For those of you who did not watch this year’s election results or bother to care at all, here’s a quick recap of what happened: Republicans have retaken the House, and John Boehner (R-Ohio) is poised to become Speaker of the House.
What next? The incumbent governor Rick Perry managed to retain his seat as Texas governor for the next four years in a close election with former Houston mayor Bill White, who did much better than many expected — claiming 42 percent to Perry’s 55 percent of the vote.
The supposed “tidal wwwave” expected by Republicans and some pundits turned out to be more of a slow and steady roll upon the shore. Many of the Senate races and even quite a number of the gubernatorial elections were neck and neck to the very end, some as close as less than 1percent (less than a few thousand votes).
What does this mean for Democrats, and more specifically for the Obama administration?
Well, Democrats managed to keep control of the Senate with Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada being among those re-elected. But with Republicans controlling the House, the pressure on the administration to repeal and reform will be on.
President Barack Obama’s response the following day to the results of the election could be summed up by his intentions to continue pursuing bipartisan participation, but with more effort. The president described the election results as a “shellacking” when questioned by the media.
The change in speaker of the House means that a new political agenda will be pushed. The job of the speaker mainly consists of pushing their party’s agenda as well as presiding over administrative duties and making sure legislation gets passed.
With Republicans possessing more power, Democrats worry that much of what has been done over the past two years will be repealed.
Boehner is the presumptive speaker when Congress reconvenes and votes in January. Boehner is a major opponent of Obama and the healthcare bill.
The change in speaker is something to be noted. The new Republican-controlled House will present challenges to Obama and his administration. The policies and agenda of Obama and the Democratic Party will likely be stalled or move more towards the middle.
Varah Thornton is an English sophomore and may be reached at [email protected].
