Thursday, February 4, 2010

The Republicans have been...

...on a bit of a sugar high ever since Scott Brown won that special election in Massachusetts. Now, all of a sudden, I'm seeing articles about the GOP retaking the Senate! To which I can only reply: slow down.

I went back and looked at an old post of mine from April 28 of last year. It was about Arlen Specter's switch to the Democratic Party:

...After a career watching markets behave, I've learned that things often look their best at the top and their worst at the bottom. If Richard Shelby "bought the top" when he joined the Republican Party in 1994, then Arlen Specter could be doing the same thing now with the Democrats. As a supporter of Obama and his agenda, I hope not. But I also hope that the Democrats don't get overconfident, because fortunes have a way of changing.

After watching President Obama's State of the Union Speech and his appearance before the House Republicans last week, I can't help but wonder if "the market is turning" again. The GOP may have peaked too soon. Unlike 1994, when the Republicans snuck up on President Clinton and the Democrats, Obama and company have time to adjust before the November mid-terms. In hindsight, Scott Brown's victory may turn out to be a blessing in disguise (albeit one heck of a disguise!); it's a "heads up" for the Democrats. Obama certainly seems to have gotten the message and is acting like a football coach who has made the necessary adjustments at halftime.

The Republicans are still a party devoid of ideas and Obama is beginning to call them out on it. (For example, there are 46 million Americans without health insurance. The GOP plan would cover an additional 3 million. How is that a solution?) The country is faced with real problems on many fronts and the Party of No may begin to wear a little on independents. I predict the Democrats will do much better than everyone now is expecting. They should retain control of the House and Senate.

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