"I have earned a political capital, and I intend to spend it," said a confident President Bush in his second inauguration speech.
The Republicans seemd to have again nailed down a victory as 2005 began. While the Republicans eagerly looked forward to another conservative revolution, a heavy wave of discontent swept the ranks of the Democratic Party. Many questioned whether the Blue Party was doomed to be permanently outperformed and outmaneuvered by the GOP.
Only two months away from the 2006 election, the political mood of the nation couldn't be more different. After seizing all three branches of the federal government, the ruling GOP has shown incompetent work performance, angering people across the political spectrum. Far from fading into oblivion, the Democrats are emerging as the voice of opposition to the GOP government, channeling voters' disenchantment with the status quo. This fall's election will present the voters' judgment on the performance of the ruling party, and, lacking some miracle for the Republicans, the Democrats' offensive will strip the ruling mandate away from the GOP.
Neeedless to say, the antagonism most liberal ovters feel for the current administration has only increased in the past two years. The protracted war in Iraq and the alleged abuse of the Patriot Act are merely two factors that trigger anger from those who never voted for Bush in the first place. The GOP may still overcome these misfortunes if its core base comes out in number to the polls in November. Unfortunately, the frustration of the conservatives toward their representatives has rarely been this high. Despite conservatives' mandate, the GOP has not solved the budget deficit, enforced border control or revived strong Judeo-Christian values. When Democrats attack with sharp spears this fall, it's questionable whether the GOP can shield itself by mobilizing its own disheartened base.
The GOP leadership will likely protest that the Democrat-led Congress will be even more incompetent and bureaucratic. The focus of this election, however, will ultimately be on the GOP, not the Democrats. The voters are not concerned about the future with a Democrat-led Congress but are concerned about the present- that right now the GOP administration is not meeting up to their expectations. While the GOP continues to warn the danger of pacifist, "tax-and-spend" liberals, the voters want to know why the party in the driver's seat right now has so disappointed them and why they should expect a change from the same leadership.
Whether the Democrats really win the magical number of 218 seats in House and 51 in Senate or not is irrelevant. In fact, it may even be unnecessary. Even if the GOP holds on to a razor-sharp numerical majority in Congress after the election, they can still lose psychologically. The loss of only five House seats in the 1998 election ended the Gingrich revolution. In 2006, the GOP will likely lose the ruling mandate they seized in 2002 and 2004. Faced by stiff opposition from the enlarged Democratic Party and desperate liberal GOP members from blue districts, the conservative GOP leadership in Congress will be forced to accept a policy of bipartisanship, effectively killing its own party agendas. The US will return to its divided political status of 2000, demonstrating that after six years, the Republican congressional majority has once again failed to implement a conservative majority in this country.
The 2006 election presents a golden opportunity for the Democratic Party. The lukewarm performance of the ruling GOP has fractured its shield of support, opening a gap wide enough for the Democrats to spear through and seize the political initiative. The Democratic Party should use this fall election as a springboard for the 2008 presidential election. The US voters are unhappy with the status quo and are looking for a party to seize the mantle of reform and change. While the ruling GOP struggles to freshen its image, the Democrats now have a head start in promoting a new positive national agenda. After the 2006 election, while President Bush continues to lose power as a lame duck, the Democrats, now on equal standing with the GOP, must take the lead in shaping the political direction of this country, proving to the voters that it is now the Blue Party's turn to move this nation forward.
Jong Eun Lee is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences and a liberal columnist for the Eagle.
