Anti-Obama, Anti-Washington Sentiment Sweeps the Nation
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Anti-Washington = anti-Obama
Anti-Obama Sentiment Sweeps the Nation
BY Fred Barnes
March 3, 2010 2:30 PM
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The same thread runs through Governor Rick Perry’s smashing defeat of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison in Tuesday’s gubernatorial primary in Texas, the elections of Republican Governors Bob McDonnell of Virginia and Chris Christie of New Jersey last fall, and the Senate victory of Republican Scott Brown of Massachusetts in January. It’s an anti-Washington thread, for sure. But the core of it is an anti-Obama trend.
Consider this: What if President Obama had changed the way Washington does business, taken steps that actually improved the economy, offered a scaled-back, moderate agenda, and recruited a few Republican allies in Congress? Had he done those things, would there be a powerful, anti-Washington tide today? Of course not.
But Obama didn’t do any of them, and within weeks of his inauguration in January 2009, anger against Washington began to build. First, it was the tea parties, then Republicans turned sharply against Obama and his agenda, and by mid-summer independents joined in.
This handed Perry a winning issue in Texas. He showed up at tea parties and became the champion of states against the encroachments of Washington and the surge in spending. “It’s Texas versus Washington,â€