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Tony Campbell
Politics ExaminerTony Campbell is a political expert. He has worked on the Presidential campaign trail and in the White House, as well as served in the military and taught politics at the collegiate level. If something's happening in Washington, Tony's on it.
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The Critical Election Year of 2008 (or is it 1980 all over again?)
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by Tony Campbell, Politics Examiner
(official photo of President Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981)
This year may signal another pendulum shift in American politics. The last major shift occurred in the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 after forty eight years of White House dominance by the Democratic Party starting with FDR’s first win in 1932. During that period only two Republicans were elected President: Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon.
In 1980 the country was mired in a sluggish economy and faced an energy crisis that was initiated by high prices for oil from the Middle East. At the same time, President Jimmy Carter was dealing with a foreign policy blunder in his handling of the hostage crisis in Teheran. These three main issues provided Reagan a perfect storm of opportunity to initiate a party realignment to move conservative Democrats and Evangelicals to the Republican side of the political ledger. Reagan not only won the White House, but riding on his coattails allowed the Republican Party to secure a net gain of thirty five House members as well as a net gain of twelve Senators resulting in a majority shift to the Republicans of fifty three to forty seven..
In 2008, the Democrats have an opportunity of eclipsing Reagan’s momentous feat. The main issues are eerily similar: a sluggish economy with no rebound in sight, an ongoing foreign policy blunder (the war in Iraq), and record prices at the gas pump. Democrats have been victorious in every special election held so far in 2008, so to project a net gain of over twenty House members is not out of the question. The real measuring stick of a potential political shift will be to see if the Democrats can match Reagan’s record of winning twelve seats in the United States Senate.
If Obama can achieve this lofty goal the Democrats will pass the cloture threshold of sixty members. Our country has lived under divided government since 1980. In 2009 we may have a Presidency and a Congress that is controlled by one party. Will this change be for the better for our country, or make it worse than it is now…only time will tell.
Topics: U.S. Senate , Ronald Reagan , Jimmy Carter , cloture
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