More Day After Reax

"Turnout among young voters: 20 percent" (RAW STORY):

Around one million fewer Americans under the age of 30 cast ballots in the 2010 mid-term elections compared to the 2006 vote, a study from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) found. An estimated nine million people aged between 18 and 29, or one in five young Americans, voted Tuesday. MORE...

"Why the Election Turned Out as it Did" (Norman Goldman):

Where did President Obama go wrong?

A new poll shows people want MORE change from the president. These people are right. The president ran a very strong, pro-change campaign. Immediately upon taking office he (and he has now admitted this) began making deals. Bad deals. He began from positions of compromise and then compromised further from there -- like never advancing single payer as an opening position and then "backing down" to a strong public option. He compromised with drug companies; hospital associations and other corporate powers, in the health care debate. He sold out the public option, and then denied doing so; then had Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid do a bizarre charade at the end in order to NOT have the public option. He caved into ConservaDems like Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln and only was tough on his base -- the REAL Democrats who got him elected.Why do the progressive Democrats always have to cave to the ConservaDems? MORE...

"And now for the next battle" (E.J. Dionne, Jr.):

President Obama allowed Republicans to define the terms of the nation's political argument for the past two years and permitted them to draw battle lines the way they wanted. Neither he nor his party can let that happen again. MORE...

"Campaign Cash: Citizens United Becomes Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card for Corporate Criminals" (the media consortium):

The votes are in, and while some close races are still being tallied, there is a clear winner from the 2010 elections: Secret corporate cash.

Such unaccounted for political donations may end up allowing those accused of wrongdoing to go free. As Joshua Holland details for AlterNet, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission may have provided a lifetime supply of get-out-of-jail-free cards to corporate criminals. MORE...

"How Obama Saved Capitalism and Lost the Midterms" (Tim Egan-NY Times):

If I were one of the big corporate donors who bankrolled the Republican tide that carried into office more than 50 new Republicans in the House, I would be wary of what you just bought.

For no matter your view of President Obama, he effectively saved capitalism. And for that, he paid a terrible political price. MORE...

"Obama Takes Responsibility For Voter Frustration On Election Night" (HuffPo):

A chastened President Barack Obama signaled a willingness to compromise with Republicans on tax cuts and energy policy Wednesday, one day after his party lost control of the House and suffered deep Senate losses in midterm elections.

Obama ruefully called the Republican victories "a shellacking" and acknowledged that his own connection with the public had frayed. MORE...