The ponder sets in on this morning after the election, with a cup of coffee in me and the sun about to rise: what does it all mean? What does it mean that the House (and possibly the Senate) have gone Democratic? What does it mean that California doesn’t limit Kelo? What do the myriad conflicting-but-leaning liberal results around the country mean?
I can boil it down to just three thoughts:
— The majority of Americans are unserious about the war on terror. By that, I meant that they do not recognize fundamentalist Islamics as an existential threat. Many overtly anti-war Democrats were elected, some in opposition to equally overtly pro-war Republicans. A choice was made. Of all the election results, I believe this one will have the most profound and long-lasting consequences. I fear those consequences.
— We can expect Congressional gridlock. The Democrats picked up a very thin margin in the House; if they do pick up the Senate, it will be by an even thinner margin. This means that Republicans and Democrats can both block anything and everything. There’s a perspective (and I have some sympathy with this!) that a gridlocked Congress is the best possible case for the people and for business, because in such a Congress the multitude of scoundrels and scalliwags on the Hill can’t pass bills that hurt us. That’s the good news. For the bad news, see the preceding bullet — you can bet that pursuing the War on Terror is about to get much more difficult.
— Pelosi. I’m not quite sure how to complete that sentence. It is going to be very interesting to observe how the American people react when they see Nancy Pelosi in action. I thought the Republican ads asking folks if they really wanted to put Pelosi in charge were quite effective — scared the crap outta me! But apparently either (a) most Americans are Pelosi’s kind of moonbat, or (b) most Americans don’t really understand her political positions. I’m an optimist — I think it’s (b). In which case the shock and dismay when Ms. Pelosi starts foaming at the mouth are going to be a lot of fun to watch. One could even hope that in two years, during the 2008 elections, the electorate will look at the beast they have unleashed — and do something to put it back into its cage. Or out of its misery. Or something.
So far as I’m concerned, everything else decided in the elections are details…
