Obama left fighting for his own relevance
7 Nov 2014 5:03 AM IST
Two things were clear long before the votes were counted Tuesday night: President Barack Obama would face a Congress with more Republicans for his final two years in office, and the results would be seen as a repudiation of his leadership.But that was not the way Obama saw it.
The electoral map was stacked against him, he argued, making Democrats underdogs from the start. And his own party kept him off the trail, meaning he never really got the chance to make his case.‘You’re in the Final Four,’ as one aide put it, ‘and you’re on the bench with a walking boot and you don’t get to play.’ The Republican capture of the Senate culminated a season of discontent for the president — and may yet open a period of even deeper frustration.
Sagging in the polls, Obama bristled as the last campaign that would influence his presidency played out while he sat largely on the sidelines.
The electoral map was stacked against him, he argued, making Democrats underdogs from the start. And his own party kept him off the trail, meaning he never really got the chance to make his case.‘You’re in the Final Four,’ as one aide put it, ‘and you’re on the bench with a walking boot and you don’t get to play.’ The Republican capture of the Senate culminated a season of discontent for the president — and may yet open a period of even deeper frustration.
Sagging in the polls, Obama bristled as the last campaign that would influence his presidency played out while he sat largely on the sidelines.
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