The midterm elections, while representing a significant gain for the Republicans in Congress, offered more complicated results than the mainstream media is admitting.  Let's look at a few points.

First, in virtually every midterm election the party holding the Presidency loses.  There are rare exceptions.

Second, the actual races were quite competitive, in fact, much more than the pundits had led us to believe would take place.  What is worth noting here is that despite the relative de-mobilization of the Obama electorate, the races were tight.  One conclusion from this is that it is just as possible that in 2012 there will be another flip when, during a presidential election, there tends to be greater turnout, especially among young people (who did not turn out in record numbers for this election).

Third, and related, even by the admission of the Republican establishment, this was not a mandate for the Republican agenda.  It was, more than anything, an election rooted in fear, anger, frustration and, yes, de-mobilization.

Fourth, this was an overwhelming victory for money and a tremendous defeat for campaign finance reform.  Symbolically the defeat of Democratic Senator Russ Feingold (Wisconsin) suggested that any efforts at campaign finance reform were finished.  But the amounts of cash poured into this election, the lion's share going to the Republicans, made for situations where races that should have been cake-walks, became highly contentious.  This will be an issue that will haunt us into the future.

Fifth, the Tea Party was a mixed blessing for the Republican Party.  In some cases, e.g., Rand Paul in Kentucky, they were an energizing force.  In other cases, such as the O'Donnell campaign in Delaware, they were not very helpful.  What is worth watching is the long-term trajectory of the Tea Party.  Will they, for instance, institutionalize (no pun intended) and become a more unified force?  Will they become absorbed?  And how will they react to the next two years?  In either case, they became the voice and face of the very scared, well-to-do conservative white person who wishes to ensure that there are no efforts towards any form of redistribution of wealth.

Sixth, the "barracks" were not mobilized.  More than anything else, the hope for the change that the Obama administration was supposed to bring was disappointed.  While there is no question but that the Obama administration introduced significant legislative changes, they not only lost the public relations war to the Republicans in terms of how to describe legislative reforms (some of which were important changes for the average person), but more importantly, they failed to energize their base with any degree of boldness. 

Healthcare reform, without the public option, let alone no Medicare for All; pull out of Iraq, but leaving significant numbers of troops and mercenaries on the ground; a stimulus that from the standpoint of most major economists was simply not enough; falling under the spell of those who talked about the deficit when deficit spending was so badly needed; failing to hit back hard in the face of racist assaults; repeated attempts at so-called bi-partisanship when the Republicans aimed to cut his legs out from under him. 

Despite the convergence of social forces that backed Obama in 2008 (obviously for different reasons), there was an enthusiasm gap due to a combination of unrealistic expectations for a candidate who was not a 'radical' by any stretch of the imagination.  But, as i have said elsewhere, those same social forces made a serious strategic mistake in not putting their own, independent pressure on the Democrats--including Obama--and insisting that elected officials advance the agenda that needed advancing.

We now pay the price.

So, the question is whether progressive forces can finally harness whatever is needed in order to think strategically and build levels of organization that can actually tap into the souls of those who feel and are dispossessed.  That remains our task...our fate.  And to add one small point, Black folks need to be at the center of such an initiative.  Countering the right-wing, white backlash will necessitate unity across the ethnic divides, but it will necessitate a unity that does not swerve away from racial justice.

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member, Bill Fletcher, Jr., is a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum and co-author of, Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice (University of California Press), which examines the crisis of organized labor in the USA. Click here to contact Mr. Fletcher.