This PC ensures sufficient numbers of Republican jump ship to resolve negotiations

This PC ensures sufficient numbers of Republican jump ship to resolve negotiations

Whichever road taken, the GOP has about one and a half years to make votes on bills that suggest to their constituents that they have actually gotten something done. The incentive system hasn’t changed. In 2014, candidates will again have to report back to their districts and ask for your vote. What they have to show depends on Obama’s political agenda over the coming months and the Republicans' willingness to accept defeat and work with him. President Obama indeed owns a great deal of political capital.He has that much more momentum than Bush II, who famously said after his 2004 presidential win, “I have political capital. I intend to spend it.” The strategic political reason behind this momentum is due, in large part, to the way the GOP framed the election as a battle between big government and small government. In the end, voters wanted a president and a party in power that was pragmatic and could get things done. But now that Obama has won, it is difficult to argue that Obama’s victory wasn’t also a referendum on liberal or left-leaning ideals that government can play a meaningful part in people’s lives. Elizabeth Warren went as far as to say that the reason she was elected was because she stood up for the “core of liberalism.” The president also has economic winds at his back as the job and housing markets have shown signs of continuing recovery. The fact that there is evidence that the president’s policies are actually improving things should create a greater political willingness for Republicans to join the winning team, if only to take some of the credit. If things continue to improve and the Republicans still choose to obstruct and sit on the sidelines, the Democrats will be able to tout success once again in the face of Republican intransigence. These factors, as well as the increased media and public attention in the afterglow of the election, may provide an impetus for a new jobs bill and perhaps reaching a deal on raising new revenue, two things that will be addressed at the end of this year and early next year. Moreover, the Democrats will certainly continue to pound the strong narrative that the election was a mandate on raising new revenue, as Joe Biden recently pointed out.