Obama on the Ballot

With Republicans poised to make gains in the U.S. Senate — if not win a majority — and with Democrats running away from Barack Obama, the President is reportedly considering new approaches to governing. Well, duh.

The quirks of individual races aside, Tuesday’s vote shapes up as stock-taking on Obama at the end of six years by a decidedly unhappy America.

Self-inflicted wounds of indecision on ISIS and incoherence on Ebola have taken their toll. But the public would be in a more forgiving mood had Obama addressed the economic pounding suffered by the working and middle classes.
 
The explanation that the Republicans encased Obama in amber just isn’t washing among large segments of the population that have suffered declining purchasing power while watching the affluent investor class do quite well.

For quite a long time, the President had largely talked up job growth and a falling unemployment rate as the sunshine of his economic stewardship.

The gloss failed to note that the U.S. had 3 million more part-time positions than at the start of the economic meltdown in 2007, along with 3 million fewer full-time jobs.

Additionally, the 2013 median income of American families was 4% lower than at the end of the recession and 7% less than before it started — a drop of roughly $4,500 in spending power.

Last month, Obama spoke with greater candor about the pocketbook pain, saying, “Too many families still work too many hours with too little to show for it.”

Offered too late in the game, the President’s pitch fell far short of a battle plan that Democratic candidates might have championed. He and they will still need such a program.

And, more important, the Republicans will in all likelihood need one, too.