On Nov. 8, voters delivered their verdict on the first two years of the Biden Administration. Conventional wisdom pundits had predicted a “red tsunami”: The GOP only needed to flip a net of five seats to seize the majority in the House, and one seat in the Senate. Most observers had projected that they would take at least 30 House seats and easily capture the Senate. Some even suggested that Republicans would surpass their historic gain of 63 seats during the 2010 midterm of Barack Obama.
By now it’s obvious that the “Red Wave” turned out to be a Red Mirage: Republicans have so far won a net of only seven House seats, barely a majority.
By far, most candidates endorsed by the SLO County Democratic Party won their races, including the 30th Assembly District where Dawn Addis of Morro Bay received more than 60 percent of the vote. It’ll be the first time since 1968 that San Luis Obispo will be represented by a Democrat.
How is it, then, that Democrats pulled off this virtual draw with the GOP against the headwinds of high inflation and low approval ratings for President Biden? Biden cast this election not as a referendum on his presidency, but a choice between democracy and violent extremism. Democrats focused on the issues of abortion rights, economic fairness and poverty, climate change, and sustainable solutions to our crisis of housing affordability.
Even while they may not yet give Biden credit for his achievements, most appreciate his low-key style, his soft-spoken civility and devotion to rational discourse, and his strong faith and love for our country. Biden is plodding, but he is persistent: That’s produced a series of legislative triumphs that already earn him a place among the most successful first-term records of any American president.
In contrast, the GOP suffers from a complete lack of policy ideas that could serve to attract moderate voters, especially those who are younger, female, or minorities. In fact, Republicans seem to be more interested in offending these constituencies: At every turn, they fight President Biden’s modest proposal for debt relief for college students, thereby condemning millions of young households to decades of poverty. Their extremist Supreme Court majority has stripped women of reproductive rights guaranteed by a half-century of constitutional interpretation. This Republican Party has been wholly captured by the racist, anti-immigrant rhetoric of Donald Trump, who dines with anti-Semitic white supremacists like Nick Fuentes.
Democrats have an excellent chance at retaining the White House and winning back the House in 2024: They have positioned the nation’s economy for continued steady growth with aggressive COVID-19 relief packages and the bipartisan infrastructure bill. This administration achieved a modest but significant breakthrough on reducing gun violence, closing the infamous “gun show loophole,” and Biden is calling for an assault weapons ban in the wake of the tragic epidemic of mass shootings.
In foreign affairs, what a difference two years have made: Nobody seriously disputes our nation’s leadership anymore. The U.S. and our allies are expanding NATO instead of threatening it; we’re challenging Russia in Ukraine; and we are finally (though belatedly) tackling climate change in concert with developing nations.
It may be too soon to suggest that the 2024 elections represent a “return to sanity.” There’s still entirely too much toxicity in our national discourse. On the day after the election, Fox News pundit Jesse Watters snidely remarked, “There’s just not the hatred for Joe Biden that there is for Barack Obama and for the Clintons. There’s not a ‘hate Biden’ vote that’s out there.”
It’s ironic that he should believe this even as “Let’s Go Brandon” slogans decorate every GOP office in the land—the not-so-subtle euphemism for the “F**k Joe Biden” chant heard at NASCAR events. For Jesse Watters and his ilk, the problem is clearly that not enough voters are “feeling the hate,” in spite of their incendiary efforts to stir up such hostility.
Let’s all turn it down a notch. Let’s recall those times when our nation was unified behind a common cause.
On Nov. 9, the night after the election, I stayed up past 1 a.m. so that I could witness the launch of the last Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg. It was magnificent, easily visible from my bedroom as it soared into a polar orbit in a clear sky. Its weather observation satellites are already monitoring our entire planet twice each day.
That project, like all of our nation’s infrastructure, required the collaboration of teams of American scientists and engineering professionals, all of whom set aside their political differences to perform their assigned roles. There are both Republicans and Democrats on these teams. With the new Artemis program, we’ll soon be sending women and minorities to revisit the moon.
Our space program has always manifested the nation’s motto, “e pluribus unum” (out of many, one). Let’s hope that the split-decision of the nation’s voters in the midterm elections will mark a new era of collaboration, a new resolve that despite the bitter hostility of our troubled years in the Trump era, we’re ready to choose hope over hate, vision over violence, and—finally—progress over polarization. Δ
John Ashbaugh has been engaged in local politics since arriving in SLO County in 1977. Write a response for publication by emailing letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Dec 1-11, 2022.
