"Voter's Remorse"

Have you ever made a large purchase, such as a car or major home appliance, taken it home and then had second thoughts about the purchase and perhaps the price of the purchase? This is commonly known as "buyer's remorse". This is similar to the condition that many Democrats have found themselves in; only it is "voter's remorse". They spent their time, energy, money and the most valuable of all, their vote, on the election of Barack Obama to the White House and the Congressional control by the Democrats and now they find themselves disappointed. This disappointment can be seen in the many recently taken polls measuring Obama's job approval rating and the approval rating for Congress, as they have plummeted since the inauguration. Obama's approval rating is hovering in the upper 40s - lower 50s on average and Congress' approval rating is at an all time low of 11%. This is surprising given the massive wave that swept all of them into power in 2008. Other polls show that the country is fairly equally divided between three political parties; Republicans, Democrats and Independents; yet the approval ratings are nowhere near the same breakdown. Real Clear Politics has the Obama approval rating at 45.5%, a significant decrease from his upper 60s after the inauguration and it continues to decrease. The reasons for this are pretty clear - the conservatives are angry at all the far left policies that Obama and Congress have passed and the liberals are angry that they haven't done enough to create the "change" they were all promised. This is not the position that the incumbent Democrats hoped to find themselves in heading in to the midterm elections. Unlike the 2008 elections when every Democrat wanted to be associated with Obama, many are distancing themselves and their re-election campaigns from the President.

This is obvious in many Congressional districts and can be observed by watching their commercials. In my district, for example, the incumbent is a newly elected Democrat that voted for Pelosi as Speaker and allied himself with Obama in 2008. Now, a look at his campaign commercial shows that he is attempting to fool the voters of his district by distancing himself from Obama and Pelosi regarding major votes, such as healthcare and the stimulus package. I have seen many commercials like his across the country. Democrats are running scared this year and know that they have a real chance of losing control of Congress next term. I personally find this humorous since it is their leadership and radical policy changes that have put them in this position in the first place. For example, the polls all showed that a majority of the country disapproved of the healthcare bill; not to mention the general disagreement expressed at rallies and town hall meetings; but the Democrats ignored the will of the people and pushed it through without even reading it in full. Now they maintain that the wasteful stimulus package actually was successful in ending the recession and saving and/or creating millions of jobs in spite of the general feeling amongst voters that it did not work and certainly did not help as much as it was promised to. The demise of the Democrats this election is inextricably linked to their blatant disregard for the will of the people. Minority Leader of the House John Boehner warned them during the healthcare debate that the will of the people will only be ignored for so long until the people take back the control.

All generic ballots between a Democrat or a Republican show Republicans up by an average of 5.2% and some have them up by 13 or more points. This is a new tidal wave that is sweeping across America and will bring REAL change to Washington. The Republicans' "Pledge To America" may not go far enough for some conservative voters, but it represents a promise of new beginnings for the next Congressional term starting with the repeal of Obamacare. Some say the Republicans have peaked too early and may not be able to sustain this lead until the election, but that was said in the early summer and we are now 3 weeks out from the November midterm election. It appears that they are only gaining ground, not losing it. I definitely hope that is the case. Much will be said by both sides of the aisle in these next few weeks via rallies and campaign commercials and the American public will decide what they want Washington to do for them. The Republicans have made a real pledge to listen to the will of the people and pull this Nation back from the brink. The Democrats simply promise to continue the failed policies of President Obama with the hope that now they will work as promised earlier.

When you have buyer's remorse, it is not often that you will return the item that is causing you discomfort. November 2nd will determine if "voter's remorse" is enough to return this government to the store it came from: the people.