US midterm elections: An overwhelming repudiation

[Lenin's Law]

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/nov2006/elec-n08.shtml


With returns from the western states still coming in, the Democratic Party has won control of the House of Representatives by a comfortable margin, having ousted more than 30 Republican incumbents.

The Democrats appear poised to gain control of the Senate as well. They have captured at least three seats previously held by Republicans—in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Ohio—and are leading, as we go to press, in the closely contested races in Virginia, Missouri and Montana.

Even if the Republicans manage to retain a one- or two-vote Senate majority, there is no questioning the fact that the election results represent an overwhelming popular repudiation of the war in Iraq. Exit polls confirmed what pre-election surveys had predicted: that the war was the issue uppermost in the minds of voters. A substantial majority of those who cast ballots favor a withdrawal of US forces from Iraq either immediately or within a few months.

While the election result is a debacle for the Bush administration and the Republicans, the Democrats are far from satisfied with the political situation that they presently confront.

The Democratic Party is the beneficiary of overwhelming antiwar sentiment that it did nothing to encourage and which stands in stark opposition to its own pro-war policy. There is a vast chasm between the massive antiwar sentiment within the electorate and the commitment of Democratic Party leaders to “victory in Iraq” and continued prosecution of the “war on terror.”

As the evening wore on and the political implications of the massive anti-Bush and antiwar vote became apparent, both leading Democrats and the cynical spinmeisters of the media sought to interpret the election results in the most conservative and innocuous terms.

New York Senator Hillary Clinton, considered to be the frontrunner to win the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, declared in her victory speech that American politics had to return to the “vital center,” and pledged her commitment to work with the Republicans in prosecuting the “war on terror.”

Needless to say, had the Republicans retained control of both houses of Congress, the media would have portrayed the election as a powerful popular endorsement of the Bush administration’s war policy.

In fact, the vote reflects the broad and deep popular opposition not only to Bush, but also to the media and the Democrats, both of which backed the administration’s war drive, promoted its lies about weapons of mass destruction and Iraq-Al Qaeda ties, and continue to support the mass slaughter being carried out by the US in the devastated country.

The outcome of the elections has revealed that the American people overwhelmingly stand to the left of the entire political establishment. It signals an intensification of the political crisis in the United States.

Those who voted for the Democratic Party in order to express their opposition to the Bush administration and the war will rapidly discover that a Democratic electoral victory will produce no significant change in US policy, either abroad or at home. Millions of working people and youth will sooner rather than later come into direct conflict with the Democrats.

[Janus]

One of the reasons why the Democrats got in was due to their Iraq policy yet no one should really expect anything drastic out of it. The only thing that they have agreed on is that they need to "fix up" some things and maybe redeploy troops but otherwise nothing radical is going to occur out of it.

[Demogorgon]

It's no real change to say the least. However the embarrassment caused to Bush should give us a smile at least.

[Hit The North]

Watching Rumsfuck get the boot was a small pleasure. It's a shame they're not still compelled to retire to a quiet room, stick a gun in their mouths and pull the trigger to amend for their failure like their bourgeois forebears.

[Guerrilla22]

Yes, however US foreign policy will not change in the least.

[Tekun]

^Exactly, the democrats believe in sending more troops to Iraq as a way to quell the violence, either that or start removing a small number of troops, though at any time Im sure they would be called back by politicians if they felt that they're were losing Iraq

Ppl are tired with the costs of war and they showed it in these "elections"
Though this doesn't mean that they're fed up with the War on Terror
They're just tired of seeing so many soldiers die...if there were less casualty's I doubt that Bush and his cronies would have seen defeat
The ppl are tired of the same agenda, they want change
Problem is, that they're not in charge, and therefore they don't make the decisions in this plutocracy

[Dr. Rosenpenis]

Having the war on their hands is going to be as detrimental to Democrats as it was (and is) to Republicans. Why? Because neither are going to do anything to resolve the problem. Americans don't like the war anymore because creating a liberal democracy in Iraq has failed and apparently will fail, their government is murderous, they're not safe from people who resent their murderous government, and mostly, too many American kids are getting killed.

