Just some thoughts on last night as we celebrate what seems to be a takeover of both houses of congress.
First, the conventional wisdom is that the "sensible center" or "moderation" has won. I believe that to be true. However, this sentiment is true only because the "center" has been redefined. The lasting legacy of Gingrich, Army, Delay, Hastert, Rove and co. is that the politcal center is further to the right than it once was. The interesting (and welcome, by and large) phenomenon of elected Kansas republicans and at least one elected Nebraska republican deciding to run as democrats and of former republicans, such as Jim Webb, deciding to run as a republican is a function of such former republicans looking across a table at their fellow travellers and concluding: "these guys are radical rightwing nutjobs." So they leave and the result is that both parties lurch rightward. The decision of Schumer and Emmanuel to recruit "centrist" candidates for certain seats also shoves the democratic party rightward. This is not a bad phenomenon necessarily as it contributed greatly to the democrats' return to legislative power. But we on the left (and I include myself) have to understand just how marginalized we may be. Folks such as the Greens who are our ideological soulmates have reduced themselves to being GOP enablers. Our democratic party mates will put a brake on our more progressive impulses. I think we have to choose our issues carefully and be even more careful in the framing of our issues. For example, perhaps the greenest of issues is global warming and the fight against it. I think we should follow Al Gore's example and make a business and security case for the greening of America.
Second, our senate majority is slim and tenuous. I think not only of Holy Joe. Remember that Akaka of Hawaii, who won re-election last night, is 82. The newly re-elected governor of Hawaii, Lingle, is republican. I wish Akaka only the best, but I still point out that odds of 82 year-olds being hale at 88 are not as great as those for a younger republican senator in a democratically governed state such as Tennessee, or Kansas, or Arizona being hale six years hence. A little morbid, I know, but to be considered.
Third, I have a question. If up to 60 republicans were at risk in the Abramoff scandal, some of them are STILL in the house. How many of them could end up being indicted or worse (for them) in jail? The news could get better for Democrats on that front.
Zirc