OPINION:
In early 2009, newly minted President Obama invited Republican leaders to the White House. In the spirit of good will, the GOP offered ideas about how they could work together. Mr. Obama offered a sharp rebuke: “I won.”
What a difference six years of unrelenting socialism make.
In an electoral tidal wave, Republicans gained control of the Senate, picked up seats in the House of Representatives that expanded their majority to historic levels, and won governorships in deep-blue states such as Illinois, Maryland and Massachusetts. For a party with a damaged brand and no clear leader, the GOP had a stunningly successful election. A wave, if you will.
The Republicans scored the best of all possible worlds. If the Democrats were going to lose the Senate, the Obama White House reasoned, it could be a blessing in disguise as they could then cast the controlling Republicans as obstructionists. They could cement the perception of the GOP as the “party of no.”
What the election results show, however, is that the American people do not see the GOP as the “party of no.” They see the GOP as the “party of stop.” Voters want the Republicans to finally put a stop to the Obama-era madness that has shoved America into rapid decline.
The GOP Congress will generate all kinds of growth-oriented and spending-control policies, from tax reform and the dismantling of Obamacare to authorizing the Keystone XL pipeline, stopping Mr. Obama’s proposed executive action on amnesty for illegal immigrants, and putting together a real 2015-16 budget resolution.
A Democratic Senate will no longer exist to stall those things, so Mr. Obama will have to make a choice: approve or veto. This will turn the tables and allow the GOP to paint the president and the Democrats as “the party of no.” Some Democrats, fearful about their own re-elections in 2016, may go along with some GOP proposals. If so, the Republicans will win there, too.
Mr. Obama will, of course, stay true to form and bypass Congress whenever possible, likely on amnesty and a bad nuclear deal with Iran. Even there, though, the GOP Congress can checkmate him by eliminating the funding for whatever he does unilaterally.
Six years ago, the most radical, liberal elements of the far left took the White House and expanded their majorities in Congress. Then they pursued what Mr. Obama called the “fundamental transformation” of the nation, moving America away from a country built on individual freedom, economic liberty and strong national defense to one dominated by economic malaise, radical wealth redistribution, gross incompetence, and breathtaking corruption at home and dangerous impotence abroad.
All of this created the perfect political storm that’s been gathering for a while. This week, the storm clouds opened again, as they did during the 2010 midterm election.
Mr. Obama was technically not on the ballot but, as he reminded voters, his policies were right at the top of it. Many of his wingmen in Congress who supported those policies went down in flames. Apparently, Americans remembered that the folks responsible for this horror show still worked for them. They remembered that they were paying their salaries and funding their staffs and perks only to be disrespected, blown off and quite literally robbed by their representatives. Voters finally fired them.
Republicans won most races across the nation this week; they lost but a few. The biggest effect of the results won’t be on the House or the Senate, though, but on the radical policies of Barack Obama.
Mr. Obama will have no room to maneuver. He was complaining incessantly about “broken Washington” when he had a huge majority in the House and a filibusterproof majority in the Senate. Imagine the presidential whining to come during his final two years.
Some observers say that with an eye now on his legacy, Mr. Obama will “moderate,” “move to the center,” “compromise” with the newly resurgent GOP. Those same observers suggested he’d do the same thing after the 2010 and 2012 elections. Yet he remained firmly on the far left, as committed statist ideologues tend to do.
Mr. Obama remains as committed as ever to his European-style socialism. It doesn’t matter that those policies don’t work, have caused enormous damage, and have torpedoed his presidency and his party. There is nothing in his political character or temperament to suggest moderation. There is also no evidence in his political history to indicate that he’ll temper his views going forward.
Obamaism is dead. Now, we must snuff out its effects wherever they are found: in Obamacare, spending, deficits, taxes, energy policy, amnesty, a slashed and hamstrung military. We’ve got to kill these policies in the crib, before they send the nation permanently into decline. That’s what Republicans were elected this week to do.
No compromise. No white flags. No negotiation. No surrender.
Monica Crowley is online opinion editor at The Washington Times.
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