Today’s republican party is a squalid, thuggish death cult devoted to the overthrow of democracy and worship of Donald Trump. Republicans have no interest whatsoever in actual governance or building a more perfect union, let alone work for the common good of society. All the GQP wants to do is sow chaos, spread misinformation, put more guns in the hands of madmen and terrorists and to force rape victims to bear the spawn of their perpetrators. The cult is utterly nihilistic, craving raw power and desiring to transform America into a Russia-style autocracy. They want to create hell on earth and eventually destroy the planet.No decent person supports the evil party of Putin.
Mr. Ashbaugh misinterpreted the sentiments of the voters. The lack of the “red tsunami” didn’t represent an endorsement of any of the policies or claimed “progress” of the Democrats, but an aversion to Trump and many of the extreme candidates offered by the Republicans, and the relentless efforts of the establishment media to depict them as all extreme. How long will the Democrats be able to milk this aversion to swing moderates to their candidates? As Democratic policies continue to fail, often dramatically, voters will tire of high crime, an open border, soaring inflation, trillions thrown away on causes that excite the Left, homelessness, and a society which seems to be segueing into the bizarre in the relentless public exploration of all potential forms of sexuality. At some point, voters will react against the Democratic vision. Unfortunately, this reaction may be extreme, as some often are when driven by “cause” partisans, and not moderated by more thoughtful thinkers. The relentless push of an extreme progressive agenda may reactively end up taking us to a place few of us want to go.
Thank you John Ashbaugh for your thoughtful analysis of this voting season, and your message of hope for peace during these tumultuous times.
“public exploration of all potential forms of sexuality.”
Mr. Donegan seems to have an over indulgent interest in America’s sexuality—he literally brings it up every time he contributes to this forum, which is quite often. Hmmmm…
But, I digress. The bulk of his statement is that Biden has somehow failed America. In fact, Biden has come through on virtually all of his promises. Unemployment is at historic lows. The economy continues to grow. Moreover, a path toward mitigating the devastating impacts of climate change are underway with passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. Prescription drugs will be cheaper next year and Americans who get their health insurance through the ACA will continue to see low premiums.
A recent Washington Post story says that the Biden Administration “is on pace to compile by far the best [economic] growth record since Bill Clinton” and “Yes, this is adjusted for inflation.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/bi…
Unfortunately for Mr. Donegan, the Republicans have no answer to Biden. Do they nominate Trump, who is a disaster? Or do they go with DeSantis or Hawley or Cruz? These potential candidates are unelectable because the country is changing and the “Zoomer” generation, which is credited with stopping the Republicans in this election, are simply not going to put up with the bigoted and anti-abortion stance of the above candidates.
If the Republicans come to their senses and nominate a moderate such as Haley or Kasich, then the Democrats are in trouble. In point of fact, this country remains a center-right nation. Clinton appealed to these folks, as did Obama, as does BIden. When the Republicans go off the rails with a candidate such as Trump they are in trouble.
Donegan slams the dems,the left and a “society which seems to be segueing into the bizarre in the relentlesspublic exploration of all potential forms of sexuality.” This statement is an obvious reference to LGBTQ folks, especially trans youths. Isn’t it interesting and a bit ironic how conservatives get so pig-biting mad over gay rights, same sex marriage, etc., yet they worship an unrepentant serial adulterer and boastful sexual predator who wants to end free elections and be installed as a dictator?
Today’s Republicans are partisans without principle, Christians without conscience and patriots without pride.
@Michael Smith: I frequently bring up the progressives obsessions with sexuality because you are all so insistent on pushing it off onto the rest of us, and forcing us to obey your ever-changing dictats. Leave us alone, and I’ll shut up.
You can offer all the “happy talk” about the Democrat’s “progress”, and support it with cheerleading from the usual media suspects, but few people are fooled. We see daily how you have failed miserably. We experience daily the soaring inflation that you created with your free-spending efforts to buy votes; We see tens -of – thousands of desperately poor illegal pouring over an open border. And we see the ever-increasing crime that you encourage with your purportedly enlightened notions on law enforcement and justice. As you happily drive us over the cliff into a dystopian future, your self-congratulatory chatter is deafening.
How much more Democratic “success” can this country endure?
“You can offer all the “happy talk” about the Democrat’s “progress”, and support it with cheerleading from the usual media suspects, but few people are fooled. We see daily how you have failed miserably. We experience daily the soaring inflation that you created with your free-spending efforts to buy votes; We see tens -of – thousands of desperately poor illegal pouring over an open border. And we see the ever-increasing crime that you encourage with your purportedly enlightened notions on law enforcement and justice. As you happily drive us over the cliff into a dystopian future, your self-congratulatory chatter is deafening.”
Hogwash, If “few people are fooled” then why didn’t the Republicans pick up 50 seats in the House and win the Senate?
And who exactly are the “We” you prattle on about. Old white folks like yourself? Sorry Mr. Donegan, your bigoted day is done. Times are changing no matter what “We” think or how “We” vote. Good riddance.