An Anti-Incumbent Election

I'm finding it rather humorous that the majority of the "news" pundits are either proclaiming Tuesday's mid-term elections as either "Pro-Republican," "Anti-Democrat" or "Anti-Obama".

Obama's numbers are neither helping nor hindering the Democratic Party. Going into the mid-terms, most every poll had his approval between 45 and 50%, with his disapproval being very similar to his approval. Are those numbers great? No, but they're not going to warrant Republican domination in the mid-term elections.

Also, in the exit polls to the elections on Tuesday, the Democratic Party actually received a higher approval rating than the Republicans, 43% to 41%. Neither one of those numbers are great, but once again, it shows the voters weren't voting for the Republicans or against the Democrats.

The fact is the people are angry. They haven't been content with what's been transpiring in Washington for some time and the past three elections showcase that, as the Democrats took away control from Republicans after the '06 mid-terms, Democrats took over the White House in '08 and Republicans took over the House in '10. So, whomever was in control on Tuesday was going to be punished. With the Democrats having control of both the House and the Senate, they fell victim.

So please, can we stop it with "the voters were voting against Obama's policies" or "the Republicans were given a mandate on Tuesday?. Congress' approval has been between 15 and 20% for quite a while. Since the Democrats held the majority in both houses of Congress, they were punished. If we see similar numbers going to '12, the Democrats will likely lose seats in the Senate and the GOP may very well lose seats in the House, along with what could be a very interesting race for the White House, depending upon who the GOP's candidate is.