I am cautiously optimistic that a major political shift is taking place.
And it is not good for Republicans. Not since the New Deal has one of the two major parties had so many major setbacks within a short period of time.
The Dixiecrat Southern Strategy of Nixon in 1972 is dead. Done. Finished. And not mourned by anybody except a few die hard Confederate wing nuts. The times when a Republican or Dixiecrat politician could garner votes with a wink and a nod to the racists is over. And what scares Republicans is that they are about to lose the high ground on gun rights as well. Hillary Clinton is going to run and win on a platform of instituting common sense gun laws. And she will likely have long enough coat tails to win back the Senate in 2016 for the Democrats.
The Democrats will be strengthened ever more by the debate over same-sex marriage, regardless of how the SCOTUS rules, but the likelihood is that it will rule in favor of gay rights. The so called "social issues" now appear to favor Democrats. The exception might be abortion, but even that appears to be losing its edge as a way to turn out votes for Republicans.
The Affordable Care Act is here to stay. It may be amended around the edges by a future Congress but the basic provisions cannot be taken away - only expanded to offer better coverage to more people. And the Republicans know that and are wishing they had not dubbed it "Obamacare" - meant to be an epithet but now it just reminds voters of who finally broke the mold of the old system of throwing poor people with no health insurance on the mercies of the Emergency Rooms.
In terms of the economy, what are the Republicans to do? Nearly every prediction they have made about Obama and the economy has turned out to be incorrect. Every month jobs are being added. And when voters in 2016 look back on 8 years of Obama and 8 years of Bush it doesn't look good for Republicans on the economy, which is still what elections are mostly about.
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