Here’s an example of what your typical election analysis is going to be like over the next two years:
Does Tuesday night’s GOP blowout presage anything for the presidential election that starts in earnest on Wednesday? The conventional answer is probably still no. First, as a million pundits have correctly noted, midterm voters are older, whiter and thus more Republican-leaning than voters in presidential races. Second, the key 2014 Senate races were disproportionately located in red states (although Democrats fared poorly in purple ones too). Third, the GOP trained its fire on President Obama, who won’t be on the ballot in two years.
As I recall, George W. Bush was not on the ballot in 2008 or 2012, and yet, Barack Obama and his flacks in the media managed to make him a big part of Obama’s victories.
Just wait. The same media people who insisted that Bush was a big part of the last two elections will declare that Obama has nothing to do with whatever the Democratic candidate’s platform may be.