This was actually a story tip for Red County, but another contributor beat me to it while I was away this afternoon. Still, I felt I could put a little spin on it myself.
A piece today by Alex Isenstadt at POLITICO talked about Republicans using the unpopularity of Barack Obama’s policies to run local and state campaigns, and while the Democrats they spoke to naturally thought the strategy would backfire it bears noting that Democrats succeeded with a similar litany of Bush-bashing in 2006 and 2008.
While Democrats don’t think nationalizing state elections will work as well, it bears pointing out that President Obama’s policies – as well as those items offered up by Congressional Democrats – affect states more than ever. Ask those in the other 49 states if they’re truly happy about the Medicaid waiver they’re slated to give to Nebraska in return for Senator Ben Nelson’s affirmative vote or the extra $300 million to sweeten the pot for Louisiana’s Senator Mary Landrieu in the Senate’s health care bill. And maybe Illinois residents don’t want the target on their back that moving Guantanamo Bay inmates to their state could provide for would-be terrorists wishing to make a statement.
Let’s face it – in America today probably the most abused and forgotten part of the Constitution is the Tenth Amendment. Washington has made a history of trampling states’ rights since the War Between The States was fought, and more recently has placed states in a position where significant portions of their budgets are no more than pass-throughs from Uncle Sam to state capitals and eventually county seats and municipalities. What city or county doesn’t drool over the prospect of getting “free” federal money for a project or purchase?
In essence the 2010 election is becoming a referendum on not just President Barack Obama but the direction of Washington as a whole. Certainly we were drifting farther and farther away from at least the pretense of cutting Fedzilla that President Reagan tried to establish, but Obama has taken that drift and accelerated it to warp speed. That phenomenon isn’t lost on the newly motivated voters who make up the ranks of TEA Partiers and the move by the GOP is designed to curry their favor.
Time will tell if the strategy works, but for the moment I’m sure Democrats are hoping for better economic news to eliminate the possibility of a blame-Obama strategy. Fat chance.