The Day After-The Election Aftermath!
November 8, 2006
Richard J. Garfunkel
Last night the country started to bring balance back into America’s ruling body politic. Finally after twelve long years the Democrats have regained the House of Representatives and maybe they are on the way to controlling the Senate.
It has been a long drought for the Democrats and there are many reasons why this has happened. The so-called Reagan Revolution started to accelerate the decline of the Democratic majorities in this country with a basic appeal to “nuts and bolts” issues. Changes started with the election of Richard Nixon in 1968 in the wake of Lyndon Johnson’s miscalculations regarding the quagmire of Vietnam. Johnson squandered much of the good will that he achieved domestically. The Democrats had lost their way over time with the excesses of Wayne Hays, Wilbur Mills, and later brigands like James Trafficant. There are numerous examples of Democratic misconduct that took down others like Stephen Solarz. Obviously, both parties have had their miscreants, along with many others, who have suffered from the hubris associated with the arrogance of power.
Maybe the Democrats have finally learned something after wandering in the political desert for twelve long years. The progressive wing of the Democratic Party can look back at the electoral successes of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and even George Bush, 41 as a reflection of their inability to present a focused and reasonable message to the American people. As much as I like and liked Bill Clinton, his mistakes in 1993 and 1994 led to this intellectual Dark Age that emerged in the House. The Senate, by definition, is not structured like the House and because Senators have a six-year term and staggered elections, they are more independent and less able to be dominated by a narrow majority.
Hopefully this new Democratic majority will be listening to the public about housing, education, healthcare and jobs. It will have to deal with the tricky issues of immigration and “broken borders.” It will certainly have to find an intelligent way out of the morass in Iraq. We are still a long way from convincing the majority of Americans over the efficacy of “gay marriage,” unlimited abortion rights and rights with zero responsibility.
We have to go back to “building bridges” and reaching intelligent consensus through a new era of “transparency” and “oversight.”
Probably the sweetest result of this election was the defeat of Rick Santorum, the poster child for flat-earth, creation science thinking. I ask, when was the last time a two-time incumbent was crushed in his bid for re-election with barely 41% of the vote? I suggest that that hasn’t happened in electoral history since the New Deal victories of FDR. In his twelve uninspiring years he reflected the arrogance of the so-called “moral majority.” When I listened to his “concession” remarks last night, I was not fooled by his syrupy rhetoric. He expects to be back and was shielding his obvious bitterness at being rejected by historic majorities.
Hopefully when the Democrats get back to their leadership role, the Congress will use its historic mandate and responsibility to unearth the hidden excesses and criminality of this administration. From my perspective, Jack Abramoff, Bob Ney, Ken Lay, Duke Cunningham, Mark Foley, Conrad Burns and many others are just the tip of the iceberg and the public face of a “culture of corruption” that is pervasive in Washington. The “K” Street lobbyist mill must be broken apart. It takes $1 million to run against a House incumbent and over $6 million to launch a Senate campaign. But in the big states the numbers are much greater. Ned Lamont spent $16 million of his own money and became a poster child for “spending limits.” Are we going to let our democracy to be taken over by multi-zillionaires like Corzine, Schwarzeneggar, Bloomberg and Lamont? I would hope in the future that some form of campaign spending limitations would be enacted along with a modified term limitation for both houses of Congress. Unfortunately the Supreme Court has limited controls on “spending” as a manifestation of a restriction upon the “freedom of speech.” For sure, any type of Federal term limitations for Congress (18 years) would necessitate a long Constitutional amendment process.
I believed, a number of months ago, that the Democrats would certainly regain the House and I certainly leaned towards believing that control of the Senate was in range. The history of the 20th Century has always reflected the “6th year itch” in the mid-term election of a two-term incumbent.
With the case of George W. Bush, I have zero sympathy for him, his administration, and his friends. His presidency has been a lie, a horror and a disaster. He has been a politically motivated ignorant low-life with a wide and aggressive venal streak. He has surrounded himself with sycophants, thugs and political hacks, who echo and direct his hypocritical and divisive policies. His domestic policy has been fraught with ineptness, insider deals and corruption, and the current do-nothing rubber-stamp Congress has given him a carte blanche pass! Whether it be his authorship of inheritance tax giveaways to billionaires, the Katrina response disaster, the Dubai Port takeover, the energy bill, the transportation boondoggle bill, the Medicare drug plan giveaway, the pork barrel deficits, the disappearance of American jobs, the stagnation of middle-class incomes, the trade deficits, the Enron meltdown, the immigration crisis, our educational nightmare, the trampling of the Constitution, and the dual disasters in Afghanistan and Iraq, he has been an abject failure. I assume there are still thousands of trailers and ice blocks being stored in Arkansas waiting to be used in New Orleans.
I am not sure whether the Congress has the power or stomach to impeach him, but let us not forget that there were over 1000 investigations of Bill Clinton, with the resulting expenditure of tens of millions of dollars. There were also countless impeachment resolutions. As a result of all of that harassment, Ken Starr was able to sell his worthless book to his right-wing harpies.
Again, hopefully a new day has dawned, and the Democrats have learned their lesson. Let them clean up the mess and corruption in Congress. Let them get control of “K” Street and let them start to help the middle class with real tax reform. Hopefully they will force Bush to replace Rumsfeld and his failed team. Then maybe we will craft a reasonable policy in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Maybe then, we will be able to reach out to our friends around the world and start to address our real and reasonable needs and objectives.
PS: Looks like Webb has won, 7000+ vote margin is irreversible. Santorum blamed Satan for his defeat. He should have said that in his concession speech! Rumsfeld exit was “greased” already! rjg