It seems reasonable to have taken time to consider the results of the mid-term election. After all, real reflection is too often missing from the hair-trigger screams and shouts of our politicians and pundits these days. Yes, the Republicans were justifiably booted from Senate, House and gubernatorial majorities. They earned public scorn the old-fashioned way by putting a lust for power ahead of effective bipartisan leadership, pandering to the fears and insecurities of their so-called base.
And yet the Democrats should not read these results as any validation of their positions, if they actually have any on the really tough issues. Yes, Democrats do not generally appeal to the fears and hatreds that divide us, but nor are they paragons of competence. Democrats must understand that this election was a rejection of Tom Delay and Karl Rove Rasputin-like vanities. They should remember, too, that this repudiation is only temporary. Democrats must choose to stand for something powerful and meaningful, or they will again succumb to the politics of hate in 2008 and beyond.
The recent vote should be read as a violent rejection of business as usual, no matter the party flag. Politicians should understand that the vote was one against, well, politicians and the hollow leadership many of them have come to represent. The vote should remind both parties that Americans will not suffer one-party rule for very long and that the Founding Fathers saw multiple parties as part of the necessary system of checks and balances. That notion plunges a useful dagger in the heart of the K Street Project. Such self-serving nonsense is best left with one-party autocracies. By the way, Jack Abramoff, Tom Delay and Karl Rove, how did that "permanent Republican majority" of yours work out?
For those of us who place leadership and public policy far above party politics, this is a moment to see new possibilities on the American landscape. However, given the fractious, needless squabble between Steny Hoyer and Jack Murtha for the House Majority Leader job and the resurgence of Trent Lott into the Senate GOP leadership after his stunning confessional moment of support several years ago for Strom Thurmond's brand of segregationism, it is clear that momentary optimism for a better way is already being enveloped in the fog of business as usual. We simply must do better.
And yet the Democrats should not read these results as any validation of their positions, if they actually have any on the really tough issues. Yes, Democrats do not generally appeal to the fears and hatreds that divide us, but nor are they paragons of competence. Democrats must understand that this election was a rejection of Tom Delay and Karl Rove Rasputin-like vanities. They should remember, too, that this repudiation is only temporary. Democrats must choose to stand for something powerful and meaningful, or they will again succumb to the politics of hate in 2008 and beyond.
The recent vote should be read as a violent rejection of business as usual, no matter the party flag. Politicians should understand that the vote was one against, well, politicians and the hollow leadership many of them have come to represent. The vote should remind both parties that Americans will not suffer one-party rule for very long and that the Founding Fathers saw multiple parties as part of the necessary system of checks and balances. That notion plunges a useful dagger in the heart of the K Street Project. Such self-serving nonsense is best left with one-party autocracies. By the way, Jack Abramoff, Tom Delay and Karl Rove, how did that "permanent Republican majority" of yours work out?
For those of us who place leadership and public policy far above party politics, this is a moment to see new possibilities on the American landscape. However, given the fractious, needless squabble between Steny Hoyer and Jack Murtha for the House Majority Leader job and the resurgence of Trent Lott into the Senate GOP leadership after his stunning confessional moment of support several years ago for Strom Thurmond's brand of segregationism, it is clear that momentary optimism for a better way is already being enveloped in the fog of business as usual. We simply must do better.