Dreamers Rise An Open Notebook And for those who choose the twisty road, prefer it to the straight Let joy beat out old misery, as love will conquer hate. Illustration by Henry L. Stephens from The Goblin Snob (ca. 1855) A sort of electronic broadside, composed of rants and reviews, conceits and speculations, and whatever else feels the need to be here. Issued as chance will have it. Post-election, 2006 Well that wasn't so bad now, was it? I'm quite happy to leave it to others to divine the deeper meaning of this year's electoral showdown, which saw the Republicans lose their supposedly “permanent” hold on Congress at the same time that they were roundly drubbed in statewide and local races across the country. I'm delighted, naturally — gaining the Senate as well as the House for the Democrats was an unexpected treat — but I have no special insight into the why and how of it all, and besides, there are so many others who have already expounded at length, wisely or not, that there would seem to be little point in adding to the chatter. But it was a relief, to be sure. Looking forward, I'm not sure I'd go so far as to proclaim it Morning in America again, as some have done. Given how really scary the thought of where this country would have headed if the Democrats had not won at least one house of Congress my metaphor would likely be more along the lines of dodging a bullet, but still, from where I sit the election was a good thing by any definition. Only a first step mind you, and one that could all easily be undone two years hence. The jockeying for the 2008 presidential contest is by now already well under way. One of the first aftershocks of the election was the summary sacking of Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense. It was richly deserved, though making Rumsfeld the fall guy for policies that, however disastrous, were clearly and repeatedly endorsed by his Commander-in-Chief was being less than honest. Now the Republicans are eating their own over the timing of the firing — if Rumsfeld had only been fired sooner could it have saved the day? But with a few exceptions, like the essentially honorable Lincoln Chafee, the antiwar Republican from Rhode Island who could not retain his seat in the face of public disgust with the party he was unlucky enough to represent, they all made their own beds and deserved, in spades, exactly what they got. Bush himself remains in office. His freedom of political movement will be curtailed, though it is too soon to say to what degree. His cherished plan to privatize Social Security has now, thankfully, gone up in smoke, and he will lose control of his Iraq policy to the likes of James Baker and Robert Gates and the other wise men and lawyers who are always there, to clean up, when the wayward rich boy has crashed the car. Assuming the Democrats don't throw it all away, there will be an opening for a possibly more normal political life. Not an Age of Reason by any means, but perhaps with the peaking of the conservative Republican tide we can now hope that things will not go as calimitously astray as they have in recent years, and that maybe here and there a bit of sense might make it through the corruption, fanaticism, and utter irresponsibility that will likely be forever associated with the last six years. We can't really afford to have it otherwise. In the congressional district where I live (New York 19th), this election was particularly satisfying, as a vigorous Democratic challenger, John Hall, upset a six-term Republican incumbent, Sue Kelly, in a House race that was not really expected to be within Hall's reach. The district has been dependably Republican for years, but Hall ran a strong race, Kelly simply ran (a widely viewed video caught her sprinting away from a reporter's question), and Hall no doubt benefited from the national inclination to throw the bums out. Though Hall leads with more than 51% of the vote, a percentage margin roughly six times greater than the one that persuaded Virginia Senator George Allen, in a far more important race, that his own quest for reelection was hopeless, at this writing Kelly has refused to concede. One can only guess how much larger Hall's margin might have been if voters had been allowed to see the video of Kelly's post-election non-concession press conference in advance. Half deer in the headlights, half woman scorned, she seemed genuinely astonished that she could have lost her seat to a scrubbed-up minor rock star and unabashed liberal, as she tried out one whining explanation after another for her loss. (The most creative reason: that she does not issue “fluffy press releases.”) In response to a reporter's question about how the country would fare with the Democrats in control of the House, she smirkingly noted that the stock market had just gone down that day, and gave the impression that she was not altogether sure the republic would survive without her and her defeated colleagues. We'll manage. November 11, 2006 [ Permalink ] Previous page Next page Home Index About Email me