Why This Vote Really Matters

Tuesday's vote will be a blast for Republicans, but "the direction of the country” won't truly be determined until the 2012 election, writes Charles Krauthammer. Until then, with Obama’s veto power and Democrats’ shrunken numbers, nothing much will get done. Still, the “beauty” of these next two votes is that they hinge on “a profoundly serious political question,” he writes in the Washington Post. It’s about the role of government and “the balance between liberty and equality.”

Democrats may argue it’s about the economy, but in fact a poll says “only 1 in 12 Americans blames the economy on Obama.” Instead, Obama’s “forthright attempt to undo the Reagan revolution with a burst of expansive liberal governance is the theme animating this entire election,” Krauthammer notes. “My prediction: The Dems lose 60 House seats, eight in the Senate.”