2008 Woodie Awards
Thinking Dangerously: Dems- Let's not waste a golden opportunity
Kitty Campbell
Issue date: 11/14/06 Section: Opinions
It actually happened. The Democrats have taken the House and the Senate. There's no bigger slap in the face to a president than to have his party booted out of power in Congress, and if Bush wasn't phased by his 31 percent-and-dropping approval ratings, he's paying attention now.
Granted, the Democrats didn't win in a landslide, not nationally. Unlike some people, I'm not going to claim that a slim victory (around 8700 votes in Virginia's Senate race) constitutes a mandate. But it does show that voters are ready for a change. Especially when Democrats won races in red-blooded 'Heartland' states that have been red since I've been old enough to vote. This is undeniably a vote against Bush and his administration.
Bush got the message. The White House has been frantically spinning their wheels trying to dig themselves out of the mess they find themselves in. Watching Bush speak in the days after the election, his bewilderment was clearly visible. After all, he doesn't read the papers or watch the news - his aides probably told him it was in the bag. What a shock to wake up Nov. 8 and realize you've been lied to. Now at least he knows how it feels.
If you had any doubt that Bush's confidence has taken a hit, the firing (I'm sorry, sudden 'resignation') of Donald Rumsfeld immediately following the election makes it clear. This is damage control. Undoubtedly this was part of a plan: if the Reps win the election, it's business as usual - if the Dems take Congress, someone has to be sacrificed. The political gods demand it.
It's clear from the initiatives passed against gay marriage in more conservative states that this is not a blank check for the Democrats to implement their more progressive plans. But the fact that voters could simultaneously vote against equal rights and for the party that is most likely to promote them shows that those voters are sick to death of Bush. So sick that they're willing to risk putting a party in power who they've been told for years wants to turn churches into gay bars and slaughter fetuses left and right.
Granted, the Democrats didn't win in a landslide, not nationally. Unlike some people, I'm not going to claim that a slim victory (around 8700 votes in Virginia's Senate race) constitutes a mandate. But it does show that voters are ready for a change. Especially when Democrats won races in red-blooded 'Heartland' states that have been red since I've been old enough to vote. This is undeniably a vote against Bush and his administration.
Bush got the message. The White House has been frantically spinning their wheels trying to dig themselves out of the mess they find themselves in. Watching Bush speak in the days after the election, his bewilderment was clearly visible. After all, he doesn't read the papers or watch the news - his aides probably told him it was in the bag. What a shock to wake up Nov. 8 and realize you've been lied to. Now at least he knows how it feels.
If you had any doubt that Bush's confidence has taken a hit, the firing (I'm sorry, sudden 'resignation') of Donald Rumsfeld immediately following the election makes it clear. This is damage control. Undoubtedly this was part of a plan: if the Reps win the election, it's business as usual - if the Dems take Congress, someone has to be sacrificed. The political gods demand it.
It's clear from the initiatives passed against gay marriage in more conservative states that this is not a blank check for the Democrats to implement their more progressive plans. But the fact that voters could simultaneously vote against equal rights and for the party that is most likely to promote them shows that those voters are sick to death of Bush. So sick that they're willing to risk putting a party in power who they've been told for years wants to turn churches into gay bars and slaughter fetuses left and right.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Mom
posted 11/14/06 @ 11:57 AM EST
I couldn't have said it better myself.
Love ya!
Post a Comment