The election is mostly over; tonight it got a bit more mostly over.
In Georgia, where a close election failed to produce the state-mandated "50% + 1 vote" majority for any candidate, the run-off was today, and Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss has defeated Democratic challenger Jim Martin by a comfortable 60-40 split. According to current projections, that is; but with 60% of the vote counted it certainly looks that way. (As of 9:00 PM Tuesday, that’s the way the run-off election seemed to be turning out.)
This is the final nail in the coffin for the Democrats’ hopes for that magic 60 Senate seats, that so-called "veto proof" majority that they’ve been longing for. Ain’t gonna happen...not this year, anyway. Remember that we get to go through Senate elections again in two years, and if the Democrats don’t manage to screw up (or if they manage a fast enough economic turn-around to keep the electorate satisfied) they have a good chance to change things in 2010.
But that’s a pretty tall order...not only do they need to do a good job for the next two years, they need to show real and tangible improvement in the financial arena by the next election. Not just some improvement, but enough improvement that the public will be convinced that the recession (now that the government actually admits there is one) is well and truly over.
That’s not so impossible; remember that no recession in the U.S. has ever lasted more than about a year and a half or so, and everyone now admits that the one we’re in now has been going on for a year already. (Now they say it’s been on for a year. Hell, I could have told them that; anyone could have told them that.)
The Republicans might not want to gloat too much either. I recall back in the days of the Clinton administration, when the Republicans regained control of Congress two years into a Democratic administration. I remember Republican Newt Gingrich (then Speaker of the House) proudly saying "we will not compromise" and virtually salivating over the ability to block whatever Clinton hoped to accomplish. But it backfired for the GOP; they used their new-found power to block Clinton at every turn, sure enough, but against conventional thinking the public actually blamed the Republicans for not getting anything done. The Republicans thought Clinton would get the blame for Congressional inaction; they never expected the public to put the blame where it belonged.
Here’s the lesson of history, and it would do the Democrats well to remember it also: The President’s coattails, while not nearly big enough for everyone to ride, are nowhere near big enough to hide behind, either. No matter which party he represents, yours or theirs.
The Democrats need to remember that Congress, not Obama, will be held responsible if nothing gets done in Congress. And the Republicans need to be aware that the public can’t be counted upon to be so dumb that they can’t see who’s actually responsible for holding things up.
The Blues Viking
The opinions here expressed are mine and if you don’t like them you can get your own damn blog.
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6 comments:
Well, I'd like to help. Among the many things wrong with the way laws (and sausages) are made is the filibuster. If laws were made without the irrelevant amendments (the flip side of the line item veto), then only the bills which warranted "obstruction" would be thus. The other legislation could pass or fail on its own merits, or not.
I was going to offer, as a bridge building action, to volunteer to have my Republican senator vote for cloture in the face of a Republican filibuster. But then, I remembered that I have two Blue Senators. Oh, and my Congressman is Blue as well.
*sigh* Well, on the bright side, I can't be blamed. There's that...
Remember how Newt pouted about having to get off of Air Force One through the back door? Or how he dumped his first wife while she was in the hospital with cancer? Or how he considered himself so much better and more moral than Bill Clinton? Newt and his Contract on America? It all backfired on him and the Republicans and I loved every minute of that.
auntiezel:
I remember Newt Gingrich as being the very personification of the '80s saying, :"The 'Moral Majority' is neither."
BV
I don't remember that particular quote of Newt's but then I'm a proud member of the Immormal Minority! I will favor you with one of my favorite quotes of all times, from H.G.Wells, "Moral indgination is jealousy with a halo"
Oops.
I didn't mean to imply that the quote originated with Newt; that would be far out of character for this guy. What I was trying to say was that Newt personified an old saying from the '80s, one that I remember from posters and bumper stickers, that "the Moral Majority is neither." That is, the Moral Majority was neither moral nor a majority.
Still isn't.
The Blues Viking
These thoughts are mine. Get your own.
I realized after I posted that I had read what you wrote wrong. I agree with you and I still think that my H.G. Wells quote sums up everything that is wrong with the vocal bible thumpers who want us all to toe their line, believe what they believe and conform to their standards. I have no problem with people who observe their religion and live it's princples, most of them are good, honest people that I am proud to know and even be related to, but the the loudmouths, well, I think they do protest to much.
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