Compare this Presidential mid-term election with that of Franklin Roosevelt's in 1934. In the Senate, Democrats WON nine MORE seats, giving them MORE control of the Senate. In the House, Democrats WON nine seats, net. The Republican Party also lost seats to the Progressive Party, and were reduced to holding less than one-fourth of the House for the first time since the GOP was created in the 1850s.
What was the difference between Franklin Roosevelt and Barack Obama?
Obama saved the financial system, not understanding that the financial system is a predatory burden on the real economy, and that to save the real economy - i.e., create jobs for average Americans - the crooks and psychopaths who run the financial system need to be jailed as quickly as possible.
By contrast, Roosevelt reformed the financial system so completely, that the bastards on Wall Street attempted to put together a military coup.
But there's a good bit more than just saving Wall Street while Main Street burns. Ian Welsh sums it up concisely:
Why Democrats Lost for Complete Idiots
The Democrats gained control of both Congress and the Presidency in 2008. They then pursued ineffective policies which didn’t fix the economy. They increased deportations of Hispanics. They restricted abortion rights for women. They spat on gays repeatedly. They betrayed unions. They gutted civil rights, going even further than George W. Bush (who never said he had the right to assassinate Americans.) They saved bankers who then rewarded themselves with record bonuses and salaries while average American wages actually declined.
The base was demoralized, not because the Dems went too far left, but because they went too far right. The non-Democratic voters were angered because they elected Democrats to fix the goddamn economy and to not be George Bush, who they were sick of. Dems didn’t do what they were elected to do.
That’s why Dems are losing – because they demoralized their own base in a base election year, because they didn’t fix the economy, and because they thought Americans wanted them to be George Bush, just a bit smarter.
This isn’t a repudiation of liberalism or progressivism or socialism (Americans wouldn’t recognize a socialist if he gave them real universal healthcare) it is a repudiation of a Democratic party which failed to fix the economy and which became identified with bailouts for the rich.
Anyone who doesn’t understand this, is, forgive me, a complete idiot.
The silver lining to the electoral disaster this evening is pointed out by BDBlue on CorrenteWire: that most Americans recognize that the country, even under Obama, remains on the wrong track:
But I take at least some heart in knowing that my fellow Americans think the country is on the wrong track. And while a lot of Americans couldn't define socialism if their life depended on it and are fed nothing but bullshit propaganda by the corporate media, they're actually pretty sane on basic policy issues: they like Medicare and single payer, oppose the war in Afghanistan, hate the bank bailouts, and want to raise taxes on the rich. There will be a lot of "progressives" blaming the voters tomorrow, but it's the elites who suck.
UPDATE - there is one other factor, which I believe was at work this evening, as explained by Benintn: My fellow Americans, the first election post-Citizens United. This problem is going to get much, much worse, making it nearly impossible for President Obama to win re-election. The only way he can possibly win is to understand that the United States has become an oligarchy, and is no longer a functioning democracy. Even the rule of law is no longer available for the average citizen. President Obama can only be re-elected if American democracy is restored. And, that can only happen if he is willing to oppose and destroy the American oligarchy.