Midterm elections

With the midterm elections coming up, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at what people are talking about in politics. Thanks to the Global Language Monitor's Narrative Tracker, I was able to find a list of the top 30 most-frequently-electronically-discussed topics relevant to American politics. Here it is, straight from GLM:

"1. Narrative – Idea of the narrative is a strong No. 1
2. Lower Taxes – 600% higher than Raise Taxes (No. 10)
3. Obama Muslim Connection - Two weeks before 2008 Election it was No . 6
4. Conservatives – Stand at 43% of sample citations
5. Climate Change – Always one of Top 5
6. Liberal - Liberal/Progressives stand at 33% of Citations
7. Recession (linked to Obama) – Over 4x the number that link to GWB (No.20)
8. Hillary Clinton – Hillary Ascendant
9. Tea Partiers – Very strong for a recent phenomenon
10. Obama Aloof, detached, Professorial – Reached peak in reaction to his handling the Gulf Oil
Spill
11. Raise Taxes – Only 16% of lower taxes (No. 2)
12. Progressive – 74% of Liberal citations; Liberal/Progressives stand at 33% of Citations
13. Deficit Spending – Close to Out-of-Control Spending (No.15)
14. Independents – Independents stand at 20% of citations
15. Out-of-control Spending — Spending is widely viewed as out-of-control
16. Sarah Palin – Apparently, opposition only makes her stronger
17. Healthcare Mandate – Nearly triple the concern for HC Reform (No. 21)
18. Change you can believe in – Not so much, these days
19. Iraq War – Far from top of Mind
20. Recession (linked to Bush) – Warning to Dems, this is fading from view
21. Healthcare reform – Comes in just a bit higher than the Gulf Oil Spill
22. BP Gulf Oil Spill — The BP SpillCam was the No. 1 Television Word (Teleword) of the Year
23. Anti-incumbent — It’s not just a matter of anger; lower than pundits have it
24. Obama “oil spill” response — Major factor in negativity of overall narrative
25. Al Qaeda – Low ranking reflected by several polls, also
26. George Bush — Not much value in running a ‘Not Bush’ Campaign
27. Wall Street Bailout – Bush, Bailout, Pelosi and Limbaugh, Cheney (and Reid) line up closely
28. Grand Zero Mosque – More than 110 times the number of citations for 51 Park Place
29. Nancy Pelosi — Off the radar nowadays
30. Rush Limbaugh – Interesting pairing at Nos, 29 and 30, no?"

Many of these words relate to Obama. Not surprising; he is the President. Perhaps more pertinent is the fact that many of these words relate to Obama as person, instead of to Obama's policies. The narrative Obama painted for himself, Obama's Muslim connection, Obama's aloof, detached, Professorial style/personality, etc. deal with him as a person. Why is there more talk now about Obama as a person? Perhaps it is because in 2008, very few people knew about Obama as a person, but many were willing to take a gamble on change. Now, after electing him, we may be trying to get to know him; or perhaps use our lack of understanding about Obama to portray him in a negative light.

Note that many of these "buzzwords" pertaining to Obama as a person are not meant to be viewed positively. Obama's narrative, which he painted using 2 autobiographies and his speeches, could now begin to more thoroughly examined, and perhaps undone. Associating Obama with Muslims taps into Islamophobia in the states stemming from 9/11, and perhaps generates mistrust from American non-Muslims, and specifically Christians (who make up over 50% of the United States). Calling Obama aloof and/or detached [as opposed to, say, professional and objective] paints a picture of an incompetent aristocratic ruler who is not aware of the needs of his people. Aloof/detached are associated with uncaring, uninterested, and uninformed. These are not qualities one would like to see in a President, and are meant to drive people away from voting for the party that Obama is associated with. The Democrats, in case you were wondering.

Apart from Obama as a person, there seems to be much talk over how Obama's policies are not good, ineffective, or bad. There seems to be much concern over tax policies and government spending, as both raise/lower taxes and deficit/out-of-control spending are on the list. The recession seems to be associated more with Obama than with Bush now, possibly because of the health care bill that was passed, increasing our deficit, or possibly because of a lack of action on the government's part to alleviate the recession.

In any case, there seems to be much negative portrayal of Obama and thus of the Democratic Party. I would expect the Democrats to lose seats. The question is, if the Democrats lose seats, who will actually be there to take the seats?