Political Twists And Turns

By Achal Mehra | October 31, 2014

Who would have thunk it? In less than six years since driving the U.S., and indeed the global economy, into a ditch, Republicans are likely to reclaim both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate in the upcoming Mid Term elections.

In itself the political shift is scarcely seismic, as the Democrats still control the White House and Pres. Barack Obama has developed a far stiffer spine to stand up against the read meat onslaught that will surely follow. Of far greater consequence is that the Mid Term victory will position the GOP in 2016 to capture all the levers of government, including the presidency. And that ought to be truly scary.

What an extraordinarily short memory the public has. Just six short years ago, the world was staring at an economic abyss, brought upon in large part by the reckless economic delusions of the Right. Indeed, political pundits were writing off the Republican Party for a whole generation. The economy has steadied somewhat, but the nightmare that stared us in the face has long been forgotten. The Democrats, in particular Pres. Obama, are responsible for the partybs dismal plight. They squandered a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rewrite the social contract to reign in the excesses of unrestrained capitalism and expose the stranglehold that big money has on American politics, in part because they, like all elected officials in this country, are beneficaries of their largesse.

Ironically, the Republicans will take charge in Congress, just as the economy is showing new signs of overheating. But that will not stop them from flirting again with deregulation and other dscredited, nutty financial theories that will likely drive the U.S. economy off the cliff b again.

But these are the wages of the milk-toast style of governance that former Pres. Bill Clinton injected into the Democratic Party and which now personifies it both in style and substance. We should prepare for two more years of gridlock, which will be broken only in 2016, most likely with a Republican victory that will reshape both American politics and the economy b for the worse.

Ironically, in India, which has epitomized dysfunction and political gridlock for the past 30 years through successive, weak, coalition governments, Prime Minister Narendra Modibs Bharatiya Janta Party won a decisive victory and the country is poised to undertake bold economic reforms. It is too early to tell whether PM Modibs economic agenda will be socially inclusive, or driven by the business tycoons who fueled his partybs election campaigns. But what is remarkable is that just when political pundits had condemned India to political horse-trading that defines coalition politics, the Indian electorate astounded everyone by delivering a decisive majority to the BJP.

The lesson for Democrats, the Republicans, the BJP, Congress, for all political parties really, is that in any democracy, complacency is the biggest enemy. The political road is always winding. Be prepared for unexpected twists and turns.

So, plan to check in two years from now on Pres. Obama and PM Modi, no matter what those all-knowing political pundits might now be saying