OPINION: Former Congressman Bob Ney Explains Where It All Went Wrong For Democrats

A few years back, there was talk about why the Repbulicans lost control. Some said it was because of Delay, Ney, Cunningham, Foley. That may have iced the cake, but the Bush White House was the cake itself. War, deficit spending, arrogance, fear tactics, and more took a toll.

In 2007 the battle cry was “drain the swamp”. By 2010 the swamp was filled up and overflowing, so that issue was gone for the Democratic side to utilize. Speculation as to why the second Republican revolution came about last night will flow wildly through the political world for months.

What remains today is the reality of what happened and possibly why it happened. If President Obama comes into reality and is half as smart as former President Clinton, he will turn this defeat into a victory for the White House in 2012.

Within a short two year period, what really happened to a popular President who motivated Americans, gave promise and hope for change, and captured the enthusiasm and respect of foreign citizens? Internally, Rahm Emmanuel, Obama’s political guru, feathered his own nest for the last two years anticipating a run for Mayor of Chicago. I give Rahm credit for the Democrats’ 2006 takeover and election of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But the “take all at all costs” Rahm was a vicious inside political operator at the White House, and at the end of the day, he hurt the President’s agenda and drifted the White House to a course of political operations versus a vision to be carried forth. The President veered off course.

The only victory was to cobble together a health care bill. The bill was placed on the defensive mode and was butchered instead of being touted and promoted. Wall Street still flung money around and got what it wanted from all sectors, including the White House. Transparency was lost, the swamp filled, and Main Street once again, took a backseat. The President coddled the Chinese and only recently stood up for the American work force. He tried to spend his way out of the recession with stimulus plans and cash for clunkers programs that did not address the core problem. Missing was a President standing up to foreign interests and trying, as our leader, to rebuild the manufacturing base. Where were the programs for our good paying jobs? Where was the support for the union working base that America was built on?

We saw a President obsessed with Fox News and who became involved with local police and mosque zoning issues, rather than a President who followed the bigger picture. We saw a President that veered from human rights commitments when it came to dealing with the Alberto Gonzales torture era, the CIA and Gitmo. He was Bush light when it came to the wars.

When the heat got turned up in the elections, Rahm instructed the President to early on, throw the candidates in Virginia and Massachusetts under the bus. When Congressional colleagues like Charlie Rangel got in trouble, the White House was swift to instruct them to “step aside” before justice could take its course. This taught the Democrats that the President could abandon them too, when fear and heat where present.  He taught others that he might not be there for them when the going got tough. I doubt Clinton would have done this.

I think the biggest error, however, was that the White House tried to appease all sides, especially the right. I remember hearing the following statement from people in regard to their dislike of Reagan’s policies: “After all, he did what he said he was going to when he ran for President.”

The same cannot be said for President Obama.

As Shimon Peres once said to me over dinner: “The worse place to have an accident is in the middle of the road.” And “when you are driving the bus the passengers expect you to look back once in awhile, but not all of the time. After all, you are the one steering the bus.”

The President took his eyes off the road after he was sworn in. Maybe now his advisors will operate on vision, not politics, and will use the next two years to listen — the American people are fluid, forgiving, and tolerant. They will take note and respond with a second chance for President Obama to drive the bus in a forward election. Not all was lost last night if the President seizes the opportunity to work with a new Majority for the benefit of the average American who could care less about politics, polls, and campaigning.

Bob Ney is a former Republican Congressman from Ohio.