A. Thanks for asking. Here are seven ways it hurts Hillary Clinton badly:
1) The vote truly reflects a rejection of current Democratic leadership and policies by both libertarian independents, who voted Republican or didn’t vote, and many liberals who likewise stayed home. Although Hillary can argue that she’s not responsible for the current circumstances, there is virtually no distance between her and the administration on most issues.More specifically, her opposition to marijuana legalization and support of even more military adventurism are anathema to both groups.
2) The magnitude of the Republican wins throughout the country will depress contributions to Democratic candidates – including Hillary.
3) Republicans do not “own” further gridlock. Leaders of both houses will blame Obama for his refusal to sign off on truly horrific legislation and too many voters won’t understand the true dynamic.
4) The call for an alternative to Hillary by the left will actually get louder because WE will say: “look what happens when Dems champion Wall Street over Main Street”.
5) The (Bill) Clinton brand is still strong in Arkansas the (Hillary) Clinton brand is not.
6) Hard-right corporatist money which may not have flipped many states but certainly added to the size of the Republican victories within them will be wielded against Hillary.
7) Hillary cannot count on as many African-American votes as Obama received or as much enthusiasm from that community.
Notwithstanding all of the above, two years can be an eternity in politics and Nate Silver says and has demonstrated that there’s no such thing as momentum in politics. I’d still call Hillary the favorite but if Jeb Bush does run I think he is very likely to win and he’s gotta consider yesterday’s results as a good omen.
halginsberg
The Lesser Rusty
OMG! 1st no Blue Wave. Bad enough, but w/Trump’s threat 2use SCOTUS 2stop the votecount the shit has really hit the fan. What is the basis 4this? R we now a banana republic? Trump is treating r election like he is
aji chili lover
Bird
2016 is going tough road to hoe for any Democrat, 3rd presidential term for same party is rare. Senator Obama voted YES for the FISA surveillance granting legal immunity to telecommunications companies, Hillary as Senator voted NO. You guys should be worrying on what Obama is going sign, like the Grand Bargain and Chained CPI and Keystone and Corporate Tax Reduction and who knows what the Republican will put on his desk.
“I think that I have the capacity to get people to recognize themselves in each other. I think that I have the ability to make people get beyond some of the divisions that plague our society and to focus on common sense and reason and that’s been in short supply over the last several years. I’m not an ideologue, never have been. Even during my younger days when I was tempted by, you know, sort of more radical or left wing politics, there was a part of me that always was a little bit conservative in that sense; that believes that you make progress by sitting down listening to people, recognizing everybody’s concerns, seeing other people’s points of views and then making decisions.” – Barack Obama (on ABC’s This Week.
This can be argued either way. Who knows what the next two years will bring.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/why-the-senate-gop-takeover-might-actually-help-hillary-clinton/2014/11/05/d39ca90e-6442-11e4-9fdc-d43b053ecb4d_story.html