Lessons of ’09: Times change
Saturday, November 7, 2009 -
Even though White House press secretary Robert Gibbs insists the 2009 elections don’t mean anything, it is indeed possible to draw some lessons from Republican Bob McDonnell’s victory in Virginia and the defeat of Democrat Jon Corzine in New Jersey.
The odd-year elections - held in the first year of a presidency - have been meaningful over the last two decades. In 1993, New Jersey voters rejected tax-raising Democratic Gov. James Florio, despite the best efforts of Bill Clinton’s consultant James Carville - a harbinger of the losses congressional Democrats suffered the next year after they raised taxes and supported, unavailingly, massive health care proposals.
Since then they've been on a spending spree like a high school girl at the mall with daddy's credit card. Now, just like here in Massachusetts, the country has realized they elected an opportunistic fraud, is suffering from severe buyer's remorse and the results last week show that. It cost Clinton both houses in his first midterm and with luck the same will happen next year.
Democrats should take a good hard look at the results in NJ and Virginia and get the hint that their reelection chances hinge on this one decision.



