Skipper

It's too early to know the full extent of the Democrat's drubbing in the US Mid-Term elections but it looks like a loss of 60 seats in the wholly re-elected House of Representatives and a grim holding on to a majority in the Senate by just one seat. A far cry from the euphoria we can so well remember in 2008. As a left of centre Brit I mourn this result as bad for them and bad for us and the world as a whole.

It seems clear that the difference has been substantially contributed by the Tea Party movement and by disillusioned Democrats who felt Obama had not gone far enough in his reforms. Personally I am baffled by both phenomena. The Tea Party was examined Monday evening by Andrew Neil on BBC2 and what an astonishing difference in political culture it revealed! There is no doubt these people are angry with all politicians and feel Obama has become a mortal enemy. One third of Americans, according to survey evidence believe Obama is a Muslim, despite all evidence to the contrary. TP activists cheerfully asserted he was not born in USA and therefore an illegitimate president. When Neil pointed out his birth certificate said otherwise, it was dismissed as a fake. They also cheerfully compared Obama to Stalin, the nazis and Hitler despite Neill pointing out such a discussion in a true 'tyanny' would never be allowed in the first place.

But what really amazed me was the televisual style of Glen Beck, the Fox news presenter- who has allegedly made $35m from his show- and the trick he seems to have of weeping at will. I have never seen such prodigal lachrymosity, even in a young child. His ability to blub to order would be seen as absurd in our culture yet it has made him an icon on the far right in USA. But it's not just him; another activist had tears rolling down his cheeks when Neil suggested the TP movement was to some extent a covert racist attack on a balck president.

As for his Democrat 'supporters' I cannot begin to believe what their guy could have done to please them. He has reformed financial regulation, introduced a historic health care system, which has eluded US presidenmts from Teddy Roosevelt onwards, and presided over a stimulus package which has saved the US economy from imploding. Of course it's the last factor which has been crucial. Voters seldom respond to something unpleasant which has NOT been allowed to happen and incumbent governments almost almost carry the can for things which happen on their watch, even if the economic crisis and huge job losses happened chiefly under the Bush regime.

So I'm depressed about what has happened and, as always, baffled by a political culture so alien to our own despite our common language. My hope is that: the the maverick Tea Partiers will prove an embarrassment for the Republicans as the defeated Christine O'Donnell did and Sarah Palin probably will; they will now have to take some resonsibility for managing the economy and will not be able to slag off Obama's efforts automatically any longer; that the economy will turn around by 2012 when the next president is elected; and that the healthcare reforms will finally become appreciated by then by people who might otherwise have died had they not been covered by health insurance.