Obama Should Embrace Electoral Reform

Blog, January 2010        

Last week Obama received a stunning electoral defeat in the Massachusetts Senate seat election on the day of his first anniversary in office. As well as depriving Obama of his "super majority" which will make it much harder for him to implement policy, the seat is considered one of the safest democratic strongholds, and its loss is testament to a shocking lack of confidence in the once famously popular president.

Commentators have been offering explanations for Obama's waning popularity. Of course the economic crisis and the unpopular bank bailout which Obama inherited are a large part of the story, yet there is certainly more. Coming to office promising change, Obama is now increasingly seen as an empty rhetorician. No doubt many voters expected far more than Obama could ever have delivered, but his continually watered down and stalled health care plan has, for example, disappointed everyone.

Obama did not come to office offering strong leadership and a well defined policy agenda. Instead he promised to rid Washington of lobbyists and build a "post-partisan" working relationship with his fellow politicians. From this he argued great policy would flow. The plan has proven utterly naive. Instead of cleaning up Washington Obama has been caught in its pernicious, occasionally perfidious, web.

Somewhat ironically, voters put their faith in the bipartisan Obama approach at the very moment US politics began polarising. The failure of the Bush Presidency, of republican ideology generally, and the parlous plight of the US Economy has radicalised the debate. For example, it is pushing populist Republican characters such as Sarah Palin into the foreground. Indeed, the Massachusetts Senate seat was won by a pickup driving outsider whose daughter was made famous by American Idol. This radical and fear fuelled environment is completely incompatible with post-partisan working relationships.

Now Obama must pursue a very different course, he must abandon inclusive policy making and take charge of the agenda personally. Not only have the republicans proven unwilling to work with Obama, even his fellow democrats have proven hopelessly divided and undecided. The failure of the Senate and the Congress leaves Obama all alone - at a time of crisis.

Frankly I see no sign of policy intelligence in Obama. At the time of his election I predicted disaster in this article, and today I appear vindicated. I feel the qualities required by an individual to run a country well are at odds with the qualities needed to win modern democratic elections. The most successful modern US President, Regan, delegated most of his decisions after winning. I believe Obama's Presidency depends on him finding a few smart figures to make decisions for him. The trouble is, his colligate instincts will likely make that impossible.

Nevertheless, even if Obama was capable of identifying enlightened policy, the reality of the US political system is that he would find it extremely hard to implement. Reforming US Healthcare has defeated many presidents. The reality of US politics is that the three way split of power between the President, Congress and Senate tends to produce gridlock. US Presidents wield far less power than a French President or a British Prime Minister.

Some commentators have speculated that Obama needs to embrace populism in order to revitalise his presidency. His hazy bank reforms, recently announced, probably qualify. However, I believe the US needs, desperately needs, radical electoral reform.

An obvious reform is removing the idiotic senate filibuster which Republicans are now using to paralyse all policy making. A more ambitious reform would be term limits for congressmen. Term limits are popular with voters and were famously advocated by the presidential candidate Ross Perot. A very good article about them can be found here. Another obvious reform would be state funding for political parties. Restructuring the political machine is a task Obama might be well suited for, besides he was elected to change politics. If constitutional amendment is required so be it, electoral reform is popular with voters and Obama is good at firing them up. Put it to a popular referendum so the legislature is forced to implement it.

Some of the other ideas he might consider are: 12 year one term limits for senators, 6 year one term limits for congressmen, reduce the number of congressmen, limits on the background of senators (eg to academic or business success), limits on the commercialisation of elections, end the link between senators and individual state. Basically take a long hard no holes barred look at the broken US political machine and fix it.