Voters Destroy Obama Juggernaut

When Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, Democratic support spread into rural areas, suburbs and the south. All that was reversed in yesterday’s elections, Politico reports.

“The Republican victory drove Democrats back past 2008 and even beyond the anti-Bush wave of 2006, returning to the polarizing red and blue map that defined President George W. Bush’s hard-fought reelection campaign against Sen. John Kerry,” Politico writes.

“The new GOP majority is expected to hobble the president’s legislative agenda and bleed his administration with subpoenas and investigations. And the 2010 results will haunt his reelection campaign, as Republican governors appear likely to retake control of the crucial battlegrounds of Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania.”

To deal with this dynamic, Obama can either attempt to recreate his 2008 coalition or rely on his liberal base. Neither path looks promising for him.