National political analyst to discuss midterm results at next Badger Club meeting

“It’s the economy, stupid,” Democratic political operative James Carville advised campaign workers during Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential election that unseated Republican incumbent George H.W. Bush.

The nation was in the midst of a recession, and the struggling economy was on voters’ minds as they voted. Clinton defeated Bush by 43 to 37 percent, with independent candidate Ross Perot receiving nearly 19 percent of the vote. Carville’s other admonitions to Clinton’s campaign workers were “Change vs. more of the same.” Clinton won because he and his party captured the moment.

What about today? Which party seems most in sync with the mood of the country?

Last Tuesday, Americans flocked to vote in the midterm election. What motivated them? Was it inflation? Abortion? Health care? Was it change vs. more of the same? The desire to send the party of the president a message? Or was it fear? Fear of the other party, their members and their policies. Fear of threats to “our way of life,” illegal immigration, rising crime rates, and loss of status?

An NBC poll conducted Aug. 12-16 found only 21 percent felt the country was headed in the right direction, compared with 74 percent who said the country was headed in the wrong direction. Fifty-eight percent agreed “the country’s best years may be behind us,” and about a third felt the “state of the nation will worsen over the next five years.”

In a later NBC poll, 80 percent of self-identified Democrats and Republicans agreed the “political opposition poses a threat that, if not stopped, will destroy America as we know it.” And two-thirds of reliable Democratic and Republican voters said they’d still support their party’s political candidate, even if that person had a moral failing inconsistent with their own values.

Voters were clearly unhappy, and now we know how they voted. To make sense of it all, the Columbia Basin Badger Club will present Richland native Peter Wehner in an online forum at noon Thursday, Nov. 17.

Wehner is a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum, a faith-based non-profit organization. He is also a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, a contributing editor for The Atlantic and appears frequently as a commentator on cable news.

Wehner served in the Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush administrations, including as deputy director of speech writing and later director of the Office of Strategic Initiatives for George W. Bush. He is the author of several books, including, The Death of Politics: How to Heal Our Frayed Republic After Trump.

Wehner will provide his analysis of the 2022 mid-term elections; what’s ahead for our politics; and his take on the future of the Republican and Democratic parties.

The hour-long session on Zoom includes a 30-minute presentation by Wehner followed by a Q&A session. To register, go to www.columbiabasinbadgers.com. There is no cost to Badger Club members, while non-members pay $5 to register.

This story was originally published November 14, 2022 at 8:47 AM.