US mid-term polls: Obama reaps the whirlwind

There was a delightful irony in the message that John Boehner, hitherto House minority leader and now House Speaker designate, had for US president Barack Obama and his political opponents, the Democratic Party – ''Change...Course!'' In the mid-term polls concluded on Tuesday his Republican Party delivered the heaviest shellacking that any mid-term president and party in power has received for a very long time - possibly since 1948.

The Republicans are on track to win 233 seats, as per latest projections by CNN, with the midway mark at 218, easily overtaking the 39 seat handicap they started out with before the polls. They may pick up as many as 60 seats by the time the counting is finally over.

They have done equally well in the other poll for the Upper House, or the Senate where they are slated to pick up as many as 6 seats to take their overall tally to 47 seats, short of the majority mark of 51. They had started with 41. It is possible that the margin may even increase by an additional two, to 49.

But the majority of 51 in the Senate is only a nominal majority, as under chamber rules any party needs a clear majority of 60 seats to ensure that work gets done according to its satisfaction, as quaint procedures related to filibustering allow a party to stall all progress on measures it doesn't particularly favour.

Frustrated by lack of noticeable improvement in the economic condition and taken in by a Republican campaign that has emphasized downsizing of the government the Republicans delivered a hammer blow to Democratic Party candidates in every part of the country, uprooting even senior leaders of long standing.

Amongst such leaders were House Budget Committee chairman John Spratt, a 28-year veteran, and Rep Ike Skelton, a 36-year veteran who chairs the Armed Services Committee.