| Even though Clinton is perceived as a popular and somewhat successful Presidency, it's worth remembering that he did not in fact garner more than 50% of the vote either election. In 1992, he weirdly snuck in due to immense dissatisfaction with Bush and a weird nativist/populist Perot movement, and in 1996, he still couldn't garner 50% against a decrepit Bob Dole in a strengthening economy. Yes, Clinton had a majority Democratic Congress from 1992-1994, but he never actually had a real governing mandate from the public.
The last Democrat to win 50% of the electorate was Jimmy Carter in 1976, in an environment so bad for the Republicans that Common Cause had a bigger budget than the RNC. Even so, Carter's margin was incredibly slender, winning 50% of the vote to Ford's 48%, with 2% going to a third party candidate. You'd have to go back to 1964 to find a Democratic President win with more than 50% of the vote, and that was Lyndon Johnson destroying Barry Goldwater.
It's not just that this Congress will be more progressive than any we've had since that time, the public will have firmly ratified a Democratic President and given him a mandate since 1964. This is territory most of us (and most of the pundits) don't remember or understand. The public has firmly placed its trust in the Democratic Party to lead the country, which means that expectations are high. But so are the new levers of power which Obama and the Democratic Congress will wield.
Trust in politics matters. And it looks like a majority of the country will pull the lever for a Democrat and imbue the party with that trust for the first time in two generations.
Get ready. It's gonna get weird.
.... And yes, I'm getting 'ahead' of myself. But come on, it's just one blog post. I'll make for it by canvassing.
... And the Republican IE unit is putting up ads in Montana. I mean. It's not over but, well, you know. |
