America is "seriously off on the wrong track," according to 65 percent of respondents who took part in a new Fox News exit poll on Tuesday. Voters said the economy was getting worse and took issue with Obama's immigration policy, health care reform and foreign policy. Forty-eight percent of Americans believe "life for the next generation of Americans would be worse than life today." U.S. President Barack Obama managed to turn the American dream into a nightmare. The New York Post front page featured a naked Obama this week, with the headline reading "Stripped -- Emperor has no clothes." The hope of 2008 has morphed into the despair of 2014. Thirty-three percent said their vote was partly motivated by a desire "to express opposition to Barack Obama." The disappointment from the president had breathed new life into the embattled Republicans, who suffered a major setback in 2012 when they lost a presidential election they had expected to win. His conduct also made it possible for the GOP to capture the governorship in Maryland, which has historically been a Democratic stronghold. Imagine Likud hardliner MK Moshe Feiglin becoming mayor of Ramallah, a major Palestinian city in Judea and Samaria. It appears, then, that politicians were able to defy the laws of politics thanks to Obama. Even former President Bill Clinton, who performed political miracles as a candidate, could not help the Democrats, despite campaigning with his wife, the ambitious former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The former first couple are now worried that Obama's downfall might undermine their efforts to recapture the White House in two years' time. With so little support among the electorate, it's hard to see how Obama would be able to govern effectively on domestic policy; his Oval Office wings will be clipped by Congress, even though he still wields his veto power over legislation that arrives at his desk. In fact, even on foreign policy, Congress will set the tone. Obama's party lost its majority in the Senate, having shed seven Democratic senators, but much of Obama's own legacy is now gone as well. His magic is gone; his Democratic majority is gone. Even his last stronghold, the White House, will have a different occupant in two years. From now on, he will be more focused on frustrating the Right's agenda than on promoting his. Obama still wants to have a legacy and leave a lasting imprint, but he needs Capitol Hill for that. Locking horns with the Congress will hurt both branches of government and exacerbate his lame duck status. He will have become irrelevant if he chooses that path. Likewise, if the Republicans keep being contrarian, they run the risk of losing the 2016 presidential election, with Americans viewing them as reckless. Voters gave them an opportunity to solve America's problems, and they don't want them to squander this mandate by squabbling with the president. Obama should have been able to tout a great accomplishment on domestic policy -- Obamacare. But even Democratic lawmakers were too embarrassed to mention that they supported the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Obama must now think twice before he complements this legacy with a comparable failure abroad: signing a deal with Iran. The deadline for a nuclear deal with Iran -- November 24 -- is rapidly approaching. Obama hopes the deal would be his signature foreign policy accomplishment. According to The New York Times, Obama would like to bypass Congress on Iran. In fact, there is a legal constellation in which he can pull it off. But the presumptive majority leader in the U.S. Senate, Senator Mitch McConnell, will not be amused by such a detour and could decide to fight back by introducing more sanctions on Iran. Washington will have a bifurcated foreign policy. This can't be good for America. The new Congress is not going to sign off on Obama's engagement of Iran. It won't fall for the smiling Iranian leaders, nor will it buy a pledge that they would be willing to abandon their military nuclear program. The Republican Congress will want to see America play tough when it comes to Iran, Syria, the Islamic State group, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. More sanctions, less accommodation. They want America to act like the world's No 1. superpower. He may choose to fight the Republicans over foreign policy, but this may not be worth it for Obama. The American people, who already disapprove of his foreign policy, will only get more angry if they see their president stay the course on Iran. Those who believe this new reality will make Obama restart the talks between Israel and the Palestinians, should keep in mind that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a darling of both the outgoing and the incoming Congress. Obama will have to mend fences with Netanyahu before he brings him back to the negotiating table. Secretary of State John Kerry's recent visits to the region have not helped the administration's image. Perhaps they should be incorporated into a satirical book called Kerry's Travels. Perhaps Obama should focus on fighting Islamic State and restraining the provocative economic measures China has adopted and the provocations of Putin's Russia on the world stage. Obama, the lame duckling who is full of good intentions and disappointments, could use some of his frequent flier miles to keep him away from the morass in Washington and the Middle East. In fact, he will soon fly to the People's Republic of China, Myanmar and Australia.
