Editorial: Obama gets election message; de Blasio doesn't
President Barack Obama faces reporters at a news conference in the East Room of the White House on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014, in Washington. Credit: AP
To take control of the U.S. Senate and the New York State Senate in this season of great political discontent, Republicans had to give voters targets. President Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio were perfect foils. Only one of them said Wednesday he heard the message.
Presidents in their sixth year usually have bad results in the midterm congressional elections, but Tuesday's rebuke seems to be stinging for Obama. It wasn't the Affordable Care Act that whipsawed him; health care was prominent in the advertising of only a handful of the 11 hot Senate races. Instead, many voters were disillusioned with his leadership, citing threats from Islamic State terrorists or Ebola.
Yet there are two years left for him to forge bipartisan solutions to the nation's problems on immigration, taxes, energy and infrastructure. He held the longest news conference of his tenure yesterday to say he will do just that. There are two years on the clock as well for the Republicans -- whose Senate success is attributed to not running whackos -- to demonstrate that their congressional majorities can partner in governing. Obama's meeting Friday with legislative leaders is a start.
In New York, the state GOP ran against de Blasio and he naively gave them plenty of ammunition when he said his brand of liberalism should spread statewide. His face and agenda were depicted as menacing in GOP attack ads on Democrats. The mayor, who gave hundreds of thousands of dollars, plus trusted staff, to Democratic candidates, said Wednesday he would push ahead with his agenda and try for better results in 2016.
The mayor seems not to have realized that while New York is a progressive state, it's not the deep blue that colors his world. Right now GOP legislators are the only ones giving voice to the economic concerns of the suburbs and upstate. That's why they now have 32 of the 63 State Senate seats, with a few Democrats clamoring to caucus with them.
Obama said Wednesday that he "got the message." De Blasio denied that a backlash against him propelled the GOP to victory. But balancing the needs of the entire state is why Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who governs from the middle, was re-elected. And why he's thrilled that de Blasio gave him a GOP Senate that will allow him to continue to do so.
