Sarina Tracy
Journal Staff

As the polls closed on the night of the 2010 midterm elections, it seemed as if Democratic screams of horror could be heard stretching from coast to coast. As the Republican Party gradually took over the 435-member House of Representatives, and Tea-Party backed candidates infiltrated the Senate on the night of Nov. 2, the progress made by the U.S. during the past few years seems to have been negated and carelessly strewn to the wayside. While taking advantage of the wrongly-aimed frustration of the American public, the Republican Party used the very economic mess they caused and blamed it on the party cleaning it up. By abandoning their responsibility to gain further entrance into the Senate, let alone the majority in the House of Representatives, they sought to trick the American public- and apparently, according to the poll results, a majority of us fell for it.

The Obama administration, still struggling to overcome the damage of the Bush administration, now has more obstacles in its way, courtesy of the party that caused them. As we all know, however, this is politics- rotation in majority holdings are not unheard of in the least. In this pendulum of public satisfaction and dissatisfaction, opinion is bound to sway back and forth. When clean up takes more tender love and care and time than people expect, they get angry. Frustration grows, and their loyalties change. The citizens who voted for President Obama in 2008 as an “answer to all our country’s trials, tribulations and problems,” while simultaneously deeming him a miraculous deity instead of a human being, are obviously going to be disappointed — their standards were too high and their expectations were not met. Frankly, there is no one that could have satisfied the desire for a perfect country after the debt that was packed upon American backs. Rome was not built in a day; the recovery of the U.S. economy won’t be either.

American citizens need to remember the party that stalled our recession and stopped our economic state from declining further. Unfortunately, these midterm election results have shown the extent to which our short-term memory has failed. As children, we were told that we learn from our mistakes. It is my sincerest hope that the American public regains vigilance in their political opinions before this mistake turns into a disaster.