The way my political foresights are coming true, maybe I should restyle and self-promote this blog as a political think-tank. As soon as the 2012 Presidential elections results were out, did I not write that ‘if the President carries on the way he did, it will be tough times for Americans and Indians in 4 years. And for Americans may be in two years’?
That two years – the halfway mark of the current Presidential term – did turn up with a Republican face in the 2014 mid-term elections. The Republicans have taken control of the Senate in yesterday’s mid-term elections. Just as the Democrats feared, they lost the seats won over in the 2008 Obama wave. [Is there a lesson for the opposition who are facing a Modi wave back home?]
;-)
The GOP piled up wins in Iowa, Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, Arkansas, West Virginia and North Carolina — all seats that had elected Democratic Senators — to get to their magic number of seven net gains. Two leaders who would be extremely happy are Mitch McConnell and John Boehner.
That would leave the President Barack Obama completely pinned down in a White House versus the Congress tussle every day of his remaining two years. For a President who has not been able to match his own rhetoric with action on ground, even when he had goodwill and public support, it is a very difficult prospect.
As for Indo-American relations, in the first place Obama was not much bothered about India - except to fall back to Indian-students-bogeyman when it suited him. with him as a lame duck, I doubt even the equally-blustering-rhetoric of Narendra Modi can make any headway.
OTOH it showcases the astute political instinct of Hillary Clinton who has deftly managed the good of both worlds. She was the leading light, or at least the face, of Obama Administration as the 67th Secretary of State, but neatly slotted back into the party once Obama won his 2nd term. By not waiting to quit until the mid-term elections, she has avoided the stigma of being a fair-weather-flocker. [Is there another lesson for former Ministers or senior leaders – G.K. Vasan, Purandeshwari, Jagadambika Pal, et. al. – who have quit the Congress after the party lost power?].
It will be interesting to watch the US political scene for the next two years. Whether the GOP is able to harness this total control of the Congress, and to use it to resolve the conflict between the Republican hardliner grassroots vis-a-vis the party establishment; and whether Hillary Clinton manages to attract back the independents and the liberals who have been so disillusioned with Obama.
Right now, the US Congress looks like this:
That two years – the halfway mark of the current Presidential term – did turn up with a Republican face in the 2014 mid-term elections. The Republicans have taken control of the Senate in yesterday’s mid-term elections. Just as the Democrats feared, they lost the seats won over in the 2008 Obama wave. [Is there a lesson for the opposition who are facing a Modi wave back home?]
;-)
The GOP piled up wins in Iowa, Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, Arkansas, West Virginia and North Carolina — all seats that had elected Democratic Senators — to get to their magic number of seven net gains. Two leaders who would be extremely happy are Mitch McConnell and John Boehner.
That would leave the President Barack Obama completely pinned down in a White House versus the Congress tussle every day of his remaining two years. For a President who has not been able to match his own rhetoric with action on ground, even when he had goodwill and public support, it is a very difficult prospect.
As for Indo-American relations, in the first place Obama was not much bothered about India - except to fall back to Indian-students-bogeyman when it suited him. with him as a lame duck, I doubt even the equally-blustering-rhetoric of Narendra Modi can make any headway.
OTOH it showcases the astute political instinct of Hillary Clinton who has deftly managed the good of both worlds. She was the leading light, or at least the face, of Obama Administration as the 67th Secretary of State, but neatly slotted back into the party once Obama won his 2nd term. By not waiting to quit until the mid-term elections, she has avoided the stigma of being a fair-weather-flocker. [Is there another lesson for former Ministers or senior leaders – G.K. Vasan, Purandeshwari, Jagadambika Pal, et. al. – who have quit the Congress after the party lost power?].
It will be interesting to watch the US political scene for the next two years. Whether the GOP is able to harness this total control of the Congress, and to use it to resolve the conflict between the Republican hardliner grassroots vis-a-vis the party establishment; and whether Hillary Clinton manages to attract back the independents and the liberals who have been so disillusioned with Obama.
Right now, the US Congress looks like this:
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