THE POLITICAL HOME STRETCH

Now, with just over 30 days remaining, we're coming into the home stretch of the American mid-term elections. So far, it has been an interesting race with Tea Partiers flexing their political muscles thereby putting liberal Democrats against the ropes. Prognosticators are painting a bleak picture for the Democrats in the Fall as Americans are outraged over Obamacare, deficit spending, the president's handling of the Gulf disaster, and the economy in general. If the president has been successful in anything, he has awakened conservatives and set them to work. This is bad news for incumbent Democratic congressmen who want to distance themselves from a president who is now considered political poison.

Some political scientists are predicting Republicans will not only make significant inroads, they may very well recapture not just one but both chambers of Congress. This would be a devastating blow to the president's agenda and it will be interesting to see how he responds should this come to fruition. President Clinton was forced to become a chameleon when the Republicans captured the Congress in 1996. Will President Obama respond in kind or will he adamantly oppose everything coming from the Congress? I suspect he will continue his policy of referring to the Republicans as "obstructionists." If he does, he will be a one-term Lame Duck president and Hillary Clinton will break away to form her presidential campaign for 2012.

It will also be interesting to see what the media does in the event the Congress takes a right turn. Will they continue to resist the conservatives or will they embrace them in order to bolster ratings? Although they will drop their guard and cozy up to the Republicans for a while, they will never truly stop sniping at them, but it will be fun to watch nonetheless.

The real winner coming out of the mid-term elections will be the Tea Party who will be emboldened and anxious to campaign against the president in 2012. Following 2010, all incumbents should rightfully be wary of the party, both Democrats and Republicans, and to my way of thinking, that's a good thing.

As the stock in the Tea Party grows, so will that of the left's who is now scrambling to offset the pending conservative tsunami. I'll be particularly interested to hear the rhetoric coming out of Washington, DC on October 2nd when labor leaders, liberal religious leaders and the NAACP have called for a rally on the Mall as a response to the recent Tea Party rally. In all likelihood, we will become even more polarized over the next two years as we approach the presidential election. As I have said before, the histrionics of both sides will be reminiscent of the debates surrounding the Missouri Compromise over 100 years ago.

Keep the Faith!

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Tim Bryce is a writer and the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

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