The Obama freight train that has been steamrolling American politics ever since his election one year ago ran squarely into a political brick wall Tuesday night, as Democrats suffered stunning setbacks in Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races.
The big surprise: New Jersey, a blue state where Obama invested significant political capital by pulling out all the stops to try to put incumbent Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine over the top.
"There is a reason Obama went in over and over in Virginia and New Jersey," Wall Street Journal columnist and author John Fund told Newsmax. "He was worried what this would do to spook Blue Dog Democrats on health care ...he was right to be worried."
GOP strategist Roger Stone told Newsmax "the bloom is off the Obama rose."
Even Democratic strategist James Carville says the results show the GOP is “all gassed up” and suggests the Republican sweep may undermine Obama’s legislative agenda, including his healthcare reform plans.
According to Fox News contributor and author Dick Morris, the result in New Jersey is "astonishing in a core Democratic state.It shows the apathy of the Democratic base, the erosion of the Democratic base, and the intensity of the Republican electorate," he told Newsmax.
Morris predicted, however, that it is the GOP sweep in Virginia of the Old Dominion's top three offices – governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general – that will have an even bigger impact on the nation's debate over healthcare and energy cap and trade.
"That sends a message to the 83 Democratic congressmen, who come from red states that McCain carried, and the 20-plus Democratic senators who come from those states. And that message is you cannot count on Obama to carry you through. If you vote for a healthcare proposal that people don't like, you are on your own. And if Obama couldn't bail out Corzine in a blue state, and he couldn't bail out Deeds in a borderline red state, he can't bail you out."
"Obama until now has not cared what the American people think. His whole approach has been just trust me, I won the election, and all the rest of you can get lost. I think after tonight he can't say that anymore."
Daily Telegraph:
It was a sobering night for Mr Obama, who had campaigned ferociously for Mr Corzine, appearing at two of his rallies on Sunday. A sole consolation was an unexpectedly close race in upstate New York, where it seemed that the Democrat might overcome a Conservative party candidate after the Republican withdrew.
Although White House officials insisted that Mr Obama would be watching a basketball game and would not pay any attention to the results coming in, the results were inevitably seen by many as a mini referendum on his presidency.
Democrats had hoped Mr Obama's election would reshape the American political map for a generation. The party's defeats could imperil his push for health-care reform by making conservative Democrats wary of supporting it for fear of losing their seats in next year's mid-term congressional elections.
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