Referendum on State of the Union, Not an Ideological Shift

Aljazeera: "After winning big, GOP faces challenge of governing"
URL: http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/11/5/gop-agenda-midtermelections.html
by Naureen Khan

After securing a Senate majority in the midterm elections, the Republican Party has demonstrated considerable political confidence from what it perceives to be renewed ideological traction amongst voters (and the general public). In the midst of its recent success, Republican leaders have, over the past few days, unveiled a renewed political agenda centered on deficit reduction, tax reform, changes to entitlement programs, etcetera. In the article "After winning big, GOP faces challenge of governing" Author Naureen Khan disputes the perception that the midterm election results are a sign of approval for the Republican Party. Instead, Khan argues that the results of the recent midterm election were moreso a product of general dissatisfaction amongst the public rather than a signal of renewed interest in conservative policies. Khan contends that the greatest challenge for Republican Party will be to maintain the support it has recently gained.

Khan notes that over the past several years, Republicans have managed to garner significant political support by simply bashing policies adopted Democrats that in hindsight produced negative consequences. Now that the Republican party possesses overwhelming support in Congress, it will need to remain united and execute effectively on its espoused goals. It will no longer be politically sufficient to bash failed policies of the opposing political party to garner/maintain political support.

I am curious as to the extent in which President Obama's choice of political agenda in his second term affected the results of the midterm election. I recall another article (I can't remember what) which discussed the potential dichotomy of presidential legacy vs. long-term party interests. The article discussed how Obama's choice of contentious public policy issues as priorities coincided well with his desire to establish a political legacy, but possibly at the expense of the Democratic Party. It noted that the party as a whole may become potentially divided and/or suffers due to the effect of contentious policies on the maintaining of the party's political base.

Despite that the results of this election favor the Republican Party for the moment, the party should be wary of celebrating in excess, as it will still need to execute on its stated promises in order to garner sufficient support to stay in office and make long-term changes in policy.