Historic Showing by Republicans

As of Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Jim Heim, Moore County Democratic chairman, sounded surprisingly upbeat and defiant Tuesday night for someone who had just seen his party’s clock cleaned both locally and nationally.

“They don’t have a plan,” Heim said of the Republican victors and their tea party allies. “What are they going to do? I guess we will find out tomorrow.”

For now, they will be celebrating. And deservedly so. This time around, the Republican Party, reinforced and energized by that potent tea party component, managed to capture the national spirit of profound economic discontent and go running with it across the finish line, leaving a great many puzzled and disheartened Democrats choking on heel dust.

You can’t argue with that kind of success — even if you can wonder, along with Heim, what the GOP will now do with its newfound power once the thrill of victory is over, other than creating more deadlock in Washington at a time when the nation faces major challenges that cry out for bipartisan cooperation.

Dramatic Setbacks for Demos

Anyway you cut it, the national results — including a decisive Republican takeover of the House of Representatives (Senate results were uncertain at our deadline time) — represent a historic setback for the Obama administration. Its legislative role may well be reduced largely to vetoing efforts to repeal or chip away at previous Democratic victories from health care reform on down.

Some have attempted to argue that these results could have the ironic effect of enhancing President Obama’s chances of gaining re-election two years from now by forcing him to govern from the middle. Something a bit similar happened to Bill Clinton. He had a disastrous first two years (including a failure of health care reform), but the subsequent Republican revolution forced him to forge more bipartisan cooperation — which helped produce six years of the greatest economic expansion this country has ever known.

At this point, though, any such comparison sounds more like trying too hard to see a silver lining in an otherwise black Democratic cloud.

‘A Failure to Listen’

In Raleigh, the Republicans have apparently gained control of the General Assembly for the first time in more than a century. In Moore County, where so many local contests are typically decided in the spring primary, it’s difficult to discern much of a pattern in Tuesday’s results, other than the usual clean Republican sweep.

The national anti-incumbent mood wasn’t much in evidence here. Though sitting school board members Sue Black and Pam Thompson lost in their nonpartisan races, U.S. Rep. Howard Coble and County Commissioner Jimmy Melton, both Republicans, easily sailed to re-election, and GOP Sen. Richard Burr carried Moore by a resounding 66 percent.

Here and elsewhere, the Democrats have clearly been set back on their heels and will need to ponder what lessons can be learned from the signal defeats they suffered on Tuesday. Moore County Republican Chairman Bob Levy blames what he called Obama’s failure to “listen to the people.” Perhaps the president and his administration, which may have attempted too much change too fast, will turn a more attentive ear now.

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lovemoorecounty 2 years, 6 months ago

If the Democrats are so concerned about the republicans winning where were they on Tuesday. I saw very few names on the ballot in Moore County with a D beside the name. I think you at least have to be in the fight to have a voice.

sgmartin 2 years, 6 months ago

Welcome to 1996. So what is the republican plan other than no compromise? That always works well huh?

irkim13 2 years, 6 months ago

And how much exactly has Mr Obama compromised?

fugitiveguy 2 years, 6 months ago

"Welcome to 1996. So what is the republican plan other than no compromise? That always works well huh?"

Well, considering you guys put the most far left member of the senate who could not have had a thinner resume in the White House what the hello were you expecting.

moonchild7 2 years, 6 months ago

Forget 1996. The Republican Tea Party wants to take us back to 1896. That's what their "Take our country back" routine is all about. Democrats for many reasons didn't come out to vote like they did in 2008. Let's see how fast those elephants make everything else in America crumble into more and more piles of dirt.

carlj1161 2 years, 6 months ago

I hope Democrats and Republicans alike are listening. The people have a low tolerance and patience for not getting things done. We did it the Republican way for several years and everything went to heck. Then we changed the Democrat way for a few years and things didn't get better. I hope the politicians listen and get things done, which means compromise on both sides. The priority of the new Republican leadership should not be to get rid of Obama in 2012, but to get this country straightened out, starting NOW.

marathonman 2 years, 6 months ago

I just love the political gamesmanship rules; the winner gloats and the loser begins to find fault with the process. Most all elections are won or lost on economics of the time. Throw in a smattering of a war/conflict somewhere in the world where we are defending freedom and that brings out many many of those dedicated to the proposition of "can't we all just get along". Lets keep our powder dry and tell them how we feel about those things directly and hold their feet to the fire each election cycle until we get it right. But never, never fall for a tall good looking man with smooth words about how we can without any words on how we can with specifics. Free enterprise, smaller government, lower taxes will cause the economy to begin to recover. However, without some real international trade, and home grown products that can compete in the world market, we will languish for a long long time. Unions out of control and under the direction of the Dems must be more closely controlled and stopped from simply killing any industry before it gets started. If our workers demand high wages and the product they are producing can not compete in world market because it is overpriced in order to pay their high demands, we are doomed to another failed cycle.

sgmartin 2 years, 6 months ago

God forbid workers demand high wages. None of us want that do we? I assume that includes doctors, lawyers and CEOs of corporations?

marathonman 2 years, 6 months ago

Most everything in our country is overvalued. Start with houses, cars, the cost of goods and services. When we prospered after the Vietnam conflict, we allowed our common sense and dependence on the stock market to influence our public policies. High demands became entitlements. We have college grads who can barely balance a check book demanding egregiously high starting wages. And it goes down hill from there. Unions are the worst offenders and during times of plenty, employers allowed the demands in exchange for someone else maintaning discipline in the work place. We have now passed the point of that high maintenance cost. We have, too, allowed health care in general to grow beyond many folks ability to pay. Many simply dropped out. Employers who used to foot the cost are now dropping retirees from their roles. Insurers, medical care facilities, physicians, prescriptions drugs costs have now risen beyond what most can afford. We need reform, not an overhaul. No one should expect others to pay for anything that they want/use/desire. Self reliance vice dependency will have a great influence in lowering costs of goods and services. Free enterprise not government controlled.