The Wall Street Journal boldly states the situation we are probably facing.
If the current polls hold, Barack Obama will win the White House on November 4 and Democrats will consolidate their Congressional majorities, probably with a filibuster-proof Senate or very close to it. Without the ability to filibuster, the Senate would become like the House, able to pass whatever the majority wants.
Though we doubt most Americans realize it, this would be one of the most profound political and ideological shifts in U.S. history. Liberals would dominate the entire government in a way they haven't since 1965, or 1933. In other words, the election would mark the restoration of the activist government that fell out of public favor in the 1970s.
Hat tip to intrepid reader Roger. The WSJ goes on to warn us about the kind of legislation the new regime is likely to pass. But in the same paper we also get a different story. Matthew Kaminski tells the story of the first African American governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, who ran on a platform and with a similar strategy to the possibly first African American president. DP and BO make for a striking comparison.
They share an image-maker and political guru in David Axelrod, the strategist who told the New York Times Magazine last year that Obama presidential campaign themes were field tested in Massachusetts.
Axelrod's theme was great when it came to campaigning. How about governing?
Gov. Patrick's challenge was to turn an autobiographical, pseudo-postideological campaign into a mandate for governing. The transition proved hard and, today, remains incomplete. Having made himself the focus of the election, Mr. Patrick could not easily point to a particular policy agenda of his own. "He won a mandate for a governing style," says Byron Rushing, a House Democrat. "That presents a problem because everyone in their mind has an agenda to go with that style." Jay Kaufman, another representative, adds, "Each decision disappointed someone."â¦
On the day his most ambitious legislative proposal went down in defeat, the governor was off in New York to sign a $1.35 million book deal. "It was a definitional time," says Mr. Galvin.
Mr. Patrick's poll ratings sank fast, hitting a low with 41% approving of his job performance this April (56% disapproved). "The governor made everyone feel good, then they didn't feel good at all," says Khalil Byrd, his former deputy campaign manager.
I wouldn't count on Massachusetts as a model for the Obama administration. But there is a reason why post-war America didn't turn out like post-war Europe. Divided government is the most basic theme of the American system, and it makes it harder for any single vision to be imposed on the whole structure of society and the economy. President Obama, if he shows up next January, will find that "change" means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Some of those different things will turn out to be mutually irreconcilable.
At least that is what we can hope. In so far as the Democrats have a coherent vision, it is to make the United States more like France. That will probably be as difficult as the problem the French face: trying to revive a sclerotic economy and give hope to a hopeless underclass of unemployable immigrants. But at least they have good health care, or so we hear.
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