• by IPS Correspondents (washington)
• Wednesday, November 09, 1994
• Inter Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov 09 (IPS) - Two years after U.S. voters ended more than a decade of Republican presidential rule, the same electorate Tuesday voted in the first Republican-dominated Congress since 1954.

In a historic defeat for the Democrats and a heavy blow to President Bill Clinton, Republicans won majorities in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

They also seemed assured of winning a clear majority of the governors' houses up for grabs, as Democrats, including three-term New York Governor Mario Cuomo, went down to defeat. The night ended with Republican governors in seven of the eight largest U.S. states.

The landslide Republican victory poses major problems for Clinton who now must decide whether to woo the winners in the two years remaining in his first term or to fight them, much as former President Harry Truman did successfully in the late 1940s.

First indications from the White House suggested the former approach. "The President has really got to reach out here and work with the Republicans," said Clinton's chief of staff, Leon Panetta.

"The Republicans now are going to have to share some responsibility (for governing)," he added.

But the Republicans Clinton will have to face in January when Congress reconvenes are significantly to the right of those whom they will replace. Their message of less government and more "family values" clash with much that Clinton espoused during his successful 1992 campaign.

And the impact of the Republican sweep on foreign policy may also pose serious problems to Clinton's internationalist approach.

While foreign policy did not figure importantly in Tuesday's election, many of the Republicans elected to the House and Senate Tuesday have espoused strongly nationalist views bordering on xenophobia, especially against immigrants.

Some of the Republican candidates, especially those backed by the Christian Right, are suspicious of free trade agreements, international organisations like the World Bank and the United Nations, and foreign aid in general.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

Where next?

Advertisement