In the aftermath of November’s mid-term elections, the sound of Republicans crowing could be heard across the US. After wresting back control of the House of Representatives from the Democrats, and coming within a whisker of regaining the Senate, Republican luminaries were falling over themselves to predict that the White House would be in Republican hands after 2012. The severity of the voters’ verdict on two years of Democratic dominance in Washington prompted President Barack Obama, to concede that his party had taken a “shellacking”.
去年11月中期選舉結束后,美國到處都可以聽到共和黨人的歡笑聲。他們從民主黨手中奪回了眾議院的控制權,距離重新控制參議院也只有一線之遙,那些先知先覺的共和黨人迫不及待地開始預測,2012年后,共和黨人將入主白宮。選民們對民主黨主政兩年的裁決相當苛刻,巴拉克?奧巴馬(Barack Obama)被迫承認,自己的政黨“一敗涂地”。