An impasse

I was listening to a lecture given by an American academic on the political state of America today. It was an insightful talk given in the clear no nonsense way Americans talk, a far cry from the twists and turns of Anglophile speak, with its embroidered phraseology and the high value attached to obfuscation. The lecture painted a wide brush picture of the changes going on due to demographics and the polarisation which is then brought by the communities that are being moulded through ethnicity and social immobility. 

The Republican Party is being forced into a corner with its conservative views and seeks its following from the established white population but not, significantly from the youth part of the demographic. This of course is the section which is fast being overtaken by the so called minority groups, Black, Hispanic, Asian and will soon be a minority in its own right. The minority segment collectively votes Democratic and as their vote grows then the balance between the two major parties will be replaced with a de-facto Democratic incumbent in the White House. 
The important legislative presidents in the past, Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and Regan who passed between them, many bills through Congress would have been stymied today, much as Obahma is, by a wall of defiance from Congress. One of the reasons is, as America polarises into clearly definable political entities which colour a State red or blue the congressional leaders, who ever mindful of their election base have no room to consider, as in the past, the merits of a political case. They must keep in step with their electorate and so the strength of the American electoral machine with its checks and balances is eroded by tribalism and log jam. Without a majority of at least 60% in Congress the Presidents hands are tied and the embarrassment of not being able to secure agreement to get for instance, the budget signed off is an anomaly that the rest of the world thinks is crazy.