Democrat Senate Loss Could Be Big Win for Obama

Believe it or not, the beating that Democrats took last week could turn out to be a big win for President Obama if he is wise enough to take advantage of the opportunity.

Had democrats stayed in control of the Senate, January 3^rd 2015 would be no different than today.  Congress would remain gridlocked with Harry Reid continuing to protect President Obama’s agenda by refusing to allow the massive stack of bills sitting on his desk to go to the floor for a vote.  Had democrats stayed in control of the Senate, the nation would be spending the next two years in economic stagnation and the divide between the parties would continue to grow and the president would continue to vilify republicans at every opportunity, just as he has done almost from the day he entered office.

But Harry Reid has been fired and republicans are sure to restore some semblance of order to congress when they take the helm. 

Once in full control of congress, Republican’s need to make one grand gesture to the president, a golden deal that is big but not so big that the president would lose face with a compromise, yet big enough that it makes a difference. 

If President Obama was smart, he would play ball with republicans and sign on to the compromise deal, a deal which could not have been offered to him had democrats remained in control of the senate.  The president could come out smelling like roses and if two or three of these deals were able to be brokered, he would actually end his term in office looking pretty darn good.  If President Obama were able to muster up two really good years, void of any major conflicts and with some useful legislation moved forward, his first six years of failures would be all but forgotten come 2016.

Or the president could remain confrontational, as he has for the past six years.  The difference however is that congressional democrats have grown tired of the president’s antics and are desperate to put some function back into congress and get some work done. 

The choice of which path to take is solely President Obama’s to makes and he is going to be judged severely if he chooses the wrong one.  Worse, democrats will pay another high price in 2016 if the president gets it wrong.

For Republicans, it’s a win either way.  If they can offer something reasonable, legislatively, to the president and he plays ball, then Republican will come out looking good from brokering the deal, especially if they can get a number of good pieces of legislation passed and signed by the president these final two years.

If on the other hand the president is unwilling to make any kind of concessions, all the dysfunction that has plagued congress since 2008 falls on him as well as the democratic defeat of the 2014 mid-term elections.  Republicans will be vindicated.