Could Losing Control of Congress Be Good for President Obama?

Oct. 25, 2010— -- With the forecast looking increasingly bleak for congressional Democrats as the midterms draw near, some political analysts have posed an interesting question: Would losing control of Congress be good for President Obama?

The president has been hitting the stump hard in recent days, trying to prevent that scenario from coming about, but some argue that if Republicans take control of the House and possibly the Senate, Obama could benefit by having a Republican foil to provide contrast to his policy, not to mention having others to shoulder the blame for such issues as the slow economic recovery.

"The White House is not looking forward to the additional subpoenas they'll face. They're not looking forward to the legislative gridlock that's likely if the Republicans take control. But what they will like is having someone else to blame for the problems in Washington," said Rick Klein, ABC News senior Washington editor.

"You can use Congress as a more effective foil when you're the president when you have another party in control in at least one of the branches. Both Presidents Clinton and Reagan learned this lesson. They suffered big setbacks in midterms. They were able to bounce back to big re-elections," Klein said.

Clinton has himself endorsed this idea. In an interview with CBS News, Clinton said he believed losing the House "would increase [Obama's] chances of being re-elected. Whether it would be good for the country or not, I don't know."

Our question to you today: Do you believe losing control of the House could help President Obama?

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