Big Midterm changes, But More of the Same

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco

Let’s cut through the noise, here’s what happened last night: the voters who bothered to go to the polls gave power to a political party they don’t like, to be in charge of a government they hold in suspicion.

Here’s what will happen over the next two years: the bickering will continue and little will get done.

Everything else is punditry clutter, and folks who spread the clutter.

Realism, not pessimism.

I say this with a healthy dose of realism. A CNN exit poll tells us that voters like the GOP less than they do the Democratic Party, and they like Congress less than they do anything else. My prediction is that the GOP will pass legislation with the intent of making Democrats look obtuse. And the President will continue to tread water, from crisis to crisis.

What they should be doing is honing their messages. The Republicans have a good chance to change how they’re perceived, and the Democrats can do a better job of touting their accomplishments. Then again, they could have done those things already, so I’m not hanging on expectations.[pullquote]Obama will use immigration as an executive order spike in the hope that the GOP backlash will be so severe that Latinos will forget his broken promises and rise in indignation.[/pullquote]

No surprises.

The fact that Republicans now control both houses of Congress is neither a surprise nor a game changer. Neither is it a surprise that Democrats didn’t go to the polls. Par for the course for an off-year election.

I do expect movement on the immigration front. But that’s only because I believe the issue can’t be stretched any further. If either party intends to string the issue along until 2016 they’ll be hit with voter fatigue – they’re quickly losing their opportunity to play the immigration card against one another, and that’s the greatest motivation for action. Obama will use immigration as an executive order spike in the hope that the GOP backlash will be so severe that Latinos will forget his broken promises and rise in indignation.

How Latinos Fared

If you’re keeping score, there were 28 Latino/as running for reelection to the U.S. Congress. Of those, four lost their seats: Jim Costa (D) CA-20, Pete Gallego (D) TX-23, Joe Garcia (D)-FL-26 and Raul Ruiz (D) CA-36.

On the bright side, there were ten Latinos running for Congress for the first time, five of them won: Ruben Gallego (D)AZ-7, Pete Aguilar (D)CA-31, Norma Torres (D)CA-35, Alex Mooney (R) WV-2 and Carlos Currbelo (R)FL-26.

Now the conversation shifts. 

OK, not really. This is politics, after all. By this time tomorrow, most everyone will rise from their post-midterm coma and take up where they left off.