Our weekly roundtable weighs in on the reasons for and implications of the midterm election results.
Post election President Obama has said he is willing to work with the GOP but if he gets no cooperation from them on immigration reform he is ready to take executive action by the end of this year. Speaker of the House John Boehner shot back that the President was “burning himself.” The new Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promises to end gridlock on the Hill. Will President Obama go the route of compromise?
And Senator Marco Rubio is already salivating over slapping sanctions on Venezuela, John McCain over his new power as Chair of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, and environmentalists are appalled at having a climate denier at the head of the Senate Committee that leads on environmental matters. Implications for US foreign and economic policy are broad: from Iran to Syria.
Meanwhile why did some progressive propositions from attacking mass incarceration, to raising the minimum wage, to legalizing recreational pot win? Were Democrats too moderate and was it a mistake for them to distance themselves from the President? Was this pragmatic or simply exposed lack of character?
What direction could the President take now? The Democratic Party? What about the 2016 Presidential election? And what about we the people?
Panelists are Jackie Goldberg, Tom Hayden and Dr. Gerald Horne.
