Standing with our collective mouths agape, simply unable to look away, Americans spent their early autumn incredulously watching not just the usual football and fair foliage, but the Republican Party's slow dissolve. Absolute power, as Lord Acton once sagely warned it would, did finally corrupt absolutely. This is an old story, one as old as mankind, relearned by each generation of leaders only to be quickly forgotten by the next.
The October Surprise was that the month came and went with no surprises. For weeks, the nation held its collective breath, half-expecting a wouldn't-put-it-past-them pre-election staging of George W. Bush personally dragging bin Laden by his beard out of his bat cave, or some Gulf of Tonkin-like "attack" on the recently-arrived U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf perfectly synchronized with a lapdog-media hyping of the new White House applause line – "It was Iran who has been the gravest threat all along to our McWalMart way of life! Don't worry, we'll save you!".
October's lamb gave way to November's lion, as the Democrats finally translated their witty way with bumper-stickers into control of both houses of Congress. For the next biennium, the nation will hold its collective breath. Having not held the reins of power in the House for twelve long years, do Democrats still even know how to ride the horse?
Democrats certainly can't do any worse than these hapless Republicans. A rider-less horse is just what we've had this past congressional session, a horse unbridled and left to run away with our nation's fiscal discipline and moral clarity all because these Republican cowboys were too busy trying to close the gates on one powerlust-induced scandal after another. Just getting this runaway horse back into the corral will be an improvement.
But if the Democrats intend during these next two years to spend their newly won power – if backing into power as a result of your opponents' corruption and malfeasance can really be considered "winning" – lusting for blood, rather than tending to the nation's long-neglected business, they will succeed only in strengthening the already even-odds of a regrouped and redisciplined Republican Party not only taking back Congress in 2008, but keeping the White House firmly in their control as well.
While voters resoundingly gave both houses of Congress back to the Democrats on November 7th, Democrats must clearly understand what it is that they have been given: a mere two-year opportunity to demonstrate why they deserve a shot at measuring for new curtains in the Oval Office in 2008. It isn't much time, and there's too much work to be done to waste time sharpening the hatchet.
If Democrats can resist vengeance, and instead work tirelessly to rouse an angry country to face its real villains – our energy overdependence on the Middle East, our looming health care collapse, our educational unreadiness for the 21st-century economy, and our out-of-control transfer of carbon from earth to sky – they will have proven themselves a capable alternative, willing unlike the other political party to put principle over power and to face the tough issues that all of us are facing together in this young century. Their hold on power will remain safe or even grow.
And if they can't, if they use their newfound power in pursuits meant solely to quench their bloodlust, Democrats will be two years henceforth turned out once again. Democratic leaders will have joined their present Republican colleagues in ignoring Lord Acton's warning, to the tragic and lasting detriment of this nation's pressing business.
www.strangeanimals.us
Todd Huffman is a pediatrician and writer living in Eugene, Oregon. He is a regular contributor to many newspapers and publications throughout the Pacific Northwest.
I view this election a bit differently than does this erudite physician. I see the results, not as an acceptance of the Democrats policies ( does anyone know what, if any, they subscribe to?) but as a complete rejection of the corrupted Administration and the pussilanimous and rubber stamp of a Legislature.
So, despite the title above, we have been given nothing, Democrats have gained no adherents, they have been the recipient of a backlash and nothing more. It is now up to them to make porridge out of pottage and to perhaps awaken a sleeping or turned off electorate with wisdom and boldness. Does anyone see this as probable,possible, likely, a freaking snowball's chance in hell?
I view this election, as I have the previous actions of both major parties over the last decade or three, as a real chance for third party impact on American consciousness. I believe, strongly, that we shall only achieve the nation we want when we actually have a choice other than Tweedledem or Tweedlegop.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments)
on Thursday, November 23, 2006 at 10:04:13 AM
mandate was to get out of Iraq, & to impeach bush/cheney
we voted for the record even if they don't get impeached we want it on the record to save it for the historical record that the Bush/Cheney Regime lied us into war & lied to the American people. They used their powers to misuse the Constitution & avoid the rule of law. they should be impeached.
We also gave them the power to stop this war now! not in a year. NOW!
we Democratic party members can do more than one thing at a time. we can work 6 days a week and stop all those long holidays. Stop all those trips. Let's face it, just as in Vietnam, the commanders knew when the congress were coming for a visit and they were ready for them. they only showed them what they wanted them to see.
In Iraq no one gets out of the Green zone. So what is the truth? We started all this and it is time to get out and then Nancy can get her 100 hours done at the same time. all she has to do is appoint her people to get busy and get things going.
we can do it.
The republicans impeached Clinton during a lame duck session during a war/conflict. They dug around until they found Monica while he was trying to help the people in Kosova. They made a film as Gen.Clark was trying to fight a war that this film was mimicking, wag the dog!
The right-wing were doing daily jokes & filthy sex remarks about Bill Clinton while he was trying to be president. With Bush, you get arrested if you wear the wrong t-shirt on an airplane that offends anyone that says negative things about bush.
I never remembered Bill Clinton's speeches or his work being covered like this media covers Bush. one funny thing out of all this: Bush has never worked so hard at being something he never earned!
How can one enjoy a win if they won it by cheating?
I am sure we will have something horrible happen in 08 for the Republicans surely do not want a Democratic Trifecta I mean just think what we could do with all the powers that they have given the office of the presidency.
We could change the world for the better. world peace and no more voting fraud... let the best man or woman win by the casting/counting of each vote.
by
chil420 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 19 comments)
on Thursday, November 23, 2006 at 2:31:03 PM
Nancy Pelosi has receive considerable criticism for her statements that impeachment is off the table, but let me lend my support to her in this. It is not at all that I oppose impeachment but I think it is is serious mistake to assume impeachment of Bush/Cheney as an objective at this time. This is simply a matter of putting the horse before the cart.
The good Dr. Huffman observed about the Republicans that
They dug around until they found Monica while he was trying to help the people in Kosova.
and this is exactly the kind of charge that Democrats need to avoid hearing from Republicans two or three years from now. Democrats do not want to look like they are just hunting around for some charge that will make impeachment stick. This would backfire just as it did for the Republicans when they looked around for some justification to impeach Clinton.
Investigations of the secret activities of the Bush Administration are clearly in order now just as impeachment is clearly out of order. Let Congress investigate and make public the misdeeds of the last six years, and let us hope that public outcry will demand action from Congress to redress any and all of those misdeeds. If and when this happens it will be the time to bring up the possibility of impeachment.
More importantly, let's not focus so much on retribution that we forget all of the other work to be done. We need election reform and media reform. We need to end our foolish wars and begin to regain our reputation in the world as a respectable world power. We need to revise our trade policies and our labor policies and we need to regain some control over run-away corporate power. Focusing too strongly on the one issue of retribution could keep us from making progress on all of thes other important issues.
by
PrMaine (10 articles, 8 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 341 comments)
on Friday, November 24, 2006 at 8:30:50 PM
3 comments
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