Ties face US midterm poll test

The United States midterm election will be held on Tuesday, Nov 2, which traditionally is a test of the incumbent government's performance in its first two years in office. This time, the ruling Democratic Party may lose control of one or both houses of Congress (House of Representatives and Senate), because its political achievements are far from impressive.

The existing situation in the US does not augur well for the Democrats, who "suffered from an inherent misfortune", because they assumed power from the Republicans during the global financial crisis. Though the Barack Obama administration has employed all its skill to overcome the crisis - by trying to increase employment and boost consumption (it even printed several hundred billion dollars of banknotes) - it has not succeeded. Perhaps the reason is that the US' economic problems have accumulated over the years and cannot be solved overnight.

It seems that Obama, who won the presidential election by opposing the Iraq War, vowing to bring about change and listen to ordinary Americans' voices, has failed to make good on his promises.