[Ander]

Originally posted by Citizen [email protected] 08, 2006 08:50 pm
Watching Rumsfuck get the boot was a small pleasure. It's a shame they're not still compelled to retire to a quiet room, stick a gun in their mouths and pull the trigger to amend for their failure like their bourgeois forebears.
Ah yes, the resignation, although 6 years too late, is definitely a good thing. As well as the Republicans losing so many seats as well. Is it great? No, not at all. But it's better than a kick in the teeth.

[Guerrilla22]

I can't belive some people are getting off over the "people's victory" in the US. Let me know when changes happen.

[Janus]

Yeah, some of the Iraqi people are going to be very dissappointed when their hopes for change don't come through.

Iraq hopes U.S. vote means more security (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061108/ap_on_re_mi_ea/eln_iraq_us_election)

[mikelepore]

I drew a little map to illustrate who really controls the U.S. Congress by state, after the most recent elections:

http://www.deleonism.org/i/mymap006.gif

[RebelDog]

The US is a one party state with two wings of that party vying for power. The same is now true in the UK. All they do is con people in to thinking either wing is something fresh and new and their victory will herald a new begining. It is the same old shit regurgitated over and over again. Go back and watch the old presidential debates and just replece the word Iraq with whatever poor bastards were having the shit kicked out of them at the time by the US military.

[Marsella]

Is this a win or a loss?

It's well known that the revolutionary movement grows when the US is Republican dominated.

[commiecrusader]

If the voters are so far left of the democrats and republicans, is there no viable option for them to vote for apart from the democrats?

At the end of the day this vote changes little, replacing one bourgeois majority with another.

[Guns of Brixton]

The US ruling class is ready to change policy. The neocon policy has been proven bankrupt. The US is losing the war in Iraq, is facing increasing challenges in Afghanistan and meeting increasing opposition and exposure worldwide.

The democratic party leadership advocates a more "enlightened", rational and subtle policy to promote the interests of the empire. The party leadership is also eager to overcome the "charge" that they are military whimps and prove that they can, in fact, be better warriors for the empire. Their policy dovetails with large segments of the military leadership which seeks a more rational and reality based prosecution of the war.

The liberal and ideologically confused base of the democratic party has been manipulated, is being used and sections of it will soon see itself as being betrayed. This base includes a diverse set of ideological and political roots and motivations and will be split in the next period.

I expect this to happen:

All segments of the ruling class are united that defeat in iraq is unacceptable. They will now unite (with the democratic party taking much of the "credit") behind a policy of aggressively winning the war. US troop strength will be increased dramatically. A propoganda blitz will hammer home the message that defeat is unacceptable and "short term" pain will be necessary to overcome the errors of the neocons. The material impact of all this will be increased troop strength and increased war expenditures in a general national mobilization. There will be attempts at iraquization, but they will fail and will be shown to be unreliable bacause of the overwhelming rejection of us occupation in iraq.

In the face of this, the current "left-democrats" will split. The dominant wing will go along with the ruling class. But, most importantly, a significant section (hundreds of thousands of people, at least) will be radicalized.

We are entering times when contradictions sharpen and underlying realities become more clear. Hundreds of thousands of young people will experience this for the first time and receive first hand lessons on the nature of capitalism and imperialism in general and the us empire in particular. Also, hundreds of thousands of older people that went through the vietnam war and didn't fully learn these lessons then, will finally wake up and many will take an active stand.

[Guns of Brixton]

It's well known that the revolutionary movement grows when the US is Republican dominated.


I think it is actually more dynamic than that. The revolutionary movement grows as objective conditions move people to action and contradictions sharpen so that the underlying reality becomes more fully exposed.

Segments of the population are "trained" by the development of events.

We are looking now at the opportunity to have a large segment loose their illusions about the democratic party and the nature of the empire. In the context of increased imperial crisis and their reduced freedom of movement, I think we are looking at the prospect of a greatly expanded and revitalized revolutionary movement in the US.