Democrats Win

Well, the Democrats seem to have won their big victory. They've taken the House and could take the Senate depending on how Virginia goes. Nancy Pelosi might say power is now in the hands of the children. Let's hope the Democrats are a little more capable and adult than Ms. Pelosi seems to think.

Ironically, the Democrats are totally dependent on party reject Joe Lieberman in order to get that control. That should be fun to watch.

Of course, having won the Democrats now have to start leading and actually standing for something. They've tried so long to avoid having any beliefs or ideas, at least in public, that might be hard. Even in their big push this election cycle, what was their agenda? To win. Why? Well, because they haven't in a while. So why should Americans vote for them? They're not Republicans! That was the strategy in the presidential campaign of 2004, emphasizing Kerry's lack of a Bush name, and continued in this cycle. Fortunately for the Democrats, the public's attitude toward the president and his party was so bad that this clumsy strategy worked this time.

The epitome of the post-Clinton Democratic party in Washington was at the last State of the Union. The president mentioned failing to get his Social Security reforms passed, to which the Democrats applauded lustfully. That side of the room was full of smiles, laughter, and self-congratulatory pats on the back. Of course, as the president said, the issues facing Social Security are still there. The party didn't want to actually fix anything. They sure didn't want to propose alternative ideas that might force them to commit to an idea. As long as they could take whatever the president proposed and defeat it, great.

I didn't want to see a continuation of Republican rule, either. I've bashed both parties from the beginning of this blog. But the Democratic party in Congress has been exceedingly underwhelming these last 6 years. I respect ideas, of which the Democrats have been notably lacking.

Like the big Republican win in '94, this change could force Bush to moderate some of his policies and make some changes. Donald Rumsfeld is out, finally, because of the election results. On the other hand, it's so late in his presidency, and the guy's not exactly flexible, it may not change anything.