E-Paper
Democrats? cradle
After 12 eventful years, the political pendulum has swung away from the right towards the centre in the US.
After twelve eventful years, the political pendulum has swung away from the right towards the centre in the United States. The result of the off-year elections that has effectively ended one-party rule in the country will have major repercussions domestically, as well as abroad. In seizing the House of Representatives and coming close in the Senate, the Democratic Party has reversed a decade-old dominance of the conservative wing of the Republican party that had shaken politics in the US as well as elsewhere in the world by its ideological positions and aggressive behaviour.
Almost all poll data suggest that it was a referendum on the Bush administration, in particular its profligate war in Iraq. Clearly, the voters want a change and are not ready to go along with Mr Bush’s ‘stay the course’ rhetoric. Corruption proved to be another potent issue, with several scandals tainting the Republicans in critical states like Ohio. It is not clear as to what extent American politics will shift Leftward. Democrats who have obviously attracted a great number of Republican voters need to be careful that they do not alienate them by trying to come up with an agenda that is too liberal. They need to consolidate their victory so as to lay the foundations for the bigger battle ahead — the presidential election of 2008.
Traditionally, Indians tend to warm up to Democrats, though George W. Bush has been a great friend of this country and has expended considerable political capital in trying to push through a nuclear agreement that seeks to reverse decades of restrictions on our nuclear programme. The massive vote in support of the deal in the House of Representatives earlier this year indicates that there is a non-partisan support for the measure. Whether the Senate will push it in the lame duck session now remains to be seen. The good augury is that a known friend of India, Sherrod Brown, has been elected to the Senate in Ohio, taking the seat from a Republican incumbent. However, the worry is that while the Democrats have better optics in India, they do not often deliver. India needs to worry, too, as to whether the setback will distract Mr Bush from pressing ahead on the last mile of the path-breaking agreement that has a huge strategic significance for the ties between our two countries.
