The republican party won enough seats in the U.S.Senate to become the majority party in that chamber. It was not the first time it ever happened. It was the third time since 1956 that they did so in replacing a democratic controlled Senate.
The election will be debated on cable TV for the next several weeks but the real story will not be told there. Attack ads paid for by special interest groups use their wealth on ads not to articulate what the candidate they support stands for, the candidate's position on the issues or the candidates accomplishments. Instead it is negative attack ads (usually false) on the opponent. And unfortunately it works. The special interest groups who pay for those ads have little respect for the voting public.
The republican's will be the majority in the Senate come January even though they can not claim any record of accomplishment for the country and its people. They will now claim the people spoke but less than 50% of the eligible voters took part in the election nationwide. In fact channel 8 in New Orleans reported it was the lowest turn out since 1942. There is no mandate. History has a way of sobering people up and in 2016 this process will take place again. That is when the people will understand what had actually taken place in the previous two years.
The most important thing the President can do now is keep the republican party away from the economy, job creation and the budget because their party's record on those issues is terrible. It will not be much longer till the country is at full employment thanks to a democratic administration. The President also needs to veto the extreme agenda of the republicans when it comes up and surely it will come up.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: The voting public according to all the polls (not just for the Nov. elections) gave a more favorable rating by far to President Obama than members of congress. Yet the majority of the candidates for congress who were reelected were incumbents. In other words the voters reelected those they said they were the most dissatisfied with.
This writer was on the tread mill at the fitness center the day before the elections when the Fox News Network put on the TV screen a poll that showed Bill Cassidy leading at 50% of the vote. This writer had seen no report on New Orleans TV or in the Times Picayune or the New Orleans Advocate that showed any poll with Cassidy at that number. When the final vote was counted Cassidy received 41% of the vote. Fox never named the poll, it was simply just another attempt to mislead the voters.
As of this writing, President Obama has accomplished more for the country and its people than the previous administration, even when the republicans controlled both houses of congress. The President has also kept the country, its people and our men and women in uniform safer. He can be proud of his record des;pite the constant noisy attacks.
This commentary written by John Lucia.
