On The National Results For The 2010 Midterm

The primary metaphor, expounded by the Republicans and the Punditry, to describe the election results was that of a "Red Wave," washing over America. If the left had an equivalent to Beck, Limbaugh or Fox News, the imagery of the "Red Wave" would have been associated with the threat a new Communism. The parallels between the current iteration of conservative methods & ideology, especially as espoused by the Tea Party strain, with the populist movements which led to communism revolution, are easily laid bare. I'm not advocating that liberals use the equivocal rhetoric embraced by conservative media outlets: I'm simply establishing that the liberal bias does not exist in the same way  as the conservative media bias.

Meanwhile, the failure of Democrats to retain the House and Senate, was almost universally attributed to a failure of President Obama to communicate with the electorate. However, Conservative news outlets, attribute the Democrat's failure to public disdain for Obama's policy and Democratic ideology. I agree with both, to an extent: I believe that the last 2 years of policy changes weren't accurately communicated to the majority of the electorate and many votes were cast in a certain ignorance. But, that's speculation on my part.

I think, what actually occurred was that the legislative progress of the last 2 years, was typically reported with a negative spin. To those on the Left, it was never comprehensive enough and to those on the Right it was just evidence of the over-reaching power of government. To the pragmatic and the independent, the view is that whatever the hell is happening, just isn't working.

The Obama administration, at all levels, has been exceedingly accessible to the press, so I don't think we can accurately attribute the loss to a failure to communicate. The problem is, the supposed media-cabal, that some claimed led to his election, doesn't and never did exist ─ decidedly pro-Obama stories probably get bad ratings at the moment, and thus don't carry traction in the news cycle ─ the Administration and therefore the Democrats as a whole, lack prominent media advocates of the Republican and especially the Tea Party strain of Conservativism do.

One final perturbance, Oregon, and other states which stand against the "Red Wave" metaphor of this election cycle, have thus far has been largely unacknowledged by the punditry. This is an ongoing frustration of mine, as the media unscientifically glosses over seeming outliers and counter-examples to their narrative. Meanwhile, it's common to hyper-focus on alternative scenarios and prognostications, which truly add nothing to the dialog.