Our president is Black, but the nation turned a crimson red on Tuesday as the Republicans took control of Congress, won several important gubernatorial races and even put a Black man in the Senate from the South for the first time since Reconstruction.
Many Democratic hopefuls went to bed dreaming of comeback victories in certain key states, but the Republicans gained at least seven seats in the senate, including a victory for Mitch McConnell in Kentucky, making him the Senate majority leader, a position he has long desired.
Kansas, North Carolina, Kentucky, Iowa and Colorado were considered vital contests in determining control of the Senate, and the Republicans took these states, giving them the majority they need to begin McConnell’s plan to eviscerate what remains of the Obama administration, including a repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
And repealing the health care act or getting gubernatorial cooperation will be ably abetted with Republican Scott Walker’s victory in Wisconsin and Rick Scott’s triumph in Florida.
As we go to press, it’s too late to hear how Obama will react to the GOP tidal wave that swept across the nation, dampening many of his plans and set to make his last two years even more challenging. But there is an early indication that he won’t take the outcome as a personal defeat. During an interview with reporters before Tuesday’s election, one of his aides compared his situation to a basketball player who had been confined to the bench. “You’re in the Final Four,” he mused, “and you’re on the bench with a walking boot and you don’t get to play.”
The Republican capture of the Senate culminated a season of discontent for the president—and may yet open a period of even deeper frustration. Sagging in the polls and unwelcome in most competitive races across the country, Obama bristled as the last campaign that would influence his presidency played out while he sat largely on the sidelines. He privately complained that it should not be a judgment on him. “He doesn’t feel repudiated,” the aide said Tuesday night.
Many of the Democrats in tight races could have used Obama’s help, particularly in those pockets of the country where he had done well in the past, and over the last week or so he did just that on the stump. But the Republicans had long ago commanded the narrative, and the Democrats felt having the president on their campaign trail was a liability. Liability or not, many of them were overcome by a tsunami of reaction.
At last count, but not officially, the Republicans had 53 seats in the Senate and the Democrats 45, with two independents. Two races, including a runoff slated in Louisiana in December, were still undecided.
What is decided is the extent to which the Obama administration will face a Congress more determined to derail his plans in much the same way the Republicans here in the state will give Gov. Andrew Cuomo a level of stiff resistance when he resumes his push for the DREAM Act and equal pay for women.
In a national context, Black voters, especially if they are of the Republican stripe, can cheer the victory of Tim Scott in South Carolina. There is no way at the moment to assess his turnout and the role Black voters may have played in this historic victory, but the Democrats’ appeal for Black voters to get out and basically rescue them from certain defeat in key regions of the country was widely reported.
The Black vote, in most of the critical races, would not have turned the tide, because white voters—and particularly older whites, according to one exit poll—had made up their minds about which way they were going. That destination was away from Obama.
During his first campaign for office, Obama had made change an important part of his platform, and now it seems that the nation’s electorate has once again answered. Only this time, the change appears to be working against him.
How all of this impacts his legacy will play out over his remaining two years in office, and rather than on the domestic front, it may be how he deals with the ever pressing foreign crises. And for a president to stake his legacy on foreign policy is always risky, but it may be the final arrow in his quiver.
