In 1979, when rumors started that Ted Kennedy was going to lead an insurgent campaign against the Democratic President Jimmy Carter, Carter famously quipped, “If Kennedy runs, I’ll whip his ass.” Troubled modern presidents are gentler with their words. Kind of.
Moderate voters turned on Barack Obama this past Tuesday, putting Republicans in power who believe the Constitution is a divine document, that the unaffordable Bush Tax Cuts should never expire, and that the McRib should be a permanent fixture on McDonald’s menu.*
A similar thing happened in 2006 and 2008 to President George W. Bush, when war-weary moderates voted away a 12-year Republican reign that, among other things, resulted in a nagging financial crisis that not even Ben Bernanke seems poised to solve.
Bush described his process as “a thumpin’” whereas Obama described his 2010 loss of Congress as a “shellacking.”
The big difference: Obama actually completed the word, she-llack-ing. When Bush said thumpin’ he managed to spit it out in nearly one syllable.
Historically speaking, a shellacking is way worse than a thumpin’. When you get shellacked, your opponent picks up 60 seats in Congress, and six in the Senate. When you get thumped your opponent picks up 20 seats in Congress and five in the Senate .
In some ways, a shellack is a triple thump.
Of course, what presidents fail to address after their party suffers massive losses in an election is the state of the American people. What has happened to us, and by us I mean the bottom 99%, over the past 10 years? Thumped and shellacked doesn’t cut it. In fact, we’ve been fa-cocked.
* author speculation
November 08, 2010 at 5:18 pm, 5 Things Not to Expect From Bush Vs. Lauer | Death and Taxes said:
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