What brought on the creation of the Tea Party?The bailouts of banks by the Bush and Obama administrations triggered the Tea Party's rise, according to political analyst Scott Rasmussen.
What do the Republicans realize they can do to keep Obama from fulfilling his campaign promises? Why does this matter in the long-term for his presidency?A large part of Obama’s appeal to independents and moderates was his promise to reduce the level of partisanship in Washington. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t deliver bipartisanship on his own, and (so runs the argument), the Republicans’ decision to oppose his every initiative, starting on Day One, made it impossible for him to redeem his pledge. The Republicans gambled that because Obama and the Democrats controlled the entire government, they would be blamed for continuing partisan wrangling. And the Republicans turned out to be right. Although it was not Obama’s fault, the public focused their discontent with continuing partisan rancor focused nonetheless on him and the Democratic leadership, not on the real source of their disappointment.
