Editor’s Pick
NOVEMBER 4, 2009 12:15AM

NJ Results: DC Dems have a year to get things done

Rate: 10 Flag

What do the results of the election in New Jersey mean for the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress? 

Exit polling shows that President Obama's approval rating in NJ is still high. Corzine's loss was about a number of things: the economy, corruption fatigue, and his personal  unpopularity. (In light of recent economic events, being the former head of Goldman wasn't a political asset anymore.)

 I believe the resurgence of the GOP along with the ferver among the right wing (NY-23) means that Democrats in DC need to get to work.  There is a window of one year to move the progressive agenda forward. President Obama needs to move the needle.  After having spend the last 10 months working on bipartisanship with nothing to show for it, it is time to move on.  

 Close Gitmo.  Repeal "Don't Ask Don't Tell".  Pass the DREAM Act.  Education funding.  How about some more stimulus packages?

Bipartisanship in Washington is a pipe dream.  A year from now, Congressional Democrats will have to answer for what does or doesn't get done.  Unfortunately, some Dems elected in marginal or previously Republican ditricts, are going to lose.  Make something happen before you run out of time.  

It would be nice to have record of accomplishment to point to and defend.

Author tags:

corzine, election, nj, politics

Your tags:

TIP:

Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Recipient's email address:
Personal message (optional):

Your email address:
Cancel

Comments

Type your comment below:
Cancel
It's been a year since Obama was elected and nearly a year since he was inaugurated. We're nearing the threshold where the recession will no longer be "Bush's economy," and Obama will own it.

Despite cheery, chirpy pronouncements by Geithner and Bernanke that the recession is over, unless there are jobs, lots and lots of jobs, the majority of Americans aren't buying it.

If President Obama is as smart as many say, he will convene a Manhattan-style summit at the White House of the best and the brightest to determine how to create jobs -- quickly. He needs to invite Bill Clinton too. Clinton inherited a recession and in 8 years, his administration created 24 million jobs.

Get it done, Barry. Or you can say adios to to reeelection.
Christopher di Spirito
November 04, 2009 09:41 AM
We agree on my points, But what makes you think that Obama is a progressive? He has sided with almost every Republican position, the bank bailout, Gitmo, GM, his public option plan is no more than 5%,
He's expanding the military and will send more troops to Afghanistan.

Where is the change?
Obama needs to try something he's never done. move to the left.
David Cox
November 04, 2009 10:01 AM
From your lips to Obama's ear.
Tom Walls
November 04, 2009 11:59 AM
he has never had more than two years.
i believe we all won last night.
those who voted democrat won, and those who voted republican won.
because there are no differences. obama never planned to close gitmo. nor repeal dont ask dont tell. nor do away with torture.

we arent REALLY going to pretend that the country that elected democrats SO SO SOUNDLY in 2008, was going to be lost if he did away with torture and gitmo, are we?

no.

they have done what they wanted to do.
jane smithie redux
November 04, 2009 12:11 PM
I get the opposite message there. Trim the excesses in the sails and chart a more prudent course. The nation has financial fears just as strong as their concerns around healthcare. For dems that is showing greater knowledge and care for the financial underpinnings associated with the progressive agenda. For reps it means getting out of the social issue business and breaking out the pencils and calculators to work WITH democrats on these matters.

America's had enough of the bickering, the sniping, and the personal attacks. Corzine taking pot shots at Christie's weight in negative attack ads did him no good.
Gwool
November 04, 2009 12:37 PM
you can only hold your hand out in friendship so many times before the biting causes you to loose that hand. It doesn't matter that you made the gesture, not to the ones doing the biting - they see it as weakness, not good will.

When the last administration was in power, they somehow managed to push through an agenda _without_ the House and Senate. Get. Something. Done. Stop trying to work out a compromise. Be a bully, not a politician.

I apologize for cross-posting, but I'd like to direct you to here [ http://tinyurl.com/ygak9m6] and here [http://tinyurl.com/ykruowe]
Fudo Myoö
November 04, 2009 12:48 PM
I think the results indicate an indictment of all Democrats - not just President Obama. The amazing ineffectivess of the Democrats despite having bullet-proof majorities makes them look too weak to run the country. People believe Republican lies more than they believe Democratic data because the Republicans have a united front and better messaging!
J. Osborn
November 04, 2009 03:19 PM
It is not up to the Government to "create jobs." If they stop over-taxing us and over-regulating us, we can create our own businesses. Small businesses are what make this country great - but once you're taxed to death you walk away.

This formula has been proven over and over, why try to reinvent the wheel - again?
Deborah Young
November 04, 2009 05:47 PM
Earth to Ds:

Grow a pair.
old new lefty
November 04, 2009 09:57 PM
I think the Democrats sacrificed Virginia and New Jersey not for the sake of bipartisanship but because they had no choice. Obama's mid-50's approval rating pertains to him, but Congress is feeling the brunt of disapproval over the banking bailout and job losses. But of course you're right, they need to get moving.
BOKO
November 05, 2009 12:39 AM
It appears to me that the Dems only have the one year you mentioned to come up with a compelling reason to get Dems to the polls and to get independents who will vote Democratic to the pols again. The consensus which drove both of those groups to the pols to vote for Obama apparently saw not compelling reason to do so in VA or NJ this week. I'm more likely to look at the Congressional race in NY where a Democrat won over the efforts of the Republicans to foist a staunchly conservative candidate on the voters.
Walter Blevins
November 05, 2009 11:10 AM
You know, I'm amazed at the number of people who say that Obama has done nothing.

There's this big stimulus that you may have heard of. Economists say it was responsible for much of the growth we saw in the third quarter, where the economy grew for the first time in over a year.

That ALONE would be a big legislative accomplishment, especially since he hasn't been in office for a full year yet. But then he also got cigarettes regulated by the FDA, something that had been in the works since the Clinton administration. He reversed the ban on funding embryonic stem cell research. Health care reform looks like it will be done by the end of this year or early next. And cap and trade legislation is also on the agenda.

I know that the base wants everything done yesterday, but that just ain't the way things happen.
Tony Wang
November 05, 2009 12:45 PM
Don't hold your breath for Barry to convene "a Manhattan style summit".."the best and the brightest". You are forgetting one tiny thing...he is a politician..and politicians seek "political answers"!
A "Statesman" would convene what you would love to see this President do..Convene a group of leading industrialists, maybe with Buffet as its Chair, and repeat what Ronald Reagan did in the 1980's with the "Grace Commission". Peter Grace did a fantastic job with thousands of volunteer executives across the country doing an analysis of the government, and the waste, fraud and abuse that seems to be part of the DNA of politics.
It was a fantastic report with trillions of dollars possibly being saved looking out a couple of decades.

That, unfortunately, is not what Congress is all about. Adults know that Congress only has power because it controls the checkbook.

The Grace Commission’s work culminated in a 47-volume report containing 2,478 recommendations to save taxpayers $424.4 billion over three years. It was a serious effort that was quickly "spiked" by Congress.

I don't doubt that most eco majors heard of the Grace Commission since professors have their own agenda with impressionable young people they are proselytizing.
Joe Zollo
November 07, 2009 05:38 PM