Well, that seems like a strong thing to say. Entire eras of American history have been defined by and named for certain administrations, and certainly there have been unique, exceptional actions performed by the individual officeholders. So why might it supposedly not matter? A lot of it has to do with Congress.
One of the main reasons Obama failed to make good on many of his promises was the painfully obstructionist Republican congressional caucus. Every one of his signature pieces of legislation (Affordable Care Act, 2009 stimulus, etc.) was only passed after a ridiculous process of compromise, revision, and argument, and bore little resemblance to the original, and likely more effective, bill. The Republican Party understood that in their minority position, simply making the opposing party look bad by trashing their legislation was enough to win the hearts and minds of the electorate. After gaining a House majority in 2010, the GOP gridlock only increased. However, Obama’s apparent devotion to his spurious idea of bipartisanship has left many Bush-era policies unchanged or even made worse. Defense spending is ludicrously high ($663.84 billion last year), and taxes on high-income citizens and corporations are at a modern all-time low.
By this logic, a Romney-Ryan White House, as terrifying as that prospect sounds, would have trouble implementing many of their extreme social and fiscal policies if any number of Democrats remain in Congress. That looks like it will be the case. As of September 13th, Democratic congressional candidates lead Republicans in the overall polls 49-43. The Senate will likely remain Democratic, and the House may switch back over, meaning if Romney wants a second term, he’ll have no choice but to compromise.
The point trying to be made is that any President’s actions are dictated largely by the will of Congress. But that’s certainly not all. In order to get elected President (or even nominated) in today’s American political arena, one first must have the backing of the corporate machine. Obama loves to brag about how many small individual donations he receives, but the reality is that his campaign (and especially Romney’s) is funded primarily by big-ticket donors. According to the Federal Election Commission, the Obama campaign received $1,013,091 from Goldman Sachs, $808,799 from JP Morgan Chase, and $736,771 from Citi Group, to name just a few. Of the total $347,909,254 in donations, over 61% came from big-ticket donors. Romney, of course, is funded almost exclusively by large donations and Super PACs. 81% of his $192,355,237 haul came from such sources.
All of these ridiculous numbers essentially boil down to a few things:
1) These two men owe a lot more of their political capital to corporations and a few individuals than to most of their electorate.
2) Their actions, once in office, are going to reflect the needs of said donors. Obama, for all his grandiose talk on renewable energy, has personally signed off on Arctic offshore oil drilling plans that even George Bush couldn’t touch.
A Romney presidency is far from ideal, but it could very well end up resembling the Obama presidency in practice. Of course, the danger here is a totally Republican-dominated government, which is still a possibility. If the far-far-right, corporate-controlled GOP has only toothless opposition, the consequences could be nearly dystopian. Hugely repressed reproductive rights for women (look up the Personhood Amendment), a trashed socio-economic safety net courtesy of the Ryan Budget, and CERTAINLY no more Obamacare. Not to mention possible war with Iran, elimination of National Endowment for the Arts funding, slashed education budgets, etc. If this seems unlikely, just look up the platforms of virtually any Republican candidate up for election. Although the Democrat-controlled government hasn’t been great, unfortunately it’s the best option left. Please, if you’re over 18, vote in this election.
This editorial also appeared The Blue Collar, Volume 4, Issue 1, October 2012, Interlochen Arts Academy’s student newspaper.
(This is in response to an e-mail sent by Brother Watt, along with a plea by the Oregon Democrats to vote Democratic in the upcoming election. I thought it had relevance to this post, so I’m commenting here.)
I’m still voting third-party pretty much down the ticket. I expect Obama will win Oregon, and mostly Democrats will win races down-ticket, but even if that’s not the case, the candidates I’ll vote for are so much more aligned with my views that another choice is not possible for me.
Some have written me in for city council already. I’m wearing my Vote Bob button again. Local races are in some cases interesting; mostly non-partisan (what a joke). Some of the ballot measures here and in other states are certainly interesting. But most of them, even if passed, go through waves of litigation before (if ever) becoming law.
Nationally, I still believe that Congress is what’s really important. Even if Romney rigs the machines and wins, if the Senate stays Democrat, and the House numbers narrow, he will have a hard time passing much legislation. And his choices for Supreme Court and other appointments would have trouble also.
If Obama wins, then he will certainly have trouble passing legislation also. He’s definitely the lesser of two evils, and I hope he wins. But I believe that both the Democrats and Republicans, along with the mainstream media, are selling us down the river. And I also believe that events elsewhere will have a tremendous effect on America, and pretty much dictate what happens.
I guess I’m disappointed with the electorate. Most of us manage to get slightly excited in the run-up to a presidential election, and then we go back to sleep until the next one. Local councils and commissions work on and pass legislation that affects our lives a lot, and we almost never participate. Our conversations are about the wrong things, when we have them at all. Unions favor construction projects, no matter what’s being constructed. People favor development that brings jobs, no matter what those jobs are.
Enough. I could go on, but I won’t.
Thanks for your thoughts, Bob, as always. I forwarded you that info because of what you said in a previous comment, specifically that “I’ll only vote for Obama if I’m not sure he’ll easily carry Oregon.” The Dems flagged a recent poll by the Oregonian showing one percentage point difference between Oregon and swing state Ohio in terms of the presidential election.
A lot of folks I respect are voting third-party. During her recent full-house concert at the Coaster Theatre, Holly Near put in a brief plug for Obama. It was the low point for applause during the show.
Hey Tevan. (Normally I would address you by your alias, even though I know who you are. But since we’ve agreed to index your posts under your real name on the site, I figure it’s ok to speak to you directly.)
It also allows me to share a personal connection. As a junior now in high school, you are roughly in the same position I was when Ronald Reagan challenged incumbent President Jimmy Carter. I was eager to contribute to public discourse on that race, yet all I could do was share my thinking, because the act of voting was not yet an option.
Your thinking here is smart and well-worded. A few counter-balancing points come to mind.
First, the resistance to progressive governance under Obama came not just from obstructionist Republicans but from right-leaning Democrats. This was abundantly clear during Obama’s first two years, when there was little cover for the Democratic Party to hide those right-leaners in the narrative of bipartisanship. So it became obvious, on health-care especially, that the Dems were really negotiating with their own corporate lackeys.
If Romney becomes president, I believe right-leaning Democrats will be more receptive to him than any Republican has been to Obama. Public policies will ratchet to the right more quickly under a Romney presidency than they will under a second term for Obama.
Second, this is the first presidential election that tests the impact of unlimited corporate advertising (thanks to Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission). If Romney wins, it means corporations have passed that test with flying colors. And there will be less chance of getting the hogs back in the pen where they belong.
Third, polling suggest there’s a chance Obama will win the electoral college yet lose the popular vote. If that happens, there will be added incentive for the Democratic Party to move further to the right (again, something many of them want to do anyway).
So I do believe this presidential election matters. Even though it feels like a taste test between commercial beverages, I’m going to hold my nose and take another sip of Hawaiian Punch. I respect folks like your dad who are voting third-party, and will defend them like hell when whining Dems try to blame them if Romney wins. Democratic leaders have only themselves to blame if they lose this election.