments and photographs, and past newspaper columns.