The Republican Party has gained full control of the Congress for the first time in eight years following the wave of Democrats humiliating defeats in their strongholds. While this week midterm elections would go into the history of Democratic party as “black Tuesday”, it is deeply unpopular President Obama who is seen as the major loser two years before the end of his term.
Studio guest Alexander Domrin, Professor of High School of Economics, Richard Magda, vice-president of Prologics company, Moscow based Republican, and Andrei Kortunov, General Director of Russian Council for International Relations, shared their opinions with Radio VR.
Did the results come as the surprise for you?
Alexander Domrin: No, the results were not a surprise. I was predicting it. Just a day before the elections in America I was live on the RSN – one of the major Russian radio networks – and that was precisely the prediction that I made. This is the humiliating defeat not just for those candidates who were running, but, first of all, for Obama. And moreover, because of Obama the Democrats suffered that kind of a defeat just two days ago.
A very interesting detail – when the Democrats who were running, either for a seat in the House or for a seat in the Senate, they even asked Obama not to campaign for them, because that would be like a kiss of death. Please, stay away. If we win, we win. But if you start campaigning for us, Mr. Obama, we will lose for sure.
Another interesting detail – one of the most interesting states in America for me is Iowa. Iowa is a heartland and a place where you can feel America. In Iowa they traditionally one senator who is a Democrat and one senator who is a Republican. In this particular campaign Michele Obama came to Iowa to campaign for the Democratic candidate and she mispronounced his name 7 times during her presentation. He lost and now we have two Republican senators from the state fo Iowa. I believe that it is very symbolic.
The Democrats’ humiliating defeat and the win for the Republican, are you happy?
Richard Magda: Very much so. The people actually got their voices heard and you could tell that the President knows nothing about what the people want.
How do you think these elections might change the polices?
Richard Magda: I don’t think the foreign policies will change much, because the Secretary of State won’t change, the President won’t change and they will be the ones making the decisions on the foreign policies. But I think domestically you are going to see a lot of changes in the way things are handled. And some of the bills that are being voted on will have a bit different outlook in the way people present them.
Getting back to the roots of that defeat, Obama was trying to invent himself as a great reformer of America. Why it didn’t work?
Richard Magda: Because what he’s put out there wasn’t what the people wanted. Some of the plans were unrealistic. The defeats that he had yesterday are because he wasn’t on the ballot, but all of his policies were, all his agenda was on the ballot. And for him to say after the defeat, that – I'm irritated – now he knows how we felt six years ago and two years ago when he was elected president.
What is next? Will it be different now?
Richard Magda: This should be an eye-opener for them. They got defeated in every portion of the country. It wasn’t just like the south turned on them, it wasn’t like the New England states turned on them, it was across the board. And for this to happen in the midterm is unheard of, when you think about it. I mean, if things were going right, it would have never happened.
I'm a very liberal Republican, which is not the norm. And I have friends who are conservative Democrats. I believe that we should have the third party, the third party would be the one that would be able to lead the country. That is where I would be optimistic. And it is not the Tea Party, it is not something that is out there now. It is the educated kids coming out of schools right now that are being taught by liberals, opening their minds up enough to realize that maybe they are not 100% right and come with a very strong force, and take over some of the seats, and slowly gain power.
What was behind such a humiliating defeat for the Democrats?
Andrei Kortunov: I think that this is the general disappointment in the performance of the Democratic administration and of Barack Obama personally. I think that it casted a certain shadow over the Democratic Party at large.
Some experts are saying that this is really more deep-seated problem and the disillusionment in the basic foundations of governance. To what extent do you think both the Democrats and the Republicans would be able to understand that they don’t have an unlimited confidence of the voters and come up with the positive agenda?
Andrei Kortunov: Frankly, I think that the Americans don’t treat Obama fairly. If you look at the economic performance of the US, the country is doing much better than most of us anticipated, definitely much better than the EU. But you are right, in the sense that both parties are in the state of crisis. And the Republican Party is probably more vulnerable than the Democratic Party, because over the last couple of years it was so influenced by the radical conservatives, by the radical right, that it would be difficult, if at all possible, for the Republicans to capture the center of the political spectrum in the US.
So, there is a problem. I don’t think that it questions the foundations of the American democracy, but the old two-party politics seem to be obsolete. And I think that both the Democrats and the Republicans have to find a new identity and a new program to win the hearts of the American electorate.
What lies in store for our relations with the US?
Andrei Kortunov: If we look back into the history of relations between Moscow and Washington DC, the Republicans usually did better than the Democrats. Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and both Bush Junior and Bush Senior were the Republicans. In a way they were better positioned to cut a deal with Moscow than the Democratic opponents. However, I don’t think that we can really expect to have a breakthrough in the relations between the two nations in the immediate future. Unfortunately, the disagreements are too deep. And I think that there is a consensus in the US that whoever leads the foreign policy, he should be tough with the Russians.
